Bird lore - Project Puffin

The Birds of Monument Valley Park 227
lion by human agency, is largely preventable. Education of the people, and
especially of the children, will go a long way here. But what should be done
about cats?'' There are some which frequent the park, and I know of but one
way of handling the matter,—exterminating the cats.
A park such as this offers great opportunities to the people for the study of
nature, at least in the case of birds, and these are likely to be taken better
advantage of as time passes by. Then also, one must not neglect the economic
side of the question, the great good which the birds must do in the destruction
of harmful insects, and also of weed seeds. It is not unlikely that over fifty
broods of Robins are raised in the whole area each summer. Think what an
enormous number of insects go to satisfy the appetites of these youngsters,
as well as the young of other species! One might well say that the trees,
shrubs, and flowers would be destroyed but for the birds. If one does not care
for the educational or economic side of the case, there is still the esthetic, the
appeal made by the beauty of the
creature, either of its plumage, its
song, or its actions. Surely there is
no excuse for those who find noth-
ing interesting about a bird ! Yet
there are some who take practically
no heed of a bird unless it is one of
the sorts classed as game, and there-
fore to be shot and killed. Let those
who think the hunting and killing
the whole thing ponder the words of
W. H. Wright, author of 'The
Grizzly Bear.' He says that after
hunting grizzlies for many years in
order to kill them, his interest in his
opponent grew to overshadow his
interest in the game; and whereas
formerly he had studied the grizzly
to hunt him, he now began to hunt
the grizzly to study him. So too, if
you take a field-glass or a camera, you will find out much more about a
bird. I seldom take a walk in Monument Valley Park without my camera,
and have picked up many a good picture by doing this, as well as witnessing
some interesting things on the ground glass of the Graflex when trying for a
picture.
MOUNTAIN CHICKADEE ON FOOD-TABLE
Caring for and protecting birds in a public park is a problem which is often,
if not always, diflScult of solution. Ordinances may be passed and notices
posted, but olTenses will be committed in spite of them, and there must be
means of capturing and punishing the offenders. Colorado Springs has, besides