304 NATURE STUDY AND AGRICULTURE 



and feeding places of many birds have been destroyed. 

 These birds have been compelled to do one of three things : 

 retreat to more inaccessible haunts, adapt themselves to the 

 new conditions, or give up their lives in the struggle. 



While several species have become practically extermi- 

 nated, many have succeeded in adjusting themselves to the 

 changed conditions and thrive just as well, or better, under 

 the new order of things as under the old. 



There are other causes, however, which constantly tend 

 toward the destruction of our birds. Among these are 

 cats, English sparrows, and other natural foes, besides the 

 indiscriminate shooting of birds on the part of many 

 hunters. 



Another important cause is the wholesale robbing of 

 nests, and often the destruction of entire broods of young 

 birds by boys who are seized with a mania for collecting 

 eggs. Like many other fads the collecting craze is danger- 

 ously contagious. Let one boy in a village or school dis- 

 trict catch the disease and a score of others are attacked 

 immediately. The result is that almost every nest for 

 miles around is spied out and ruthlessly pillaged. 



Occasionally this may result in value to the collector. 

 It may bring about a genuine love for the birds and a 

 knowledge of their lives and habits that is worth while, but 

 in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred the result is a 

 lessening of the number of birds without gain or profit of 

 any kind to the boys. 



Another cause of bird destruction is the prevailing 

 fashion of decorating women's hats with bird skins, wings, 

 breasts, etc. The number of birds sacrificed for this pur- 

 pose every year is appalling. An editorial in the Forest and 



