The American Midland Naturalist 
PUBLISHED BI-MONTHLY BY THE UNIVERSITY 
OF NOTRE DAME, NOTRE DAME, INDIANA. 
Vol. I. DECEMBER, 1909, No. 5,* 
The Economic Value of Birds. 
F. J. WENNINGER. 
It is a matter of common observation that a great many of our 
birds are becoming more scarce each year, so much so that a few 
species are even now on the verge of extinction. Each succeeding 
year brings with it a new crop of eager sportsmen ''anxious to kill 
and ambitious to make records." But the time has come when the 
small boy with his rifle and the hunter with his gun must be taught 
that henceforth all birds must be protected or they will be exter- 
minated. 
At the request of the New York Zoological Society, Mr. Wm. 
T. Hornaday, made a careful study of bird-life in the United 
States with special reference to its increase or decrease during the 
fifteen years ending with the year 1898. This was the result: only 
four states, Kansas, Wyoming, Utah and Washington, showed a 
slight increase in bird-life; thirty states showed decreases varying 
from ten per cent to ninety per cent, the general average decrease 
being forty-six per cent. In Indiana the decrease of bird-life was 
found to be sixty per cent. That was in 1896. Since then another 
inquiry has been made and, according to this last report, the 
volume of bird life has changed so slightly that in 1903, conditions 
were practically as they were in 1898. Indeed some investigators 
` assert.that during the past fifteen years the number of our common 
song birds has been reduced by one fourth. Another author + 
claims that ‘‘at the present rate, extermination of many species will 
occur during the lives of most of us. Already the passenger pigeon 
and Carolina peteques; only a few years ago abundant, are practi- 
cally exterminated.’ 
'This alarming decrease in the number of birds is due to various 
* December 15, 1909. — Pages 105 to 144. 
+ Chester A. Reed in his Bird Guide. 
