WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



must on no account shoot any, for if one was killed 

 his cows would give bloody milk, and that so long 

 as the swallows inhabited the barns his buildings 

 were in no danger of being struck by lightning. 

 The arrival of the fish-hawk or osprey on the New 

 Jersey coast, at the vernal equinox, notes the be- 

 ginning of the fishing-season. In some parts of 

 New England the appearance of the golden-winged 

 woodpecker means the same thing, for the bird 

 is known as the ''shad-spirit.'' The coming of 

 both is therefore hailed with satisfaction, and it is 

 considered so ''lucky'' to have an osprey nesting 

 upon one's farm that proprietors cherish its huge 

 house in the lone tree with uncommon care, recall- 

 ing the reverent fostering that a family of storks 

 will enjoy from the peasant of the Netherlands on 

 whose roof their nest has been placed. 



The result of all these circumstances, as it seems 

 to me, is that the aggregate army of singing birds 

 in the United States, east of the Mississippi, has 

 been very considerably enlarged during the last 

 two centuries, and is still on the increase. This 

 can be owing only to the fact that by cutting down 

 the forests, etc., civilized man has multiplied the 

 sources of bird food, has increased the number of 

 places suitable for nesting and rearing the young, 



2x8 



