35 



to know that it is for his own interest to protect all birds from 

 undue or illegal slaughter. We may except also the scientific 

 ornithologist, who kills birds only when necessary to further 

 the interests of science. In the present state of ornithological 

 science, there are very few men who should find it necessary 

 to kill many birds for this purpose. It is the irresponsible 

 gunner boy or man, who shoots, in season or out, anything 

 which comes within the range of his gun, from a hen to a chick- 

 adee, for sport or practice, as the case may be who should 

 be suppressed. The trolley cars, which flood the country, 

 especially on Sundays and other holidays, with gunners and 

 fishermen from the cities, have increased the danger to the 

 birds from this class of people. A large proportion of these 

 people are foreigners, or of foreign extraction. Since the 

 trolley roads came into Wareham, we have had occasion to 

 warn many of these people away from the premises. Usually 

 when spoken to they have replied in broken English. Many 

 of these foreigners shoot and trap song birds to eat. The 

 natural destructive propensities of our own children may 

 readily be controlled by education, by teaching them to take 

 an interest in birds, their songs and habits, and by showing 

 them their usefulness. 



Having done what we could to protect the birds about the 

 farm from cats, dogs, gunners, English sparrows and boys, 

 we are still confronted with the undeniable fact that most 

 species of birds about the place are not increasing in numbers, 

 while some of them are decreasing. Some fail to breed at all, 

 while some are entirely absent in the breeding season. The 

 explanation of this lies largely in the fact that under protection 

 the jays increased mainly the first year, while the crows are 

 increasing regularly, and frequenting the place more and 

 more. It is to be regretted that, where all birds are protected 

 by man, birds are the greatest enemies of birds. I have previously 

 reported 1 that in the Middlesex Fells reservation near Boston 

 the crows appeared to have increased at the expense of the 

 smaller birds. This region came under my observation in 

 1891, when the committee in charge of the gypsy moth work 

 was first appointed. From that time until 1900 several observers 



1 Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1900, p. 50. 



