Nature's First Law 



beyond computing around the gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 But when a bird lays only one egg a year as the auk 

 did, and when lawless men not only robbed a colony 

 of all its eggs but clubbed thousands of old birds to 

 death, extinction followed speedily. Far better for 

 pigeons and auks had they scattered themselves over 

 a wide area and had pairs nested apart. Better, too, 

 for their race, if instead of prolonged grief over a 

 lost mate they had followed the example of the 

 happy-go-lucky English sparrows. 



A pair of these prolific little pests began to 

 build in the shutter of a New Jersey country house. 

 The ornithologist who lived there shot the male, 

 but in less than an hour the widow returned 

 triumphantly with his successor. He likewise was 

 promptly killed, and so was the third mate and the 

 fourth, and so on and on until sixty cheerful volun- 

 teers had been ensnared to their death through the 

 charms of the equally cheerful widow. Of course, 

 the ornithologist claims that he did this execution 

 purely in the interests of science! 



i ii 



