IKHben Oraas is (3reen 



was needed, and now the whole farm is an aviary. 

 If I have any fault to find it is that to listen to- 

 any one bird is difficult, so many are singing. 



We hear the complaint now that there are no 

 bluebirds; and even the suggestion is made that 

 they may be becoming extinct. But what can we 

 expect ? The blizzards are blamed, but the fault 

 is largely at our own doors. Who takes the trouble 

 to kill the pestiferous sparrows and allow the blue- 

 birds undisturbed possession of available nesting- 

 places ? And how seldom is the child reproved 

 who climbs to the hollow in the old apple-tree 

 "just to look in," as he says. The birds are 

 frightened and perhaps make no other attempt at 

 nesting. Blue-birds are not extinct, although I 

 have not seen one during the present summer. 

 There is a colony of them on an island in the 

 river, where they are not worried by imported 

 pests. What is needed is a vigorous enforcement 

 of existing laws, and additional penalties upon 

 those who go about seeking what they may de- 

 stroy, as " collectors." The landowners are now 

 at a great disadvantage. If they shoot " collec- 

 tors " as they would mad dogs and destructive ver- 

 min, it is sure to give rise to no end of trouble, to 

 avoid which, the farmer must give up the useful 

 as well as ornamental birds upon his place. The 

 law is rotten, through and through. 



The chirp of crickets in the weeds by the old 

 worm-fence was now the prevailing sound, and the 

 rustling of the dead leaves where a snapping-turtle 

 105 



