90 BIRDS OF SWOPE PARK 



Cuckoos, Vireos, Thrashers and Catbirds, but even here the 

 birds were not without their enemies, for the Shrikes made 

 good use of the hedge thorns for holding young birds, as well 

 as mice, while they picked the delicate morsels to bits. The 

 graceful, gliding Blue-racer Blacksnake hid in the tall weeds 

 and when field mice grew scarce, would climb up among the 

 branches of the shrubs, find the eggs and young birds in the 

 nest, and swallow them whole, quite unconcerned over the 

 frantic cries and paralyzed fear of the parents. 



But the hedge rows took up too much of the valuable 

 prairie cornfield, so the hedge was pulled up by the roots; 

 the weeds and bushes were plowed up, and a neat, straight, 

 wire fence has taken the place of the bird-arbor hedge. No 

 place here for the birds to hide! 



The results are not quite so tragic, however, as the fore- 

 going would seem to imply. More and more, through the in- 

 fluence of literature and lectures and schools and societies, 

 the economic value of birds is being presented to the public. 

 Slowly, but surely, the lessons are being learned, and just as 

 surely as they are comprehended, will there be results in the 

 way of efforts to attract birds about the home, and in the pro- 

 tection of others that prefer to stay in the fields and woods. 



This campaign for bird conservation is but begun, which 

 means that much remains to be done. The lessons have not 

 yet been sufficiently impressed, and we still find yards with- 

 out shrubs or vines. Cats are still turned out to hunt their 

 food as best they can. There is an almost universal absence 

 of drinking fountains and bathing pools for the birds, and 



