BIRD AND ARBOR DAY FOR 1911 IN THE SCHOOLS Of CALIFORNIA. Boy Making Bird Boxes at School. WHAT THE LAW SAYS: The Legislature of California placed the following law upon its statute ^oks in 1909: AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A BIRD AND ARBOR DAY. e people of the State of California, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. March 7th of each year, being the anniversary of the birthday of Luther rbank, is hereby set apart and designated bird and arbor clay. All public schools and educational institutions are directed to observe bird and arbor clay, i as a holiday, but by including in the school work of the day suitable exercises having for ir object instruction as to the economic value of birds and trees, and the promotion of a rit of protection towards them. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage. University of California Berkeley ISSUED BY EDWAKD HYATT, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Gift SACRAMENTO : W. W. SHANNON, STATE PRINTER. TO THE TEACHERS OF CALIFORNIA. Ladies and Gentlemen: The day is approaching that our law has set as a Bird and Arbor Day in the schools of this State. I am sending out this little reminder in the hope that it will serve not only to remind but to help your schools in observing the spirit as well as the letter of the law. Two years ago we issued an Arbor Day Manual at some length, which is still to be had for the asking, in limited numbers. Xow we had planned a similar booklet for the birds ; but a stringency in our printing fund cuts it to these few pages. Next year perhaps we shall be able to do more. Airs. Harriett W. Myers, the secretary of the Audubon Society, has been kind enough to prepare abundant material for us to choose from for these purposes. I trust that you will not lose sight of the fact that it is really a patriotic duty you owe to the commonwealth, to plant in the minds of the young people in your charge some conception of the part that the trees and the birds play in our national life. They are vital elements in our prosperity for all time to come. Ignorant destructiveness is a characteristic of our time, of our people. An appreciation of the economic value of our forests and the wild life that surrounds them is greatly to be desired in the rank and file of our citizenry. In fact, it is absolutely necessary to the success of our land in the future. Where will it come from if not through the Teachers? Very truly yours, EDWARD HYATT, Superintendent of Public Instruction. 544150 GREETING FROM THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE. The following message from the Governor to the School Children, prepared by himself expressly for this purpose, will be of interest to every one concerned in the observance of the day. It will be an appro- priate feature of the program, read or spoken by the teacher or by one of the pupils. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF CALIFORNIA. Sacramento, February 22, 1911 Boys and Girls of California: The legislature has most fittingly set aside the seventh day of March, the birthday of our distinguished fellow citizen, Luther Burbank, as "Bird and Arbor Day." The love of birds and trees is one of the healthiest emotions of the human heart. It may well be cultivated. There is no more innocent and no more gratifying source of enjoyment than intelligent interest in the beauties of nature. California is pre-eminently rich in them. Learn to know the calls and plumage of our birds, the varying foliage of our trees ; grow to love the quiet places where they may best be studied and you will be happier and better citizens of our great State. Yours sincerely, HIRAM. W. JOHNSON, Governor, MESSAGE FROM BURBANK. Since our Arbor Day is also the birthday of a famous California gardener, it is peculiarly appropriate that we should begin with a greet- ing from him to the people who meet to celebrate the day. It was specially written for this purpose. BURBANK'S EXPERIMENTAL FARM. Santa Rosa, Cal., Jan. 17, 1911. The plan for having children learn to love, care for, and cultivate flowers and trees and to aid in the protection of the birds who help us protect the trees, has my most hearty sympathy. On the protection and care of all these depends the happiness, health, and even the life of the race. Children with a little en- couragement very naturally learn to love and care for the pleasing objects of nature like plants and the more animate ones in fur and feathers. The life of any child is made broader, sweeter, more gentle and kind by an intimate knowledge and sympathy with them. LUTHER BURBANK. MEADOW LARK. These musical stanzas were written by A. J. Waterhouse, a California poet. It sang, and 'twas as heaven's door Some angel hand had left ajar, And from its portals straight did pour Rare music borne from star to