Introductory 



lustration of this lack of seeing ; even birds as conspicuous as the 

 Baltimore oriole, the cardinal, or the scarlet tanager are as re- 

 mote as birds of paradise to many people who live in the country. 

 I have heard men and women ask whether these birds, which 

 they had just seen as mounted specimens in some museum, were 

 from South America or some other tropical country. They were 

 much surprised when told how common these and others of 

 equally brilliant plumage are within a few miles of New York City. 



How many people who live in the country throughout the 

 summer months, or even country folk themselves, have ever seen 

 the rose-breasted grosbeak, a common and ^most gayly coloured 

 summer resident ? Or the yellow-breasted chat, or the Maryland 

 yellowthroat, or the indigo-bird ? Even these flashing bits of 

 animated colour are generally unknown, while the less conspicu- 

 ous birds, if seen at all, are called "sparrows " or " small birds." 



Now that the public schools are taking up nature studies, 

 we have good reason to hope that people will learn more about 

 the birds. I think any woman who had seen a mother-thrush on 

 the nest, with her anxious, wild, little eyes looking out in fear 

 of the intruder, could never again wear a stuffed bird as a hat orna- 

 ment, to be used for a short month or two and then thrown 

 away. For herein lies, perhaps, the chief cause of the partial 

 extermination of our birds, both those that are sombre in colour 

 (for they can be dyed to any desired shade) and those that are 

 by nature of brilliant hues. And who gains by this cruel sacrifice 

 to a heartless fashion save the dealers ? 



Keeping native song-birds in captivity is forbidden in some 

 States, the idea being, of course, to protect the birds. But this 

 law undoubtedly does harm as well as good, for many people 

 are thus prevented from becoming intimately attached to the 

 common birds. Who, having once ownad a bluebird, could 

 injure one in any way or take its eggs .? And the same applies 

 to almost any other species. Then, again, children would 

 become fond of such birds as they knew, and the cruelty dis- 

 played by some boys would be a thing undreamed of. In Eng- 

 land, where I understand the song-birds are not protected by 

 law, they are more abundant than anywhei'e else. What boy 

 would kill an English robin — the robin redbreast — that he hears 

 about in the earliest nursery rhymes and stones ? He has been 

 brought up to know and care for it, and it is therefore to be 



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