Fryeburg Academy - Academy Bell Yearbook (Fryeburg, ME)

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16 THE ACADEMY BELL our birds the loss would be much greater. Our class, like the swallows, rids the air of small gauzy-winged pests, such as mosquitoes, gnats and midges. Phoebes and other flycatchers sit on posts and dead branches, ready to launch off into the air the instant an insect comes into sight. This class of birds keep down the larger flying insects. The small warblers and creepers help to free the foliage from insects, while the woodpeckers and nuthatches hunt for eggs of insects and beetles on the tree trunks. The feathered army that takes care of the ground is composed of crows, robins, meadow-larks and sparrows. The last is one of the most useful groups. Unobtrusive as they are, they lay the farmer under a helvy debt of gratitude, since their chosen fare consists largely of the seeds of weeds. It was est matcd in 1910 that the sparrow family saved to our farmers over eighty-nine million dollars. Hawks and crows do more good than harm. You call them thieves and pillagersg but know 'lhcy are the wiiiged wardens of your farms, ' Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe, And from your liarvests keep a hundred harms, Even the blackest of them all, the crow, Renders good service as your man-at-arms, Crushirg tlee beetle in his coat of mail, And working havoc on the slug and snail. If we were deprived of the service of birds, the earth would soon become un- inhabitable. Perhaps one of the most wonderful things in bird life is their annual migra- tion. lt isnlt strange that birds leave the North when winter comes, but the marvel is that they should leave the abundant food and sunshine of the South and wing their way thousands of miles to build their nests and spend the short summer here, coming not only to the same town but often to their last year's nesting place. The Arctic tern is said to be the great- est of all travelers: it breeds as far north as it can nnd land and winters as far south as it can find open water from which to take its food. So it makes a round trip of twenty-two fthousand miles a year. Imagine the tiny ruby-throated humming-bird, whose outstretched wings barely measure two inches, journeying from New England to Central America. lt is surprising to learn that no one knows the winter quarters of the chimney swift as they are able wholly to vanish from the knowledge of man for five months of the year. As soon as the young are old enough to hunt a little for themselves, the families slowly move southg others join them until, on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, they become an innumerable host, then they disappear. In the last week of March there comes again out of the sky a great twittering, and the swifts have re- turned, from whence nobody knows. Vastly amazing is the flight of the golden plover, who leaves the coast of Nova Scotia, striking straight across the ocean for South America, twenty-four hundred miles away. Those on the Pa- cihc coast go across an islandless sea from Alaska to Hawaii. Who knows by what compass they steer for that speck in the greatest of oceans?

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THE ACADEMY BELL 15 Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these? Do you ne'er think who made them and who tauglt The dialect they speak, where melodies Alone are the interpreters of thought?'l Scientists have studied and classified thirteen hundred species of birds. They are found all over the world and are of a great many forms and colors. Compare a humming bird with an ostrich, a swal- low with a penguin, and the wide varia- tions in structure and habits is brought forcibly to the mind. Strange as it may seem, it has been found that the widely divergent types descended from a com- mon reptilian ancestor. There is much evidence to prove this, but the most con- clusive is furnished by the discovery. in llavaria, of several specimens of remark- ab'e fossils-a reptile-like bird having teeth. Thus the different kinds of birds, like the different races of men. have been molded by climate and conditions of life into the various types. The habit of a bird determines largely the form of its feet. bill, wings and tail. The swimming birds have developed webs beiween the tees: the bill of the hum- ming-bird enables it to reach its food through tulies of deepest flowers. The woodcock, who thrusts its bill into the mud for earthworms, has acquired the power of moving the upper manible indelqendently of the lower one, thus us- ing it as a finger to draw out its food. lts eyes after generations of looking backward for enemies while its head is down have come to be placed far back on the head. The greatest number of birds depend chiefly upon the protective coloring of their plumage for defense, and the more closely they harmonize with their sur- roundings the more likely are they to escape the watchful eyes of their foes. The female requires the better protection, for in the great majority of cases she builds the nest, covers the eggs and cares for the young. The mother oriole needs to reflect in her feathers the olive green, soft grayish brown, and yellow of the leaves. twigs and sunlight among which she lives. After the family cares are over, the bobolink changes his black, white and buff suit to a winter one of streaked brown like his mate, because they will go south and live among the brown grasses and sedges. The bittern looks more like a stump than a bird as he stands motion- less in his marshy home with his neck stretched upward. Arctic birds turn white in winter so they will match the snow. Our birds are divided into about thirty- six families. Some of these families are large, while in some we have only one representative-as in the case of the hum- ming-bfrd. There are five hundred species known, but only one, the ruby-throat, comes to us. I do not know how many species of birds we have, but at my home I have identified one hundred eleven. XVe know how much beauty and music birds add to their surroundlngs, but do we realize the real usefulness of them? Longfellow must have or he never would have written the Birds of Killingworthf, Entomologists have estimated that in- sects yearly cause a loss of upwards of S7tJU,tJolb,lJ0tJ to the agricultural interests of the United States. XVere it not for

