CHAPTER XV 



MAN AS AN ENEMY OF BIRDS 



THIS chapter will be devoted to a discussion of 

 the part that man has played directly in the destruc- 

 tion of birds. Some of the ways in which bird life has 

 been destroyed are due to settlement and the general 

 advance of civilization, and these are unavoidable. 



Advance of civilization. With the rapid increase 

 in population in the cities and towns, and their cor- 

 responding growth countryward, roadside shrub- 

 bery, orchards, decaying trees, and other nesting- 

 sites are steadily disappearing. In the suburbs of 

 cities birds that nest in cavities, such as the blue- 

 bird and wren, experience difficulty in finding nest- 

 ing-sites. In the country sometimes the farmer 

 thinks he must clear up the shrubbery and the 

 tangles by the roadside and along the fences, which, 

 however, furnish one excellent means of inducing 

 the birds to remain and nest. 



The breeding-places of many water-birds are be- 

 ing destroyed by the drainage of swamps and 

 marshes. Not only is this true in the growth of 

 towns and cities as their limits are broadened, but 

 large areas are being drained for agricultural pur- 

 poses to reclaim waste land. Throughout the north 



