THE INVITATION 223 



a small island in the Pacific Ocean, situated about 

 two hundred miles off Cape St. Lucas, to procure 

 specimens. The island was but a few miles in 

 extent, and had probably never been visited half a 

 dozen times by human beings. The naturalist found 

 the birds and water-fo^ls so tame that it was but 

 a waste of ammunition to shoot them. Fixing a 

 noose on the end of a long stick, he captured them 

 by putting it over their necks and hauling them to 

 him. In some cases not even this contrivance was 

 needed. A species of mockingbird in particular, 

 larger than ours and a splendid songster, made 

 itself so familiar as to be almost a nuisance, hopping 

 on the table where the collector was writing, and 

 scattering the pens and paper. Eighteen species 

 were found, twelve of them peculiar to the island. 



Thoreau relates that in the woods of Maine the 

 Canada jay will sometimes make its meal with the 

 lumbermen, taking the food out of their hands. 



Yet, notwithstanding the birds have come to look 

 upon man as their natural enemy, there can be little 

 doubt that civilization is on the whole favorable 

 to their increase and perpetuity, especially to the 

 smaller species. With man come flies and moths, 

 and insects of all kinds in greater abundance; new 

 plants and weeds are introduced, and, with the 

 clearing up of the country, are sowed broadcast over 

 the land. 



The larks and snow buntings that come to us 

 from the north subsist almost entirely upon the 

 Beeds of grasses and plants; and how many of our 



