THE INVITATION 223 
a small island in the Pacific Ocean, situated about 
two hundred miles off Cape St. Lucas, to procure 
specimens. The island was but a few miles in 
extent, and had probably never been visited half a 
dozen times by human beings. The naturalist found 
the birds and water-fowls so tame that it was but 
a waste of ammunition to shoot them. Fixing a 
noose on the end of a long stick, he captured them 
by putting it over their necks and hauling them to 
him. In some cases not even this contrivance was 
needed. A species of mockingbird in particular, 
larger than ours and a splendid songster, made 
itself so familiar as to be almost a nuisance, hopping 
on the table where the collector was writing, and 
scattering the pens and paper. LHighteen species 
were found, twelve of them peculiar to the island. 
Thoreau relates that in the woods of Maine the 
Canada jay will sometimes make its meal with the 
lumbermen, taking the food out of their hands. 
Yet, notwithstanding the birds have come to ey 
upon man as their natural enemy, there can be littl 
doubt that civilization is on the whole favorable 
to their increase and perpetuity, especially to the 
smaller species. With man come flies and el 
and insects of all kinds in greater abundance; new 
plants and weeds are introduced, and, with the 
clearing up of the country, are sowed broadcast over 
the land. 
The larks and snow buntings that come to us 
from the north subsist almost entirely upon the 
seeds of grasses and plants; and how many of our 
