78 



Bird Notes and News 



The Breeding Range of Birds. 



Readers of Bird Notes and News will 

 remember that in his latest work, " Adven- 

 tures among Birds," Mr. W H. Hudson 

 expresses the opinion that if Nightingales 

 should be more fully protected they would 

 probably extend their range in England. 



" That man's persecution tells seriously 

 on the species may be seen from what has 

 happened on the Continent, even in countries 

 where the hateful custom of eating nightin- 

 gales with all small birds is unknown, but 

 where it is greatly sought after as a cage- 

 bird. Thus in Southern Germany the 

 nightingales have been decreasing for very 

 many years and are now generally rare 

 and have been wholly extirpated in many 

 parts. With us, too, the drain on the 

 species has been too heavy ; it is, or has 

 been, a double drain — that of bird-nesting 

 boys and of the birdcatchers. . . . 



" The bird is exceedingly reluctant to 

 leave his home, but if the annual increase 

 was greater, a third greater let us say, 

 more and more birds would be compelled 

 to go further afield." 



Commenting on tliis, Mr. Henry Oldys, 

 the well-known American ornithologist, 

 writes that what Mr. Hudson predicts of 

 Nightingales in England has occurred in 

 the case of several species in America 



" The Mocking-bird and Cardinal {Cardin- 

 alis cardinalis) were once extensively trapped 

 for the cage trade. Nuttall tells of one 

 shipment of 1800 Cardinals disposed of 

 readily in Havana. ' We have changed all 

 that,' and the two sj)ecies have been per- 

 mitted to increase naturally. Both are of 

 the kind of birds that thrive readily under 

 conditions of greater settlement of the 



country, as they nest freely about the 

 homestead. Hence we should naturally 

 look for an increase in their numbers. But 

 instead of showing a thickening in the 

 normal region, each species has displayed 

 a marked tendency to extend its range. 

 The Cardinal has changed from ' rare ' to 

 ' common ' in northern Illinois and other 

 parts of the northern border of its range ; 

 ^nd the Mocking-bird has become common 

 in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., where 

 I formerly noted one about every five years. 



" Similarly with the so-called American 



Robin {Merula migratoria), which is the 



counterpart in size and shape of your 



Blackbird. The breeding range of the 



Robin extends from a short distance north 



of the Gulf Coast as far toward the Pole 



as trees are found — and the tree-belt of 



Canada touches the Arctic Ocean in two 



places. In the Northern States the bird 

 is revered as a cheery harbinger of spring, 

 as a bright and sometimes beautiful singer, 

 and as a very friendly fellow. In the 

 Southern States, where he swarms in winter, 

 where he is silent (or nearly so), where he 

 heralds nothing, swings no cradle, and avoids 

 his human neighbours, the chief liking that 

 attaches to him is gustatory not sentimental, 

 and the bird is very much sought as a tooth- 

 some ingredient of ' pot-pie.' But the 

 northern friends of the bird have arisen in 

 protest and a campaign of education has 

 softened the southern heart or, at least, by 

 means of new laws, restrained the southern 

 hand. No longer do tales of the slaughter 

 of millions of Robins in the south lloat 

 northward. . . . Instead, millions of live 

 Robins, additional to the normal number, 

 spread themselves over the land. Formerly 

 an abundant migrant but rare winter and 

 summer resident in my neighbourhood 

 (8 miles north of Washington, D.C.), it is 

 now abundant in spring, summer and 

 autumn, and fairly so in winter." 



