BIRD PROTECTION 371 



it is now a well-known fact that some of the most 

 renowned vineyards have been entirely ruined by the 

 Phylloxera, an insect which can scarcely be seen by the 

 naked eye. 



In former times, w 7 hen a great deal of uncultivated 

 land covered the plain, in its natural state, the air rang 

 with the song of birds. Woods, meadows, thickets and 

 pools were thronged with the feathered songsters. In 

 the course of time, however, things have greatly changed ; 

 in many districts the woods are thinned or grubbed up, 

 the plough has torn up the meadows ; every little scrap of 

 thicket has been hewn down ; whole forests are being 

 cut down by degrees to supply the paper mills; and so 

 the birds are losing their nesting places, and death and 

 destruction lurk in waiting for them on their migrations. 

 Devastating storms which overtake the immigrant flocks 

 often destroy the feathered wanderers in great numbers. 

 This, however, is the course of Nature, against which 

 we are impotent. 



After all the birds' worst enemy is man, with his 

 ignorance, or, still worse, his cupidity/ He has 

 plundered the nest and destroyed the brood ; he grudges 

 every grain of corn which the bird has richly deserved 

 by its work throughout the year. 



Steamers and railroads make it possible for birds, 

 which are caught by millions, to be sent alive into the 

 great cities as delicacies of the table. So, from year to 

 year, they are becoming rarer. 



So much the more are we bound, for the good of 

 heart and soul, as well as for the blessing of the land 

 and its workers to protect the useful birds as much as 

 we conscientiously can so that they may increase in 

 numbers. 



