Did you ever think that it is possible, that it is indeed likely, that many of these beautiful creatures will leave us for all time if we do not treat them kindly and give them every protection in our power? Did you ever think of all the enemies that are constantly on the watch for the birds,—the thoughtless boy who robs their nests, the angry farmer who mistakenly believes they injure him, the hunter who thinks only of how good they taste, the sleek cat lying so innocently by your fireside, which loves a bird above everything else, and last of all, the blue jay, butcher bird, and some of the hawks and owls?
To realize how our home would seem without birds, let us take an imaginary journey far across the water to "sunny Italy." Here you will rarely hear bird music upon spring mornings, unless it be that of some poor caged creature. If you will walk through the country, you will see few birds where once they must have been abundant. But upon every holiday you will see the fields filled with hunters, who with keen eyes are watching for any stray birds that have happened to stop on their journey across the country to rest and to hunt worms or taste a bit of fruit. The Italian does not know the good the birds do his garden and that it would be the part of wisdom for him to let them have a little of his corn and fruit.
We will now journey to Spain and learn something about the treatment of our bird friends there. This country was once rich and prosperous. From it came many of the early explorers of our own land. The people of the central highlands of Spain never loved to hear the birds sing, because they were always thinking of the grain which the birds took. Thinking to save their crops, they not only killed and scared away all the birds they could, but they also cut down the trees so that the birds would have no places to nest.
Thus the people freed themselves from the birds, but what was the harvest that they reaped? When the trees were gone they had no fuel, the soil dried out more quickly, and the insects increased until they destroyed far more of the grain and fruit than the birds could possibly have done. The people are now very poor and just manage to live from one harvest to another.
Now let us learn a little about our own birds and what they are doing for us. We ought to know the habits of all the common birds that frequent our gardens and be able to tell each by its note. This would add greatly to our pleasure when out of doors and make us appreciate the services they are rendering.
Go where you will through the open fields or among the trees and bushes, you will find different kinds of birds and all of them busily engaged. They are searching over every bit of ground as well as over the trunks, branches, and leaves of the trees. Some are after the seeds of different kinds of weeds. Others are getting the worms and insects that infest the trees. Watch a flock of the little titmice going carefully over all the leaves and branches of an oak tree. When they have finished, there are few insects or their eggs left upon it.
How anxious are some of our farmers as well as the sportsmen to have the meadow lark classed as a pest or as a game bird. Would that the farmers knew how much good this bird does them! The stomachs of many of these larks have been carefully examined in order to find out what they really do eat. The contents show that more than half of the food of the meadow lark is made up of harmful insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, Jerusalem crickets, cutworms, caterpillars, wireworms, bugs, bees, ants, wasps, flies, spiders, and many others. These birds also eat large quantities of the seeds of weeds and at times damage the grain fields. The good that they do, however, far outweighs the evil.
Finley & Bohlman
A young meadow lark.