PRELIMINARY MATTERS 207 



question that in the course, say of even a decade, great ad- 

 vance will be made. Under reasonably favourable condi- 

 tions, and with proper care and instruction, people can hope 

 for some results even from the first, and the chances are that 

 success will steadily increase . The pleasure and satisfaction 

 found in such work will be great. 



Cautions. At the same time it may be well to call atten- 

 tion to certain limitations, so that hopes may not be aroused 

 which are unlikely to be realized. Children especially will 

 be told how nice it is to attract birds as pets and how easy it 

 is to put up a large number of boxes and have the garden full 

 of birds. They begin with enthusiasm, but most of the 

 boxes may be promptly taken by the English sparrow, and 

 few or no native birds appear. Then they get discouraged 

 and abandon the attempt. So there are some other points 

 to bear in mind, aside from the obvious one of getting rid of 

 the pests. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, 

 called my attention to the obvious fact that, owing to the 

 limitations of the food supply, only about so many birds of 

 a kind can live in a given area. Moreover, one pair of 

 birds of some species are accustomed to preempt a certain 

 area of ground as their own private hunting preserve, and 

 drive off all others of their own kind. The frequent scarcity 

 of birds below the normal is also a factor in making increase 

 slow, since there is not enough stock to go around. 



Hence people should not be disheartened if the results are 

 small and slow at first, but should continue patiently. It is 

 wise to begin on a small scale, and let the "business " have a 

 normal growth. Yet, on the other hand, there are locations 

 capable of considerable increase of bird life, though there 

 are also conditions under which birds can never be attracted 

 in numbers till these are made better. 



