526 EEPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



not good, became swamps and sloughs. There birds peculiar to such 

 localities settled, among them Marsh Wrens, Rails, Gallinules, Swamp 

 Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds. As the orchard and garden de- 

 veloped, other birds, well known to us and greatly beloved for their 

 cheery, social ways, there made their home; such are the Orchard 

 Oriole, Warbling Vireo and Yellow Warbler. The changes in condi- 

 tions and continual increase in number of settlers caused a continual 

 diminution in numbers of many birds; especially is this true of geese, 

 ducks and other water-loving species, while some birds famous in his- 

 tory and literature have passed from us and are fast becoming extinct. 

 Such are the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Wild 

 Turkey and Carolina Parakeet. About our homes the Bluebirds, 

 House Wrens and Carolina Wrens came and lived with us, even nearer 

 and dearer than other birds. 



As time went on drainage became a feature introduced into the new 

 country. With the drainage of our sloughs and swamps a second 

 change was noted. The forms of avian life, which lived among its 

 reeds and flags, mingling their voices with those of the frogs, disap- 

 peared, and the land reclaimed tells, in its luxuriant growth of corn, 

 no story to the casual passer-by of the former population which occu- 

 pied it. Time went on, change followed change, little by little, but 

 still each cleared field, each rotation of crops, each one of a thousand 

 variations in cause had its effect upon the numbers or the life his- 

 tory of our birds. 



DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS. 



By man's agency the English Sparrow was introduced, and as 

 its numbars increased, began to assert itself in the struggle for 

 existence. The Bluebird, which has come from the hole in the 

 snag, was driven from her box. The Martin and Chimney Swift, 

 which formerly nested in hollow trees, left their nesting sites about 

 the house, and even the Eave Swallow, which in olden times fastened 

 its nests to the cliffs, was in some cases driven away. The warfare 

 still continues with this aggressive little foreigner, worse some places 

 than others, but with such surprising powers of reproduction and un- 

 heard-of audacity, it seems they must soon cover our entire continent. 



Another epoch in this category is marked by the abnormal craze 

 which has for some years been noted of using the skins and parts of 

 birds for purposes of decoration and adornment. This barbarous cus- 

 tom has been frowned down in some places by society leaders, but is 

 still quite common. 