star. It sang, and every dreamy vale Was sweeter for its liquid voice, And echoing hills took up the tale, While zephyrs whispered low, "Rejoice." Oh, breast of gold, thy limpid note Is still more golden than thy breast, And from thy tiny, feathered throat Ring melodies of life the best. There is no fairy vale so sweet But thou dost make it sweeter still, And elfin sprite of music meet Where thou art found to do thy will; Rejoice. CALIFORNIA BIRDS AND THE FRUIT INDUSTRY. This article, by one of the experts of the Biological Survey, will be suitable for a reading, or it may be broken into short paragraphs and spoken by the successive members of a class. "In no State in the Union is an accurate knowledge of the relations of birds to agriculture more important than in California. Climate and soil combine to make California an important grain and fruit producing State. The acreage already devoted to agriculture is large and is likely to increase for decades to come, as population increases and as new cultural methods are developed and irrigation is extended, insects that now attract little attention are likely to increase and become serious pests. Certain birds formerly accustomed to a diet consisting partly of wild fruits, the supply of which is limited and likely to become smaller, will probably invade orchards and injure cultivated fruit. Hence it is worth while for the farmer and orchardist to learn as much as possible of the food of the birds that harbor near his premises, that he may know how much good each species does and how much harm, and so be enabled to strike a fair balance. Some birds, like the swallows, swifts, wrens, and chickadees, are so strictly insectivorous that they are exceedingly beneficial. All they require at the hands of man in return for their services is protection. Others at some time of the year injure crops, though the damage of many is exceedingly small. Be the loss what it may, how r ever, if a given species by its insectivorous habits prevents much greater destruc- tion than it inflicts, the farmer should be willing to bear the loss for the sake of the greater gain. Few birds are always and everywhere so seriously destructive that their extermination can be urged on sound economic principles. Only four of the species common in California can be regarded as of doubt- ful utility: These are the Linnet, California Jay, Steller Jay, and Red- breasted Sapsucker; When the known methods of protecting fruit have been exhausted, or cannot be employed profitably, then a reasonable reduction of the numbers of the offending birds is permissible. But the more the food habits of birds are studied the more evident is the fact that with a normal distribution of species and a fair supply of natural food, the damage to agricultural products by birds is small compared with the benefit. A reasonable way of viewing the relation of birds to the farmer is to consider the birds as servants, employed to destroy weeds and insects. In return for this service they should be protected, and such as need it should receive a fair equivalent in the shape of fruit and small grain. Nothing can be more certain than that, except in a few cases, any farmer who is willing to pay the toll collected by birds for actual services rendered will be vastly benefited. In the long run, no part of the capital invested in farm or orchard is more certain to pay big interest than the small sum required for the care and protection of birds/' THE SONG OF THE MOCKING BIRD. This remarkable bit of descriptive writing is by Theodore Roosevelt. It may well serve as a recitation or a reading worth careful preparation and appreciative delivery. It is too good to butcher with slovenly enunciation or careless work. "The mocking bird is a singer that has suffered much from its powers of mimicry. On ordinary occasions, and especially in the daytime, it insists on playing the harlequin. Brit when free in its own favorite haunts at night, it has a song, or rather songs, which are not only purely original, but are also more beautiful than any other bird music whatever. Once I listened to a mocking bird singing the livelong spring night, under the full moon in a magnolia tree ; and I do not think that I shall ever forget his song. The great tree was bathed in a flood of shining silver ; I could see each twig and mark every action of the singer who was pouring forth such a rapture of ringing melody as I have never listened to before or since. Sometimes he would perch motionless for many minutes, his body thrilling with the outpour of music. Then he would drop softly from twig to twig till the lowest limb was reached, when he would rise, fluttering through the branches, his song never ceasing for an instant until he reached the summit of the tree and launched into the warm scent-laden air, floating in spirals, with