Show nn NN NN Be e eIf Careful ul B Birds lids Sc Schools School's h ool s Out If birds could express their feelings we imagine they w would uld be as unhappy about tI the e close o of school as the children child child- ren seem to be happy We base this supposition on the large number of small boys we have seen about town aiming their BB guns into trees and bushes at whatever kind of bird they can see to shoot at Nor are small boys the only ones who seem to delight in the shooting of birds any kind of birds Larger boys and even some men delight to try their marksmanship on our feathered friends It is strange the psychology we have about birds Any reasonable person will admit that practically all birds are essential for the welfare of agriculture vei ve very y 1 y useful and highly and of our very existence as a people No chemical can compete with birds in the destruction of insects yet we destroy destroy destroy de de- stroy the birds and then spend much time and money in inde de destroying or trying to destroy harmful insects It has been estimated that one blue bird meadow lark or or robin is worth from 10 to 25 a year to the farmer or g gardner ardner in whose field or garden the bird works Yet how many thousands of such birds do we kill or permit to be beki ki killed led in this community each year Among harmful birds may be listed magpies crows and certain kinds of hawks but certainly not the big slow- slow moving field hawks which are among the best feathered friends man ever had There is some doubt about the English English English Eng Eng- lish sparrows doing more harm than good but at present they are classed as enemies to be destroyed Though blackbirds blackbirds blackbirds black black- birds ravish some oat fields for a few weeks in some localities localities localities local local- those who know about birds place them high among the useful feathered folk What That are w we going to do to keep the birds from being e exterminated t All of us us past 40 can vouch for the great decrease in all kinds of useful birds Where are the swallows the canaries the linnets the wrens etc that used to lobe be J. J so numerous in the fields meadows and hills With the decrease crease in bird numbers has come a corresponding increase increase increase in in- crease in insect numbers and in weeds on whose seeds the b birds ds feed for many months of the year Something certainly should be done Its It's too late for 1 1 1 1 1 1 k 1 1 l 1 L u t un ie sc s to LU to LUl e tle un matter up this mis spring but QU 11 l 1 is never to top too o late for the Sunday Schools Primaries and homes to impress on young and old the value of birds and how bird life should be protected They were not made for targets f for foI men and boys to shoot at They were made to serve man and to make the world much more beautiful and cheerful with their plumage and l songs Everything possible should be done to save what birds we have and encourage others to settle here They'll come and they'll they l stay if we but protect them from boys with BBs BB's men men and boys with and shotguns and from roving cats cats' c s' s The rhe singing of Dont Kill the Little Birds should be le almost a weekly affair in church meetings during spring and summer and autumn months A few moments of each class period should be he taken up with impressing the children and young people with the value of birds In the homes where parents have given their children BB BS guns flippers flippers- etc instructions and warnings should be given constantly on the value of bird life For a week or two each year we ve might feed the robins a bit of fruit and the blackbirds some oats but the resti rest of the time they work for us and how Lets Let's make the shooting of birds very unpopular instead o of the sport which so many seem to regard i it t today |