284 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



in museums and in literature. The pileated wood- 

 pecker or log-cock, once abundant and second only 

 to the ivory-bill in size and beauty, is also nearly ex- 

 tinct in this State, occurring in small numbers only 

 in the densely wooded portions of the southern coun- 

 ties. Wild pigeons, formerly so numerous that flocks 

 of them were visible in the air for hours at a time, are 

 no longer seen; while wild turkeys, once the source 

 of many a day's exciting sport, have almost wholly 

 disappeared. Many species of hawks and owls are 

 becoming scarce on account of the unmitigated and 

 senseless warfare waged against them by persons 

 wholly ignorant of the good these birds do in preying 

 upon the hordes of smaller mammals and larger in- 

 jurious insects. 



On the other hand, that well known bird, the quail 

 or bob-white, was probably absent or confined to but 

 few localities in the State at the time of its first settle- 

 ment, and has steadily increased in numbers as the 

 forest has been cleared away. The lark-finch, a hand- 

 some member of the sparrow tribe, has made its way 

 in from the plains and prairies of the west and has 

 spread eastward as far as the Alleghanies. Its con- 

 gener, the dick-cissel or black-throated bunting once 

 rare now rolls forth at June time its characteristic 

 warble from the borders of every clover or grain field 

 in the State ; while that pestiferous alien, the English 

 sparrow, an enforced immigrant from good Great 

 Britain, has multiplied by countless thousands within 

 the past decade. 



Many other instances of decrease or increase in the 

 number of birds, caused either directly or indirectly 