out- spread wings, until, as if spent, he sank gently back into the tree and down through the branches while his song rose, into an ecstacy of ardor and passion. His voice rang like a clarionet in rich, full tones, and his execution covered the widest possible compass ; theme followed theme, a torrent of music, a swelling tide of harmony, in which scarcely any two bars were alike. I stayed till midnight listening to him ; he was singing when I went to sleep, he was still singing when I awoke a couple of hours later; he sang through the livelong night/' AN IMPORTANT MATTER. Dr. David Starr Jordan, President of the Audubon Society of Cali- fornia, has said of our work : "I believe that the preservation of the bird is one of the most important matters of public interest claiming our attention, far outweighing in real import most of the questions upon which we spend our time and strength." 8 HOW TO PROTECT THE ORCHARDS. "It would seem most desirable that some of the available fruit bearing trees, the fruits of which are of little or no value to man, but which to birds are even more acceptable than cultivated kinds, should be freely introduced into California for the protection of the orchardist. That some of them would thrive there hardly admits of a doubt. The Russian mulberry, is one of the best, the fruit having little value unless as food for birds. All fruit-eating species are fond of it. Both the red and black mulberries are equally sought after, but are not often planted for birds alone. The paper mulberry is hardy and is a favorite bird food. Several species of cherry, including the choke cherry and especially its western form, the black cherry, and the bird cherry are of great value in protecting fruit crops, birds almost invariably selecting their fruit in preference to the cultivated varieties. There are also several varieties of ornamental cherries, such as the European bird cherry, which are hardy and valuable as bird foods. Both the pepper tree and the elder, now abundant in California, are eaten by many birds, and both may be planted near orchards with the certainty that they, will serve to protect them. Another measure recommended for the protection of orchard fruit is a supply of water accessible to the birds. Drinking places for birds in every large orchard would tend to reduce the injury done to fruit, and would serve the added purpose of attracting insectivorous birds to the locality. Birds undoubtedly select breeding places with reference to the conveniences of food and water, and a constant supply of the latter attracts to the vicinity many desirable species. The insectivorous kinds would more than pay the orchardist for his trouble in their behalf by feeding upon the insects that injure his trees ; while fruit-eating species, like the linnet, being able to quench their thirst with water, \vould not be compelled to resort to fruit for this purpose. The writer once observed a leaky hydrant situated between two rather extensive areas of orchards. The little pool maintained by the drip of the pipe was almost constantly surrounded by birds which all the time were coming and going, so that the number that visited it each day must have been well up in the thousands. An arrangement for this purpose need be neither elaborate nor expensive, and would serve a useful purpose." F. E. L. BSAI,,. Assistant, Biological Survey. BATHING POOL FOR THE BIRDS. By Harriett W. Myers. Bird pools or fountains are most desirable. An inexpensive pool may be made by any ingenious boy. Scoop out the earth the desired size of pool, say three feet in diameter. Replace this earth with a lining- of stones, which can usually be picked up near by. Cover this over with cement, made by using equal parts of sand and cement, moistened, smoothing it nicely and finishing off the edges over the stones to make a neat job. Then cover it for a few days and keep it moist Cement Bird Bath Easily Made by Boy. so that the cement will not set too quickly and by so doing crack. Care should be taken in making this basin not to have it more than three inches deep in center, the edges being still shallower. If it is too deep the birds will not bathe in it. This basin should either have in its center a hydrant which can be left to drip and thus keep water fresh, or at its side. It will need to be swept out often as these bird pools are also favorite resting places for toads who soon pollute the water. BOB WHITE. The Bob White is not a California quail, but it is so widely known and has such a place in current literature that California children should know something about it. Its clear note is one of the most familiar 10 sounds of the eastern states. This recitation could be made very interesting and realistic to the children if the "Bob White" should be whistled each time instead of spoken. Some one in the