SCIENCE 



NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 30, 1893. 



THE EFFECTS OF CIVILIZATION ON OUR BIRDS. 



BY MORRIS GIBBS, M.D. 



In scanning the notes of any reliable observer, in the ornitho- 

 logical field, of twenty years' standing, one of the most noteworthy 

 features presented is found in the many allusions to the frequency 

 or infrequency of various species formerly abundant or unknown. 

 We find numerous notes like this : " Seldom seen; formerly abun- 

 dant," or, more rarely, "common; exceedingly rare years ago." 

 These conflicting notes are of peculiar interest to everyone in any 

 way concerned in the welfare of a community, and cannot fail to 

 exf^ite speculation among those who have noted the changes. The 

 changes, either gradual or sudden, have resulted from natural or 

 unnatual causes in many and devious ways. Unnatural is a word 

 perhaps improperly used here, even allowing that civilization has 

 eradicated many species from the globe. We had best look at 

 man only in the light of an animal when we are to compare him 

 in nature, and we can but acknowledge that the civilized state is 

 simply in advance, and, in which we are simply better adapted to 

 perform the work of extermination or cultivation. 



It is easy to account for the appearance or disappearance of 

 some species, and, with many, the reasons assigned are so self- 

 evident that the generally accepted theories are rarely disputed. 

 With our game birds, it is duly acknowledged by all capable of 

 reasoning that the cause of the disappearance, as in the case of the 

 wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, from well-populated districts, 

 is entirely due to persecution by the gunners. However, there 

 are many cases of unlooked-for changes; increase or decrease of 

 numbers, for which we are not fully able to account. The writer, 

 having carefully studied the subject for ten years, and with the 

 assistance of nearly a quarter of a century of his own observa- 

 tions, feels confident in presenting some conclusions. These de- 

 ductions may not be correct, but may at least promote investiga- 

 tion and inquiry into the subject by others more capable of ex- 

 plaining. 



The causes of local change, in scarcity or abundance, as regards 

 animal life, varying migrating routes, and ultimate disappearance, 

 or other reasons, are many and peculiar, but may, I think, be 

 grouped collectively under the following two heads : — 



I. Natural causes, or features arising from other causes than 

 those resulting fx-om civilization. These are many, so far as we 

 are able to judge, but are hardly to be considered here. They 

 come under that division normally included in the evolutionist's 

 province. 



II. Unnatural causes, or those changes occurring from causes 

 aside from the direct effects of nature; that is, more through the 

 direct effects of civilization. These various changes may be dis- 

 cussed under the following divisions; remembering always that 

 the system, as a whole, depends on the changes resulting from 

 man : — 



a. — Proximity of the habitations of man. 



b. — Removal of forests and general clearing of vegetable 

 growth. 



c. — Drainage of land. 



Under the first heading may be considered the most serious in- 

 cursions in the ranks of our feathered neighbors, as it is chiefly 

 due to the nearness of sportsmen and unsportsman like individ- 

 uals, as well as to the demands of milliners and the small and 

 reasonable wants of scientists and collectors, that the birds, 

 game, plumaged, and song, are principally sought. In addi- 

 tion to these well-known causes for total disappearance, or great 

 diminution in numbers, we may add many hundreds of causes 



that contribute in a greater or less measure towards this end. 

 Anyone of an observing turn must have noticed the multitude of 

 ways which help towards decimation. A few causes may be 

 mentioned from the innumerable series to only suggest the dangers 

 of proximity of the habitations of man. The light-houses of our 

 great lakes and coasts kill many thousands each year, and per- 

 haps hundreds of thousands, the birds killing themselves by dash- 

 ing against the lights when migrating seasonally. It may well be 

 doubted if there exists an invention, with the exception of the 

 gun, more deadly to the birds than the electric light. Then there 

 is the head-light of the locomotive, and the very destructive tele- 

 graph and other wires, which form a net-work throughout the 

 country. In fact, there is hardly a cause from which man himself 

 dies, thi-ough accident or design, which does not likewise destroy 

 our birds. Hanging, drowning, and cremation are not rare causes 

 of their taking off. Fires in particular are damaging means each 

 year, particularly when occurring in wild half-clearings, stubble- 

 fields, and virgin forests, in the spring and summer; but perhaps 

 the most destructive fires are those that ravage large prairie sec- 

 tions where the prairie species nest. Without a doubt, early 

 settlers, both in wooded as well as prairie lands, are guilty of a 

 fearful devastation to both song and game birds in their efforts to 

 clear up and improve the land. 



As far south as I have been in the United States, and our line 

 extends nearly to the tropics, and on the north to Lake Superior, 

 I have met with plumage collectors for the " dear ladies' " wants. 

 The blue-jay, tanager, and oriole cannot migrate too far north in 

 our land to escape persecution in behalf of that travelling side- 

 show, the feminine head-gear, and no matter where you go in the 

 south, if it is in the everglades of Florida, you will find the plume- 

 hunter busy for the almighty dollar, which he frequently gathers 

 by shooting the parent birds at their nesting-sites, leaving the 

 squabs to starve in their nests. One man (?) told me that he had 

 shot two hundred white and snowy herons at one rookery in 

 southern Florida; and this all for the money paid by vain, self- 

 adorning women. Perhaps I have said more than is required on 

 this subject, but many will not think an excuse necessary. 



It is hardly worth while speaking of the destruction of game 

 and other birds by the gun, net, and trap, as these methods of 

 extinction have been so thoroughly canvassed that they are at least 

 understood by all reasonable men. The havoc made on our wild 

 pigeons with the set net is well known, and the sentiment is 

 voiced by all that we would still have plenty of pigeons had the 

 nets not been used, contrary to law, near the breeding-grounds. 



Although so many species are noticeably diminished in numbers 

 through the advent of advancing civilization, there are a number 

 of birds which have become much more abundant, and a few 

 even which have become residents or occasional or annual visitors, 

 which were formerly not found in this section. Among them, 

 here in Michigan, the most remarkable are in the cases of the 

 robin, ciow, black-throated bunting, meadow lark, orchard oriole, 

 and turkey buzzard. All of these species were unknown near 

 Kalamazoo in 1833, though they may have been recorded from 

 the vicinity of Detroit, which was a much older settlement. 

 About the year 1835 the robin appeared, lured hither by the social 

 relations which have ever existed between civilization and these 

 pleasing bu-ds. The crow did not arrive till 1850 or later, and 

 was not common till 1875, yet now it bids fair to become as great 

 a nuisance in our State as it has i)roven in the East. The old 

 settlers assert that the orchard oriole and meadow lark were not 

 here at an early day, and though we cannot attest when they did 

 first appear, we are convinced that it is through the influence of 

 civilization that they are so abundant now. In this, Kalamazoo, 

 county the black-throated bunting was unknown twenty years 

 past, yet the notes dick sissel sissel may now be heard from almost 



