The Hawkeye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



33 



i:-:er geologic times before the human 

 biped made his appearance; and man 

 to-day is only one check upon species 

 in nature's vast game of chess, and 

 not by any means so important a one 

 as lie is apt to imagine. 



"To sum up, then, the practical in- 

 fluence of bird wearing upon our 

 fauna, we may note: 



"First — That the North American 

 birds used in greatest numbers are 

 gulls, terns, herons, and others, not 

 song birds, nor species beneficial to 

 the agriculturist. 



"Second — That our most desirable 

 and familiar song birds, sucli as 

 thrushes, wrens, greenlets, and finch- 

 es, are in limited demand, on account 

 of their generally plain colors. 



"Third— That of the brilliantly 

 plumaged birds a vast majority come 

 from South America and other for- 

 eign countries. 



"Fourth — That probably enough of 

 shrikes, jays, crows, and other pre- 

 datory speck's are destroyed to more 

 than compensate for the few song 

 bins actually killed by man for all 

 purposes. 



"Fifth— If all were song birds and 

 equally beneficial, the reduction in 

 numbers from this cause would be 

 inappreciable in its effects on the 

 fauna of the country at large. 



"Coming down to the consideration 

 of the birds of our own locality and 

 surrounding territory, Mr. Dury has 

 given us a very interesting reference 

 to the abundance of the wild pigeon 

 in this region 25 years ago, and has 

 noted their scarcity at the present 

 day. The last great flight of these 

 birds that I remember here was in 

 the fall of 1865, when the air was dark- 

 ened with them for the greater part 

 of two days. Now, their disappear- 

 ance is certainly not due to the de- 

 mands of the milliners; and while the 

 pot hunter and the 'bad small boy 

 with a gun' have probably destroyed 

 their share, much more influentiaf 



factors in causing their disappear- 

 ance in" my opinion have been the 

 demands of agriculture and commerce, 

 causing the destruction of the mast- 

 bearing forests where they fed and 

 nested. The same factors account 

 mainly for the disappearance of our 

 larger game and water birds — i. e.-, 

 clearing forests, draining swamps, 

 and so on. And we might as well 

 attempt to stay the progress of Old 

 Father Time himself as to check civ- 

 ilization in order to save these birds. 



" 'But,' it may be asked, 'must our 

 civilization eventually cause a bird- 

 less country?' Not by any means; 

 on the contrary, we shall find if we 

 study the comparitive abundance of 

 birds in general in most civil- 

 ized sections of our country, that 

 birds are probably more numerous, 

 both in species and in individuals, 

 than they were in the earlier days of 

 its settlement. 



"While I am in favor of increase of 

 desirable birds, of the utmost dis- 

 semination of knowledge respecting 

 all birds, of the formation of Audubon 

 societies, if you please, and of the 

 popularizing of ornithology in gener- 

 al, I do not think we gain anything 

 in a scientific or practical sense by 

 distorting, mistating, or suppressing 

 facts, exaggerating figures, or by de- 

 nouncing the well established right 

 of man to use all natural objects for 

 the furtherance of his necessities, his 

 convenience, or his pleasures." 



"The fishermen— this being a dull 

 season — employ their seines in catch- 

 ing birds. They set their seines be- 

 tween tall poles on the beach, and 

 catch thousands of 7'obins in a morn- 

 ing or afternoon. At one flight a man 

 caught over 2,000. He put away 

 part for food for his family and ship- 

 ped the others. On Bogal Banks, 

 with a small net, last Monday, a Mr. 

 Ross caught 500 robins." — Our Dumb 

 Animals. 



