November ro, 1893.] 



SCIENGE. 



255 



SCIENCE 



Published by N. D. C. HODGES, 874 Broadway, New York, 



Subscriptions to any part of the World, $3.50 a year. 



To any contributor, on request in advance, one hundred copies of the issue 

 containing his article will be sent without charge. More copies will be sup- 

 plied at about cost, also if ordered in advance. Reprints are not supplied, as 

 for obvious reasons we desire to circulate as many copies of Science as pos- 

 sible. Authors are, however, at perfect liberty to have their articles reprint- 

 ed elsewere. For illustrations, drawings in black and white suitable for 

 photo-engraving should be supplied by the contributor. Rejected manu- 

 scripts will be returned to the authors only when the requisite amount of 

 postage accompanies the manuscript. Whatever is intended for insertion 

 must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessa- 

 rily for publication, but as a guaranty of good faith. We do not hold our- 

 selves responsible for any view or opinions expressed in the communications 

 of our correspondents. 



Attention is called to the "Wants" column. It is invaluable to those who 

 use it in soliciting information or seeking new positions. The name and a>d- 

 dress of applicants should be given in full, so that answers will go direct to 

 them. The "Exchange" column is likewise open. 



SOJIE RECENT ECONOMIC AND SCIENTIFIC QUES- 

 TIONS IN ORNITHOLOGY.* 



BY B. W. SHUFELDT, M. D., WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Ornithology has attained to a status to-day never be- 

 fore reached by that science at any time within the recol- 

 lection of man, or as shown by its literature. 



In this country its cultivation not only interests 

 thousands of amateurs, but its pursuit is followed by a 

 host of eager experts, while its economic value has not 

 altogether been overlooked by the government, which 

 annually makes an appropriation in support of a depart- 

 ment dealing with ornithological questions as related to 

 agriculture. Regarded as the science is, then, from so 

 many varied standpoints, it is not at all surprising that 

 we find the collecting of birds actively undertaken for a 

 great variety of purposes. Some of these are perfectly 

 justifiable and fall strictly within the demands of the 

 science and are essential to its progress, while others lie 

 more or less without the pale of anj^ such need, and con- 

 sequently are deserving of our most energetic condemna- 

 tion or prosecution. Thousands of birds are destroyed 

 every year as a mere matter of sport, and either no use 

 made of them whatever, or none worthy of mention. In 

 this category, of course, I do not include the killing of 

 game-birds for the table, a privilege that can be properly 

 restricted legally, although it is very frequently more 

 than abused. Many native birds are annually trapped 

 for cages, and a large proportion of them perish. Quan- 

 tities are destroyed by "feather-hunters" to supply the 

 demands of fashion. Numbers are killed by ignorant 

 farm-hands, who labor under the impression that they do 

 humanity a direct benefit every time they take the life 

 of a king-bird, a martin, or a marsh-hawk. 



Then there are a few taxidermists who habitually 

 destroy birds as a business, to preserve their skins and 

 mount them for sale. As a rule, however, taxidermists 

 are engaged only in the preservation of such birds as are 

 brought to them, or else pursue their profession in scien- 

 tific educational institutions or elsewhere. 



Next we meet with every grade of amateur and scien- 

 tific collector of bird-skins, who claim each year a certain 

 proportion of specimens for scientific or semi- scientific 

 purposes. In nature, also, some species prey upon others 

 and thousands are thus annually destroyed, while everj"^ 

 season the lives of millions of others are claimed by 



*Read at the World's Congress Auxilarj' of the World's Colum- 

 bian Exposition: — Division of Ornithology. October 18-27, 1893. 



storms, high winds and downpours of heavy rain. Cer- 

 tain predatory mammals capture others, or reptiles de- 

 vour their young. No doubt, finally, that diseases, in- 

 juries and accidents take away their annual quota, but the 

 proportion thus destroyed must, in comparison with 

 other causes of mortality, be exceedingly small. 



Now for a number of years past it has been widely no- 

 ticed that in the suburban districts of many cities all 

 over the United States, there has been a more or less 

 mai'ked decrease in numbers of many of our native birds, 

 as, for example, orioles, robins, blue-birds and many other 

 species. Frequently such reports are only too well 

 founded in fact, while in other cases they have been 

 over-rated. Certain it is, nevertheless, that within the 

 last twenty years birds iu the most of such localities have 

 been becoming more and more scarce, while in some places 

 where certain species were formerly abundant, those very 

 species are practically now almost extinct. Numerous 

 inquiries, scientific and otherwise, have been made with 

 the view of finding out, if possible, the cause or causes 

 which are accountable for bringing about this very imde- 

 sirable state of things. After more or less mature delib- 

 eration some attributed it to one cause, some to another, 

 and some to a combination of causes. Many were dis- 

 posed to believe that the introduction of the English 

 sparrow lay at the bottom of the whole trouble; in the 

 eyes of some the "feather-venders" had all to do with it, 

 while from other quarters the blame was attached entire- 

 ly to the taxidermists and the bird collectors. As far as 

 the writer has seen or heard not much importance has 

 ever been attached to any other cause as a means of des- 

 truction of bird life, with perhaps the exception of the 

 introduction of large lighting apparatuses iu many 

 places, where no doubt thousands of birds at night are 

 yearly destroyed. 



For more reasons than one the introduction of the 

 English sparrow into this country was an expensive blun- 

 der, but that they are chiefly responsible for the disap- 

 p)earance of many of our native species of birds in the 

 localities we have mentioned, I never have in that view 

 been a firm believer, and my faith is not increased as time 

 goes by. In the first place, it directly militates against 

 every personal observation I have ever made in the prem- 

 ises, and I have faithfully studied the species for many 

 years. Many of our native birds whip the English spar- 

 row in each and all contests where they come in contact, 

 and drive them out of the nesting places. They almost 

 invariably give way before robins, cat-birds, wrens, mar- 

 tins and many others. Blue-birds appear to be more 

 timid and gentle, and they simply keep out of the sjiar- 

 row'a way and make no attempt to oppose him, while on 

 three or four occasions last spring I have seen the com- 

 mon house wren deliberately hustle sparrows out of a 

 bird-box, where they had bred the season before, and re- 

 occupy it themselves. 



That the indiscriminate slaughter of small birds for 

 millinerj purposes, by conscience-ridden dealers, was for 

 a long time a prime cause has been proven beyond cavil, 

 and such people should simply be prosecuted by all the 

 rigor of the law, and made to desist quite as promptly as 

 that party who would commit any act that threatened the 

 agricultural interests of the country, for no one will ques- 

 tion for a moment but what the removal of our insectiv- 

 orous birds docs that very thing. "Were all the birds in 

 the country destroyed there is no power known to man 

 that could check the enormous increase in insect life or 

 the destruction of plant-life that would follow as a con- 

 sequence. Such a wholesale disturbance of Nature's bal- 

 ance will not 'occur; while on the other hand I am not 

 ju-epared to say whether the recent known decrease in 

 our birds in certain localities has been followed by a cor- 