neighborhood will be able to give an example of the Bob White's whistle. BOB WHITE. "I own the country hereabout," says Bob White; "At early morn I gayly shout, I'm Bob White! From stubble field and stake-rail fence You hear me call without offense, I'm Bob White! Bob White! Sometimes I think I'll ne'er more say Bob White; It often gives me quite away, does Bob White; And mate and I and our young brood, When separate, wandering through the wood, Are killed by sportsmen I invite By my clear voice Bob White! Bob White! Still, don't you find I am out of sight While I am saying Bob White, Bob White?" Charles C. Marble. SOME BIRD RIDDLES. An amusing exercise can be made of this by a class of thirty children or less. Have each child recite a line then the whole class give the answer together or, vice versa. Cut out as many lines as necessary to fit the class. 1. There's a bird whose name tells if he flies fast or slow. Swift. 2. One which boys use when with long strides they go. Stilt. 3. There is one that tells tales although he can't sing. Tattler. 4. And one that flies high, but is held by a string. Kite. 5. By one a high rank in the army is held: Adjutant. 6. There's another whose name by one letter is spelled. Jay. 7. There is one that a farmer in harvest would use. Thrasher. 8. And one you can easily fool if you choose. Gull. 9. What bird, at dessert, is it useful to hold? Nut-cracker. 10. And which in the chimney place off hung of old? Crane. 11. Which bird wears a bit of sky in its dress? Blue bird. 12. Which one always stands in the corner at chess? Rook. 13. There is one built a church of London the pride, Wren. 14. We have one when we walk with a friend by our side. Chat. 15. What bird would its bill find useful at tea, Spoon-bill. 16. And which would its tail use to steer with at sea? Rudder cluck. 17. Which proudly a musical instrument wears? Lyre bird. 18. And which the same name as a small island bears? Canary. 19. Which bird is called foolish, and stupid, and silly? Loon. 20. And which always wanting to punish poor Billy? Whippoorwill. 21. Which bird is an artisan, works at his trade? Weaver. 22. And which is the stuff of which flags are made? Bunting. 23. One, we're told by the poet, at Heaven's gate sings; Lark. 11 24. There's one which in Holland the new baby brings. Stork. 25. What bird have we with us in eating and drinking? Swallow. 26. One, used for a fence, you can say without thinking. Rail. 27. What bird is a scoffer, a scorner, a jest? Mocking bird. 28. Which one is too lazy to build her, own nest? Cuckoo. 29. From a high wind at evening one name is inferred. Nightingale. 30. Guess these and you're wise as Minerva's own bird. Owl Alabama Bird Day Book. THE ACCESSORY. Recitation for One Child or Four Children. She went to church in holy zeal, With a dead bird on her hat. She paused, while on the steps to kneel, With a dead bird on her hat. The parson preached, "Thou shalt not kill," And God she thanked, with conscious thrill That she, good soul, had done no ill With a dead bird on her hat. She loved to hear the birdling sing, With a dead bird on her hat. She loved to watch them free awing, With a dead bird on her hat. She thought how sad the world would be If ne'er their plumage we might see Or hear their warblings in the tree With a dead bird on her hat. She held her home the dearest, best, With a dead bird on her hat. She called her little home her "nest," With a dead bird on her hat. Her brood she circled with her arm To keep each happy child from harm. To still her own strange, vague alarm With a dead bird on her hat. She could not bear death's form to see, With a dead bird on her hat. She could not look on cruelty, With a dead bird on her hat. She wept at others' sufferings, She gave her life to holy things, And wore the "loveliest of wings A dead bird on her hat. Douglas Malloch. 12 THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS, For the milliners' trade is appalling". Every year millions of birds are slaughtered to fill the demands for the ornamentation of the hats of women. During a period of four months 20,000 of these beautiful creatures were supplied to New York dealers from a single village. It has been proved that in Europe 150,000,000 birds are used for the trade annually. A party of Japanese recently killed more than 300,000 birds on an island belonging to the United States, in mid-Pacific. When found by officers who went from Honolulu to stop this wholesale bird destruction, these poachers had 335 cases of plumage, all intended for the millinery trade. The most beautiful species of birds in many parts of the world are being exterminated because of this foolish and bar- barous fashion of feather wearing. At the plume auctions held in London during the last half of 1907 there were catalogued 19,742 skins of Birds of Paradise and