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36 THE ACADEMY BELL team of Fryeburg played the final half. L- Gray, C C, 15dQ6COml1 Q Ballard, rg rg, Stearns 'lhe summary: Aqardy lg Ig, Elliclt lflwanukrz NORTH CoNwAy C. Gray, rf rf, James Garland, lf lf, Allard Davidson, c c, Twombley Buzzell, rg rg, Kennerson Hill, lg lg, Quint Substitutions: Fryeburg, Hill for C. Gray, Ballard for Hill, Allard for Garland, L. Gray for Davidson, Burnell for Buzzell, L. M. Gray for Burnell. Goals from Hoor: L. S. Gray 9, Garland 7, Davidson 6, C. Gray -1, Hill -1, E. Allard 2, L. M. Gray, Ballard, Keniterson, Twombley, Allard, james. Goals from fouls: James 3, Garland 72, L. S. Gray. Referee, LaCasce. Timer, Newton. Scorer, Davis. Time of periods, two 20-minute periods. lfryeburg lost its fourth game of the season to Thornton Academy 18-16. The game was close and exciting, Cour- tois dropping the ball through the goal just as the final whistle blew. The summary : FRYEBURG THORNTON ACADEMY C. Gray, rf rf, Milliken Garland, lf lf, Carson Davidson, c c, Courtois Buzzel', rg rg, Worthing Hill, lg lg, Abbott Goals from Hoor: Garland 4, Milliken 3, Worthing 2, Abbott, Courtois, Gray and Davidson. Goals from fouls: Worthing 4, Davidson 2, Garland and Gray. Referee, La- Casce. Scorer, Davis. Timer, Newton. Time of periods, two 20-minute periods. The second team easily defeated Por- ter High at Kezar Falls, 68-20. Lyman Gray and Keefe starred. The summary : FRYEBURG PORTER Hill, rf rf, Stacy Keefe, lf lf, Stock Goals from door: L. Gray 11, Keefe 11, Hill 7, Ballard rl, Elliot 3, Edgecomb 4, Stacy 3. Biddeford gave Fryeburg its last black eye of the year in a fast and exciting game by the score of 21-15. The summary: FRYYBURG BIDDEFURD C. Gray, lf lf, Johnson Garland, rf rf, Doran Davidson, c c, Darcy Buzzell, rg rg, Donahue Hill, lg lg, Silverman Substitutions : Fryeburg, Keefe for Gar'andq Biddeford, Donovan for Doran. Goals from floor: johnson 8, Gray 2, Davidson 2, Garland 2, Doran. Goals from fouls: Gray 3, Silver- man 3. Referee, Marston. Scorer, Davis. Timer, Newton. Time of periods, four 10- minute periods. Fryeburg won a fast and exciting game from llridgton High on their tloor, -11-10. llridgton led in the last minute of play when Gray shot a basket just as the whistle blew. Colleton starred for Uridgton, while the whole liryeburg team played consistently. The game was a successful ending for a successful season. The summary : FRY1-:nuns BRIDTITKYN HIGH C. Gray, lf lf, Liepold Garland, rf rf, Colleton Davidson, c c, Palmer Ruzzell, rg rg, Humphries Hill, lg lg, Noyce Substitutions: Staley for Humphries, Hum- phries for Palmer, Sawyer for Staley. Goals from floor: Colleton 11, Davidson 8, Garland 6, Liepold 5, Gray 5, Humphries 3. Goals from fouls: Gray 3, Humphries 2. Referee, Duffy. Scorer, Warren. Timer, Davis. Time of periods, two 20-minute periods.