Bird Study. 161 



less slaughter of birds is not soon checked there will be oblitera- 

 tion from regions where in former years they were abundant. 



This is true of the humming-bird, blue-bird, wren, common 

 quail and ruflBed grouse; also the heron, pelican and many smaller 

 birds of Florida. The causes are many but the greatest is 

 thoughtlessness on the part of young and old of both sexes. 

 Tommy wants a gun — he teases persistently until his fond par- 

 ents finally submit and one is procured — Tommy tries his mark- 

 manship, result: he shoots all the birds he can in his vicinity. 



Collectors of eggs are also responsible. Forest fires are an- 

 other source of this destruction and many of these fires are known 

 to be the work of incendiaries. Fashion at present^ is the 

 greatest enemy to bird life; when the ladies need new bonnets 

 nothing else will do for adornment; though 10,000 sweet songs 

 be hushed forever. The killing of the white heron, for example, 

 to procure the much prized aigrettes for millinery purposes. By 

 far the life of a greater number of these birds are sacrificed dur- 

 ing the nesting season, when their plumage is brightest. It has 

 been known that the slaughter of marsh and maritime birds has 

 been followed by an increase in human mortality among the in- 

 habitants of the coasts, the birds having formerly assisted in 

 keeping the beaches free from decaying animal matter. 



Not many years ago, New Orleans had a plague of bugs, just as 

 the yellow fever began, and strange as it may seem the bugs 

 proved far more troublesome than the disease. People called it 

 a mystery. Scientists declared it was merely the result of man's 

 improvidence in destroying the birds. Nature surely had re- 

 venged herself on New Orleans. 



There is no bird that can compare with the chickadee in des- 

 troying the cankerworm moth. It has been calculated that one 

 chickadee in one day destroys over 5,000 eggs. A certain man 

 attracted chickadees to one of his orchards, feeding them there 

 in winter, and he says: " that in the following summer while trees 

 of the neighboring orchards were seriously infested by canker- 

 worms and caterpillars, the orchard where the chickadees had 

 been, no serious damage was done by the worms or caterpillars." 



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