Papers on the Deslruetion of Native Birds, 203 



eggs than somebody else, just as boys collect buttons and postage 

 stamps. These collections aggregate ten or twelve thousand eggs, 

 perha|)s one-'lialf or two-thirds being from this immediate vicinity. 

 I think also the egg collector is on the increase. I therefore con- 

 clude that the small boy is a formidable competitor with the dom- 

 estic cat as a bird enemy in thickly settled suburbs. 



The summary disposition of the "ornithological tramps," as 

 this paper (\vhich has so high a regard for scientific accuracy and 

 such a poor opinion of sentiment)' styles the egrets, herons, gulls, 

 terns and shore birds of use for nothing but their feathers ! — a 

 direct waste by nature of so much raw material. I am glad most 

 lovers of nature have enough sentiment in them to see other and 

 far more important uses for these beautiful birds than a few 

 feathers. 



In conclusion, I would say, at the last meeting of the society I 

 was asked if I had noticed any great diminution in the numbers of 

 our small birds. I replied no, but my observation was confined to 

 a place where birds are somewhat protected, in the woods. This 

 spring I found but very few birds, but attributed it to seasonable 

 influences. As my own observations had covered so small an 

 extent in 1886, I have interviewed quite a number of persons in- 

 terested in birds, and jiersons whom I knew to be accurate and 

 competent observers. Their answers were, invariably, b rds are 

 much scarcer than they were some years ago. 



Mr. Cliff Allen said that in Glendale, near the park, birds 

 were, he thought, about as abundant as ever, but outside the village 

 their numbers had decreased to a marked extent - particularly so 

 were the red headed woodpeckers, which the boys had used as a 

 target for their guns. Mr. W. A. Clark, President of the vVyom- 

 ing Shooting Club, stated that in the towns where birds were pro- 

 tected they had not decreased, but in the country around he noticed 

 their much diminished numbers. 



