BIRDS OF NEW YORK 



53 



In addition to all these dangers to bird life we must add the direct 

 agency of man in destroying birds and taking their eggs, both for food, scien- 

 tific specimens, and for so called sport or idle curiosity. Perhaps the most 

 destructive class are the thoughtless boys who go birds' egging and shooting 

 indiscriminately; also foreigners, mostly Italians, who often kill all 

 kinds of birds for food, as they have been accustomed to do in their native 

 country; and the pot hunters and market gunners, who exterminate our 

 game without mercy. It is also a common occurrence in all parts of the 

 State to see gunners, who call themselves sportsmen, shooting at swifts, 

 swallows, meadowlarks, kingbirds etc. merely "for fun," or "for practice." 

 Mr Fuertes and myself once picked up i8 swallows which had been killed by 

 a gunner who was returning home, disappointed, from a morning's duck 

 shooting, and this was only a small portion of the number which he had 

 shot as the}- were hovering over the reeds of the Cayuga marshes. Bitterns, 

 grebes, owds and herons are killed by many gunners at every opportunity. 

 It is probable that such acts are largely the result of thoughtlessness or 

 ignorance, and it is to be hoped that by spreading a knowledge of our native 

 birds, thereby arousing a pride and interest in their welfare, we may over- 

 come a large portion of this wanton destructiveness. 



We have not vet mentioned the dangers to which birds are subjected 

 in the due course of nature without the interference of man. The most 

 obvious of these arises from the attacks of predaceous animals. Gyrfalcons, 

 Duck hawks, goshawks. Snowy and Great homed owls are destructive to 

 ducks, grouse and other large liirds. Pigeon, Cooper and Sharp-shinned 

 hawks feed mostly upon sparrows, thrushes and other small birds. All 

 the species of hawks and owls occasionallv kill other birds, as is also true 

 of shrikes, crows, ja\-s and Crow blackbirds. The three last mentioned 

 are especiallv destructive to eggs and }'Oung lairds. I have known man\- 

 instances of crows carr\-ing away robins and other young birds wlien 

 nearlv readv to leave the nest and liave seen Crow blackbirds follow and 

 kill \-oung robins which were able to fly several I'ods. I once saw a Bittern 

 followed so both- l)v a troop of redwings that she dropped the }'oung bird 



