312 ZOOLOGY 



noxious insects are destroyed ; or injurious, as when grain- 

 fields are ravaged or other birds are destroyed. Un- 

 questionably the vast majority of birds are commercially 

 advantageous to man. The Rapt ores are only partially so, 

 for they feed entirely upon animal food, chiefly birds and 

 small (usually destructive) mammals. The bobolink and 

 the American crow, to be sure, together annually destroy 

 millions of dollars' worth of grain, yet during the breeding 

 season they both feed much upon insects. Outside of the 

 group llaptores, there are few, if any, completely noxious 

 birds, and even many of the hawks are efficient destroyers 

 of insects. Legislation directed toward the destruction of 

 any kind of birds, excepting the English sparrow and the 

 Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawk, is quite as apt to do 

 harm as good. 



Bird Protection. Travellers in certain parts of Europe, 

 where the poverty and ignorance of the people have led 

 them to prey upon birds, have remarked on the desolation 

 of a birdless country. The natural enemies of insects 

 being destroyed, there is no adequate check to the destruc- 

 tion of vegetation by them and the beauty of a forest 

 landscape is missing. North America has been richly 

 provided witli a native bird fauna ; but within the last 

 few years it has become plain that most of our species are 

 undergoing reduction, and many are near extermination. 

 Careful inquiries recently made indicate that during the 

 past fifteen years the number of our common song-birds 

 has been reduced one-half, and the number of certain birds 

 prized as food or ornament has been reduced to one-fourth. 

 At the present rate, extermination of many species will 

 occur during the lives of most of us. The causes of this 

 destruction of birds are numerous. The most efficient 



