ECONOMIC VALUE OF OUR BIRDS 61 



New York than they now are. I am quite certain 

 that their disappearance has been caused by the 

 slaughter of them for food, in the North by the 

 Italians, and in the South by negroes. In October, 

 1905, two special game wardens of the New York 

 Zoological Society arrested in the northern part of 

 New York City two Italian guerrillas of destruc- 

 tion who had in their possession forty-three insec- 

 tivorous birds, five of which were woodpeckers. 



Now that the federal migratory bird law is in 

 force, and the strong hand of the national govern- 

 ment is to be put forth everywhere in behalf of such 

 birds as these, we are given new hope for the 

 stoppage of the slaughter of our most useful birds, 

 and the return of the millions that have vanished. 



The group of Martins and Swallows forms a 

 clearly cut avian order, every member of which is 

 a potent force in insect destruction. Like the night- 

 hawk, they operate in mid-air, chasing flying insects 

 in full flight, and devouring them on the wing. 

 They operate in a field of activity that is inaccessible 

 to man, and the marvelous perfection with which 

 they perform their special function is almost 

 enough to compel us to go back to the old belief in 

 special creation. 



The insectivorous habits of the martins and the 

 swallows have long been known. Even the dullest 

 swamp-mucker who ever carried a gun could not 

 by any possibility shut his eyes and his brain to the 

 spectacle presented by these graceful birds hunting 



