No. 4.] BIRDS USEFUL TO AGRICULTURE. 61 



now an exceedingly rare bird. This remarkably useful bird 

 — one of the few that feed on the Colorado potato beetle — r 

 has been so nearly exterminated that the smaller, darker 

 southern variety has been introduced by sportsmen to fill its 

 place. These birds have probably interbred with the larger 

 northern birds, and have practically wiped out the remnants 

 of the race. Our sportsmen have at last awakened to the 

 fact that even the wily grouse may go the way of the quail, 

 plover and woodcock ; and a law has been enacted making it 

 a punishable offence to sell any of these birds shot in this 

 State. 



Many of the smaller birds, once very common here, are 

 now comparatively scarce. A western naturalist, coming 

 east, at once noticed the scarcity of birds, as contrasted with 

 their abundance now in certain of the western States. It 

 will not do to say that we can do nothing toward increasing 

 their numbers. We certainly have done much to reduce them. 

 We know that it is in man's power to make conditions which 

 will favor their increase. Our bird laws are fairly good, but 

 they are not enforced. Birds are slaughtered, by thousands, 

 as they ever were, bj' boys, cats, immigrants, pot hunters 

 and would-be sportsmen. Of those birds which escape the 

 slaughter, only about one pair in five manage to rear their 

 young to maturity. When this destruction of our birds can 

 be checked, then, and then only, will the birds begin to 

 reoccupy their rightful economic position in our midst. 



It is gratifying to note that the United States government 

 is now taking an active interest in bird protection. The 

 passage of the ' ' Lacey act " by Congress and the measures 

 taken for its enforcement by Dr. T. S. Palmer, the capable 

 and energetic assistant chief of the Biological Survey, give 

 promise that the illegal slaughter and sale of birds for milli- 

 nery purposes, as well as their illegal sale in the game mar- 

 kets, may in time be stopped. This is a work in which the 

 authorities here should heartily co-operate. 