the plumes of 115,000 nesting Herons, besides feathers and skins of almost every known species of ornamental birds. THE NORTH STORY OF HOW THE ROBIN GOT ITS RED BREAST. Here is a fine exercise for story-telling. Let some girl or boy read it carefully and understandingly and then tell it to the teacher ; not making an effort to commit it to memory but telling the story. Then tell it to the folks at home. Then tell it in the school. Then tell it numerously to every one who will listen. How many times does any one tell his favorite story ? Many tellings make a story better. The youngster who prepares a story in this way will get a more valuable lesson in language than can be found in books. Long ago, in the far north, where it was very cold, there was only one fire. An old man and his little son took care of this fire and kept it burning day and night. They knew that if all the fire went out all the people would freeze and the white bear would have the Northland all to himself. One day the old man became very ill, so that his son had everything to do. For many days and nights the boy bravely took care of his father and kept the fire burning. At last he got so tired and sleepy that he could no longer walk. Now, the white bear was always watching the fire. He longed for the time when he should have the Northland all to himself. When he saw how tired and sleepy the little boy was, he stayed close to the fire and laughed to himself. One night the poor little boy could keep awake no longer and fell fast asleep. Then the white bear ran as fast as he could and jumped upon the fire with his wet feet and rolled upon it. At last he thought it was all out and went happily away to his cave. But a gay robin had been flying near and had seen what the white bear was doing. She waited until the bear had gone away. Then she flew down and searched with her sharp little eyes until she found a tiny little spark. For a long time she patiently fanned this tiny spark with her wings. Her little breast w r as scorched red, but she did not give up. After a while a 13 fine, red blaze sprang up. Then she flew away to every hut in the North- land. Everywhere that she touched the ground, a fire began to burn. So that soon instead of one little fire, the whole Northland was lighted up. Now, all that the white bear could do was to go back further into his cave and growl. For now, indeed, he knew that the Northland was not all for him. And this is the reason why the people in the north country love the robin. And they are never tired of telling their children how it got its red breast. Flora Cook's Myths. BIRD TRADES. For Seven Small Children. The swallow is a mason, And underneath the eaves He builds a nest and plasters it With mud and hay and leaves. The woodpecker is hard at work; A carpenter is he; And you may find him hammering His house high up a tree. The bullfinch knows and practices The basket-maker's trade; See what a cradle for his young The little thing has made. Of all the weavers that I know, The oriole is the best : High on the apple tree he weaves A cozy little nest. The goldfinch is a fuller; A skillful workman he! Of wool and threads he makes a nest That you would like to see. Some little birds are miners; Some build upon the ground; And busy little tailors, too, Among the birds are found. The cuckoo laughs to see them work; "Not so," he says, "we do, My wife and I take other's nests, And live at ease cuckoo!" Anna B. Thomas. 14 THE BOY AND THE SPARROW. Once a sweet boy sat and swung- on a limb; On the ground stood a sparrow bird looking at him. Now the boy he was good, but the sparrow was bad, So he shied a big stone at the head of the lad, And it killed the poor boy, and the sparrow was glad. Then the little boy's mother flew over the trees "Tell me, where is my little boy, sparrow-bird, please?" "He is safe in my pocket," the sparrow-bird said, And another stone shied at the fond mother's head, And she fell at the feet of the wicked bird, dead. You imagine, no doubt, that the tale I have mixed, But it wasn't by me that the story was fixed; 'Twas a dream a boy had after killing a bird, And he dreamed it so loud that I heard every word, And I jotted it down as it really occurred. Good Words. THE LITTLE BROWN CREEPER. By a California Poet, Dr. Garrett Newkirk of Pasadena. "Although I'm a bird, I give you my word That seldom you'll know me to fly; For I have a notion about locomotion, The little Brown Creeper am I, Dear little Brown Creeper am I. "Beginning below, I search as I go The trunks and the limbs of a tree, For a fly or a slug, a beetle or bug; They're better than candy for me, Far better than candy for me. ''When people are nigh I'm apt to be shy, And say to myself, 'I will hide,' Continue my creeping, but carefully keeping Away on the opposite side, Well around on the opposite