Recent Ornithological Publications. 353 



contains a translation by Mr. Henry L. B. Ibbetsou of a pam- 

 phlet on ' Destructive Insects, and the immense utility of Birds/ 

 by Professor von Tschudi. Of course the sympathies of every 

 ornithologist must be with both the author and his translator; 

 but this publication is not quite free from the fault, so common 

 in all others we have seen on the same subject, of assuming that 

 because one set of opinions is right, it follows that the contrary 

 set must be wrong. There is a good deal more to be said on 

 the other side of the question than many people will allow. We 

 hope it will not be supposed for an instant that we are defend- 

 ing the wholesale destruction of birds in any way ; but if man 

 disturbs the balance of nature in a good many ways, as he 

 assuredly does, it is clear that he is not a neutral power in the 

 great " struggle for life.^^ Hence one side often gets an undue 

 advantage, and requires a corresponding check to restore the 

 equilibrium. The following extract may serve to explain why 

 some species of birds, which are certainly not particularly perse- 

 cuted, often become scarce in localities where they were formerly 

 abundant, and it may also help to account for the often-noticed 

 scarcity of small birds on the Continent of Europe : — 



" Generally speaking, the progressive cultivation of the earth 



is not very favourable to animals living in freedom But 



it has been especially hostile to birds. The hospitable thickets 

 diminish yearly : man forces onward the limits of his domain ; 

 he masters the as yet uncultivated soil, and draws from it rich 

 harvests. Large tracts of woodland are cleared to supply the 

 wants of an increasing population and the heavy demands of 

 industry. The large trees formerly left standing in the midst 

 of a field, in which numberless small animals found a refuge, 

 are made away with, or replaced sometimes by the small fruit- 

 tree. Long rows of hedges, the hiding-place of a whole host of 

 birds, meet with the like fate; and these, too, were of othei" 

 use, for they attracted quantities of caterpillars, which fed on 

 their green leaves, and thus spared the orchards. All the little 

 nooks so useful to birds, both as hatching-places and hunting- 

 grounds, disappear one by one. In woods, the mistake of cutting 

 down, right and left, old trees full of small holes has been, unfor- 

 tunately, understood too late, and thereby numbers of the best 



VOL, V. 2 b 



