The native birds are one of our nation’s most valuable assets. Destroy them, and in a comparatively few years the insects will have multiplied to such an extent that trees will be denuded of their foliage, plants will cease to thrive and crops cannot be raised. This is not fancy but plain facts. Look at the little Chickadee on the side of this page. She was photographed while entering a bird box, with about twenty-five plant lice to feed her seven young; about two hundred times a day, either she or her mate, made trips with similar loads to feed the growing youngsters.

It has been found, by observation and dissection, that a Cuckoo consumes daily from 50 to 400 caterpillars or their equivalent, while a Chickadee will eat from 200 to 500 insects or up to 4,000 insect or worm eggs. 100 insects a day is a conservative estimate of the quantity consumed by each individual insectivorous bird. By carefully estimating the birds in several areas, I find that, in Massachusetts, there are not less than five insect-eating birds per acre. Thus this state with its 8,000 square miles has a useful bird population of not less than 25,600,000, which, for each day’s fare, requires the enormous total of 2,560,000,000 insects. That such figures can be expressed in terms better understood, it has been computed that about 120,000 average insects fill a bushel measure. This means that the daily consumption, of chiefly obnoxious insects, in Massachusetts is 21,000 bushels. This estimate is good for about five months in the year, May to September, inclusive; during the remainder of the year, the insects, eggs and larvÆ destroyed by our Winter, late Fall and early Spring migrants will be equivalent to nearly half this quantity.

It is the duty, and should be the pleasure, of every citizen to do all in his or her power to protect these valuable creatures, and to encourage them to remain about our homes. The author believes that the best means of protection is the disseminating of knowledge concerning them, and the creating of an interest in their habits and modes of life. With that object in view, this little book is prepared. May it serve its purpose and help those already interested in the subject, and may it be the medium for starting many others on the road to knowledge of our wild, feathered friends.