No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 507 



Nantucket, sends reports of an increase of these birds. The 

 only reports of an increase in the cities come from Fitch- 

 burg, Lowell and Waltham ; all the rest come from towns, 

 and many from the smaller and more remote villages. All 

 this seems to indicate that, outside the larger cities, the 

 sparrows are still increasing in numbers and extending their 

 baleful influence. 



Evidence recently submitted to, and published by, Mr. 

 C. A. Reed, editor of " American ornithology," * from cor- 

 respondents in different parts of the country, indicates that 

 the sparrow is still destructive to other birds. The spar- 

 row is largely responsible for the decrease in swallows, mar- 

 tins and wrens. For more than thirty years it has driven 

 these and other birds from their former breeding places, 

 torn down their nests and killed them and their young. 

 The tree swallows and martins have been driven from the 

 bird-houses. The nests of the cliff swallows have been torn 

 down or occupied by the sparrows. The barn swallows 

 have been driven from the buildings they formerly occupied, 

 and because of this persecution the wrens have actually dis- 

 appeared from the neighborhood of towns and villages. If 

 the sparrow is still increasing and spreading out into the 

 country, we may look for a continued decrease of swallows 

 and wrens. 



Hawks. Every one will admit that hawks kill birds. 

 Thirty-four observers consider them seriously destructive. 

 It is to be noted, however, that, as in the case of the fox, 

 the chief evidence is given by gunners. Nevertheless, it is 

 probably true that, after man, the great bird destroyer, 

 birds are among the greatest enemies of birds. No other 

 animals can pursue birds through the air. No others can 

 follow them in their vast migrations, discover them so far 

 off, or overtake and strike them so quickly. We must, 

 then, look among rapacious birds themselves for some of 

 the most potent checks to bird increase. 



The bald eagle feeds mainly on fish, and has little effect on 

 the numbers of other birds. The red-tailed hawk is not now 

 generally common. The red-shouldered hawk seldom kills 



Vol. 4, No. 5, May, 1904. 



