310 NATURE STUDY AND LIFE 



towns, and even cities; and with more caution than pre- 

 ceded the introduction of the EngUsh sparrow, we might 

 bring about our homes the most beautiful songsters of 

 other lands. But the safer and wiser course will be to 

 begin by making the most of our native birds. These are a 

 heritage infinitely rich, developed through geological epochs 

 to fit exactly all the conditions of life on this continent. 

 It is no light matter to disturb this living harmony, as our 

 experience with the English sparrow bears testimony. 



With this wonderful power of increase the questions 

 naturally arise : Why do we not have many more birds 

 than we find about us ? Why have we not hundreds where 

 we have but one ? Has the natural limit been already 

 reached, so that attempts to increase the numbers would 

 be useless ? All such questions open important fields for 

 observation and study. Food supply for all seasons of 

 the year is the main factor in this series of problems. 

 This will be considered in a section by itself. The next 

 factors are natural enemies of bird life. In connection 

 with each element in nature which tends to decrease our 

 valuable bird life, we should endeavor to discover the 

 means of preventing its operation. That this matter is 

 now a national exigency, in the careful study of which 

 every patriotic citizen and every school child should par- 

 ticipate, may be duly appreciated by referring to William 

 T. Hornaday's recent paper ^ on the destruction of our 

 birds and mammals. We learn from this that durinc: the 



1 William T. Hornaday, Director of the New York Zoological Park. 

 "The Destruction of our Birds and Mammals," Second Annual Report, 

 New York Zoological Society. New York, 1898. Office of the Society, 

 69 Wall Street. 



