THE ÆSTHETIC VALUE OF BIRDS.

Forest and Bird, Issue 20, 1 March 1930, Page 6

THE ÆSTHETIC VALUE OF BIRDS.

(Extracted from “The Practical Value of Birds,” by Junius Henderson.)

“The beautiful is as useful as the useful.” —Victor Hugo.

Whatever tends to make the world better and happier; whatever ministers to the aesthetic longings of the human soul; whatever leads the thoughts of men and women for the moment from the sordid pursuit of gain or from the race for personal aggrandisement to beauty in any form; whatever entices tired and care-worn people for a time from the shop, or office, or store, or mine, or quarry, and brings them into closer contact with the beauty, grace and charm of things out-of-doors; is of direct material value to the human race, even though that value may not be measurable in yards, acres, tons, bushels, or dollars. The partial outdoor life of the student of birds fits both mind and body for life’s contests. Nothing so surely restores the soul, sickened with trouble, disappointment or defeat, as to get out into the fields and woods and watch our feathered friends, with their bright coats and graceful flight, to listen to their cheery songs and observe their interesting habits—their mating, their home-building, the rearing of their young, their comings and goings in the spring and autumn migrations. Few civilised human beings doubt the value to humanity of music, poetry, and the painter’s and sculptor’s arts. Even the savages of the Stone Age gave expression to a love of beautiful things in their rude drawings on cavern w r alls, and the wild tribes of the earth have their music, perhaps every bit as good as the crude beginning from which our own wonderful modern music slowly evolved. Beauty of every sort is good for the human soul, and he who fails to respond to its call loses much of the richness of life.

“If eyes were made for seeing, Then Beauty is its own excuse for being.” — Emerson. Birds have been the inspiration of much that is fine in art, poetry, and song. The world would be impoverished, indeed, if it were all destroyed. So, too, we should lose much if the chastening songs of birds were all hushed and their plumages turned to ashes. More and more every year are the American people turning to the study of birds as part of their recreation. Ornithology has become a delight to thousands. Amateurs may be seen everywhere with field-glasses, cameras and notebooks in hand, peering into the bushes and treetops in the hope that some new

candidate for observation may present himself; or that, perchance, by good fortune, he may be even induced to pose for his photograph, thus making a permanent visual record of the observation. “Hunting with a camera, instead of with a gun,” has become a slogan in certain quarters. Others amateurs, leaving cameras, field-glasses, and notebooks behind, perhaps derive more pleasure from their observations because they are not encumbered by accessories or the feeling that they must spend a portion of their time in using their paraphernalia and recording their observations with pen and ink. Printing presses are kept busy in the publication of books and magazines devoted wholly to ornithology, to say nothing of the numerous articles on birds in general periodical literature. Professional ornithologists are flooded with requests for information on the subject. Boys whose future once looked doubtful have become interested in birds and their protection, thus acquiring new ideas concerning the humane treatment of other creatures, and new interests in life to replace former bad habits; hence are destined to better citizenship.

There is no better training of the power of quick and accurate observation, nothing more stimulating to the analytical qualities of the mind, than the study of birds in the field. No careless observer can correctly note the various characteristics by which species may be distinguished one from another as they flit through the bushes —the shape and size of the bill, wings and tail, the colours of various parts of the plumage, the song or call note, and so on. The botanist may sit down with book in hand and plant before him and study it at leisure. The geologist may put the fragment of rock in his pocket and examine it in the laboratory. The field student of ornithology must note and fix in his mind the details of structure and colour of his bird on the instant, so that he will have an accurate picture of it in his mind as he seeks to identify it from descriptions and pictures in the books.

Hence from the moral, esthetic and educational points of view, as well as for purely utilitarian reasons, general public recognition of the value of birds is important. So in the detailed discussion of the strictly economic phases of bird life we must not forget the less tangible values. We may well remember that even if the birds had no economic value whatever, they would still well deserve our study, encouragement, and protection.

Do you ne’er think what wondrous beings these? Do you ne’er think who made them, and who taught The dialect they speak, where melodies Alone are the interpreters of thought?

Whose household words are songs in many keys, Sweeter than instrument of man e’er caught! Whose habitations in the tree-tops even Are half-way houses on the way to heaven!

- —Longfellow, Birds of Killingworth.