A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 



DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Organ of The Audubon Societies 



Vol. XIV 



September — October, 1912 



No. 5 



Phcebe vs. Catbird 



A STUDY IN ADAPTABILITY 



By A. A. ALLEN, Ithaca, N. Y, 



With photographs by the author 



w 



HEN the white man first 

 set foot upon this conti- 

 nent, he discovered a race 

 of men whom he called savages. 

 Poorly clad to his notion, and armed 

 with most primitive weapons, they 

 made war upon one another or 

 roamed the forest in pursuit of game. 

 Little of nature's control did they 

 assume, but adapted their lives to 

 her laws and her forces. Then came 

 the white man, changing all. Forests 

 were cut down and grainfields sprang 

 up ; deer and bear made way for 

 horses and cattle. Unable to accustom 

 himself to these great changes, the 

 red man moved away from the coast 

 to a place where he could still live as 

 had his fathers before him. But the 

 white man carried his civilization 

 farther and farther inland. No longer 

 was there the limitless forest filled 

 with deer and bear and otter ; no 

 longer the vast plain dotted with 

 herds of bison. They passed and with them the Indian. 



When the white man first set foot upon this continent, he found con- 

 ditions entirely new to him. There were no factories to make his clothes, no 

 markets to supply his food. There were only the great forest, the streams and 



PHOEBE'S NEST OVER THE FRONT 

 DOOR OF A DWELLING, SHOWING ADAP- 

 TABILITY. 



