]So. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 485 



The o-asoline launch is a potent factor in the killing or 

 driving out of the ducks along our coasts and rivers. It is 

 used illegally to get within range of the bay ducks, and its 

 constant use in the rivers of the eastern counties frightens 

 the ducks away from their former haunts. 



Telegraph, Telephone and TroUeij Wire?^. — The wires of 

 telegraph, telephone and trolley companies annually cause 

 the death of hundreds if not thousands of birds, which fly 

 against them in the night or even by day. I have had 

 many woodcock brought to me that had been killed in 

 this way. Mr. George M. Poland of AVakefield says that 

 many woodcock and rails are killed thus. Grouse are also 

 killed by these wires, and by wire fences against which they 

 fly ; while the number of the smaller birds that are killed 

 by trolley wires would probably be astonishing if it could 

 be known. 



Lighthouses and electric light towers destroy thousands 

 of birds, which fly against them during nocturnal migrations. 



Man also contributes to destroy and drive away birds by 

 introducing creatures which molest or kill them. Such are 

 the introduction of the monofoose into Jamaica and other 

 islands, and the importation into this country of the do- 

 mestic cat and dog, the English sparrow, the house rats 

 and mice, and possibly that of the starling and pheasant. 

 These will be considered under the head of natural enemies. 



Gutting off Timber and Undergrowth. — The greatly in- 

 creased demand for pine lumber brings in the portable saw- 

 mill, one of the chief contributing causes to the diminution 

 of hawks, owls, grouse, and all birds which breed, or seek 

 cover, in a heav}^ pine growth. Mr. Prentiss says: "A 

 man who is a good shot can now, with a <log, follow and 

 kill nearly every bird he flushes ; while formerly at least GO 

 per cent of the birds flushed in a day's hunting would take 

 to the heavy growth of pine, and escape at least for that 

 day." Everywhere I go in eastern Massachusetts the white 

 pine is being cut off. Thousands of acres were cut in the 

 State last year. The demand is everywhere increasing. 

 The great storm of November, 1898, uprooted acres of large 

 pine timber in Plymouth County. Then came the coal strike 



