AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 43 



warn other less suspicious birds of approaching danger and cause them 

 to escape, to the disgust of the hunter. Their flight is usually quite 

 straight or in gentle curves, except sometimes when suddenly startled 

 they may resort to the zig-zag mode of flight adopted by many of the 

 shore birds. They are very devoted parents and, were they able, would 

 forcibly protect their young, but, being birds they have to resort to 

 numerous artifices to draw intruders away, such as feigning broken 

 wings, legs, etc. If these devices fail they will stand off at a safe dis^ 

 tance and continually repeat their cry until danger is past. 



They are very often found in cultivated fields, where they often lay 

 their eggs. They run rapidly and gracefully along, in the furrows, 

 catching insects which form a large part of their food. They often 

 escape notice by standing perfectly still, their colors matching their 

 surrounding perfecty. The downy young are especially adept in thus 

 concealing themselves. 



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The man who returns in after years to the haunts of his early boy- 

 hood realizes, if he be in touch with Nature, the great decay of bird 

 life. It was my fortune to return once to the old homestead and 

 wander among the wood paths and down the meadow brook that was 

 of yore replete with feathered songsters. Alas, now you can hardly 

 hear the sound of a happy bird voice. All day long I sought for the 

 presence of my youthful friends, the Thrushes, Vireos and Sparrows 

 and sought in vain. Nowhere in the deep blue of Heaven's vast 

 vault could I see the circling form of sailing hawk. In the deep beech 

 woods where once was the Partridge wont to beat his "throbbing drum" 

 now was silence. I sought in my pilgrimage for the nest of the merry 

 little Quail beneath the blackberry bush beside the old line fence and 

 found it not. What, I ask myself, is the cause? The answer was 

 found in a man with a basket and climbing irons wheeling along the 

 high road upon nesting bent. Thousands upon thousands of birds are 

 every year robbed of their homes to pander to the taste of men and 

 women who are possessed by the idea that by collecting eggs they are 



