IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



37 



they increased. These foreigners 

 are of such a quarrelsome and 

 pugnacious nature that the na- 

 tive songsters have had to retreat 

 from place to place before them. 

 And now our feathered friends 

 are far from their favorite haunts, 

 and greatly reduced in numbers; 

 unless a helping hand is given 

 they will be compelled to follow 

 in the footsteps of the Great Auk. 

 Of course we have no statistics 

 to show the number of birds that 

 the sparrow destroys, but it is 

 evident to the observer that un- 

 less war is declared against him, 

 we must say good-bye to many of 

 our native songsters. 



Many birds are used every 

 year to suppl}^ the demand of 

 fashion. Mr. A. J. Allen claims 

 that there are ten million Amer- 

 ican women of a ' 'bird wearing 

 age and proclivity," and that it 

 takes five million perfect birds to 

 supply them. The greater num- 

 ber of these are killed during the 

 breeding season and someone, I 

 do not know who, will have to 

 answer for the hundreds of little 

 birds that are left in the nest and 

 allowed to starve to death. Let 

 us count one little bird for each 

 pair of old ones, this will make 

 two and a half million. (Now 

 some will say that this is too 

 many. Certainly ! Not near all 



are breeding, but all that are, 

 have from one to six to a dozen 

 offspring.) This makes in all 

 seven million, five hundred thou- 

 sand birds that are annually used 

 to decorate hats and bonnets. 

 Wholesale dealers count one hun- 

 dred birds to the bushel. This 

 would make seventy-five thou- 

 sand busheIs,or more than enough 

 to fill ninety-three box cars. It 

 is difficult for the mind to con- 

 ceive of such vast numbers of 

 birds, and to think that they are 

 used for what seems to us, a 

 worse than useless purpose. But 

 what arouses the greatest indigna- 

 tion in the lover of birds, is to see 

 these same feather-bedecked 

 women go to Sunday School, get 

 up before a class of boys or girls 

 and say, ' 'You mustn't rob birds' 

 nests, because it is wicked and 

 only bad boys do that." It is 

 to be hoped that the "New 

 Woman" will bring with her new 

 and better ideas for decorating 

 her head-gear. 



Other destroyers of birds are 

 the Great American Egg Hogs 

 — the imitation naturalists who 

 cover up their crimes with a veil 

 they call science. These might 

 be divided into two classes; those 

 who collect for mercenary pur- 

 poses and those who collect sim- 

 ply to amass a great variety of 



