92 ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



logical Society showed that during the fifteen years between 

 1883 and 1898 in all but four states ^ the number of birds had 

 strikingly decreased. For example, in New York State the 

 decrease was 48 per cent, or almost one half ; in Florida it 

 was over three fourths, while the average- for the whole 

 country was 46 per cent. Among the principal reasons 

 given by the 180 careful observers who assisted Dr. Hornaday 

 in the foregoing inquiry were the following : " (1) sportsmen 

 and so-called sportsmen, (2) boys who shoot, (3) market 

 hunters and pot-hunters, (4) plume-hunters and milliners' 

 hunters, ... (6) egg-collecting, chiefly by small boys, 

 (7) English sparrow, ... (9) Italians, and others, who 

 devour song birds." 



74. Destruction of birds by cats. — " As the cat is not 

 an actual necessity, and as it is a potent carrier of contagious 

 diseases, which it spreads, particularly among children, it 

 would be far better for the community if most of the bird- 

 killing cats now roaming at large could be painlessly dis- 

 posed of . . . . Where the cat is deemed necessary in farm 

 or village, no family should keep more than one good mouser, 

 which should never be allowed to have its liberty during the 

 breeding season of birds. . . . Cats can be confined during 

 the day in outdoor cages as readily as rabbits, and given 

 the run of the house at night." — Fohbush, " Useful Birds 

 and their Protection." 



76. Destruction of birds by boys. — One 'of the most 

 serious menaces to our native bird life is the small boy who 

 has the " egg-collecting fever." All the eggs he can find in 

 his keen-eyed searches through the woods and fields are 



1 Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, and Washington were the only states 

 that showed an increase in bird life. 