side. "Yet sometimes I peek while I play hide-and-seek If you're nice I shall >vish to see you; I'll make a faint sound and come quite around And creep like a mouse in full view, Very much like a mouse to your view." - 15 - A NATIONAL BENEFACTOR. By Harriett Williams Myers, in Youth's Companion. This will be of special interest since cotton is coming- to be one of California's crops. Economically, the swallow is one of our best friends, and as such should be protected. Horse-flies, house-flies, gnats, codling-moths, canker-worm moths, leaf-rolling moths, grasshoppers, plant lice, spiders, cabbage-butterflies, chick-beetles, winged ants, rose- and May-beetles, striped cucumber-bettles, cotton-boll weevils these are a few of the injurious insects that the birds of the swallow family live upon. Oliver Goldsmith in his "History of Animate Nature" speaks of the good these birds do, thus showing that even at that time, when little was known about them, they were appreciated. But recently they have ?.ssume'd national importance because of their great service in checking the danger threatened by the cotton-boll weevil. It has been estimated that, in favorable circumstances, a single pair of these weevils will in one season raise a family of twenty-nine or thirty millions. The female lays about one hundred and forty eggs, depositing each egg in a different boll of cotton. The boll is punctured, the egg deposited, and the insect passes on to another. No cotton comes from a boll thus "stung." Rather it shrivels and dies while furnishing food for the growing worm. This pest is spread- ing at the rate of fifty miles a year, and unless methods can be found to arrest its progress, it will eventually infest the entire cotton-producing area. The Biological Survey has found thirty-eight kinds of birds which feed upon these weevils. Foremost among these are the several species of swallows. A GREAT ASSET. The wild birds of California are one of the State's important assets. They control vast hordes of insects, that would, without such control, destroy a great part of the soil products that add annually hundreds of thousands of dollars to the wealth of the State. That this control is not more effective in many localities is because the wild birds have been, and are still being, destroyed by the ignorant, the mercenary and the wantonly cruel. -16- J-'WHY BIRDS SHOULD BE PROTECTED. * ^ Reading or Recitation for a Class of Six or for a Single Pupil. It has been estimated that the damage caused annually in three states alone by the codling moth amounts to nearly $8,000,000. The moth spoils from 25 to 75 per cent of the apple crop of the United States and Canada each year. Statistics from the United States Department of Agriculture for 1904 show a tax of more than a thousand million dollars imposed upon the people of the United States by insects during that year. Certain moths deposit hundreds of eggs in a season and were each egg to hatch and each insect to come to maturity and go on producing at the same rate the entire earth in a few years would be carpeted with crawling caterpillars and the moths in flight would cover the earth like a blanket of fog, and in four years the foliage of the United States would be destroyed. In giving a description of conditions after a volcanic eruption, which occurred in Guatemala, a coffee planter said : "One of our greatest troubles was that of sickness, owing to the balance of nature having been upset by the eruption, which having killed all the birds for some hundreds of miles, enabled the flies, mosquitoes and rats to multiply to such an extent that life to man became nearly unbearable. The imme- diate consequence was an epidemic of malaria, which cost more lives than the eruption itself many times more. It has passed away, hap- pily ; the birds having come again, the breeding of these pests is checked and the district again enjoys the excellent reputation for health that it' deservedly had before." Authorities have observed one pair of grosbeaks feed their voting in one day of eleven hours, Boo larvae of insects. Three thousand ante have been found in the stomach of a "flicker" at one time. Five hun dred mosquitoes were counted in the stomach of a nighthawk. A pail of nesting wrens took more .than 600. insects from a garden in one day Swallows eat more than 1,000 flies a day. The stomach of a quail hek 100 potato beetles. Another had eaten 500 chinch bugs. Bird authorities of Massachusetts estimate one day's work by th( birds in that state to be the destruction of 21,000 bushels of insects In Nebraska 170 carloads of insects are destroyed each day. Whih thousands of insects are destroyed through other natural agencies, jus, think for a moment of the number of insects all the birds in the whol( United States might destroy in one day and in one year. C. A. Stebbins