CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 547 



game farming becomes established in this country all the 

 enemies of the game will be well held in check, and their in- 

 fluence on the increase of game will be negligible. 



Telegraph, Telephone and Trolley Wires and Other 

 Obstructions. 



Some of the improvements and inventions of this era 

 cause much mortality among birds. Lighthouses, electric 

 light towers and wires, trolley and telegraph wires, etc., maim 

 or kill thousands of birds, which, in nocturnal flight, especially 

 in migration, dash themselves against these obstructions 

 erected in the air. Fortunately, most of the game birds seem 

 to escape such collisions, but Rails and Woodcock, which fly 

 low in their migrations, suffer severely. High wire fences, 

 such as are used for deer parks, kill many Grouse, which dash 

 against them, as they often do against the walls of houses 

 situated among trees or near woods. 



Minor Causes of the Decrease of Birds. 



There are many minor causes that are assigned for the 

 depletion of upland game birds, some of which appreciably 

 affect the numbers of birds. Among these are certain alter- 

 ations in agricultural conditions, such as changes from grain 

 raising to dairying, which have deprived these birds of a food 

 supply that they formerly utilized. The use of the mowing- 

 machine and the early cutting of grass disturb their nests. 



Lead poisoning is one of the minor causes of the decrease 

 of wild-fowl and game birds which may in time assume con- 

 siderable importance in localities where much shooting is done. 



Lead Poisoning. 



Hon. George Bird Grinnell, editor of Forest and Stream, 

 called attention to this unexpected danger in 1894, when its 

 effects were first noticed in America, although they were re- 

 ported in England in 1902 among Pheasants and Partridges, 

 and commented on in the London Field. Since 1894 cases of 



