42 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
wanton slaughter. But. the woman 
who will wear aigrettes, or gnlls wings, 
or bird-of-paradise skins, or humming 
birds, must take her place in the pris¬ 
oner’s box with the plume hunter and 
the law defying milliner and be ad¬ 
judged “ guilty.” 
And if the women who ought to 
know this, and do know it, would rise 
tomorrow and vow never again to 
wear these murder-stained things, the 
problem of bird protection would be 
simplified by about one thousand per 
cent. 
Aigrettes in Colorado. 
By order of the State Game Commis¬ 
sioner, James A. Shinn, the sale of aig¬ 
rettes in Colorado will not be permitted 
after December 1, 1912. 
Notes on the English Sparrow 
Decrease .—On January 8, 1911, the 
agents of the state entomologist report¬ 
ed to the New York Herald that in 
Duchess County there was a rapid dis-1 
appearance of the English sparrow 
from unknown causes. It was there 
connected up with the decrease in game 
birds on the surmise that an infectious 
disease might be sweeping through jj 
bird land. In the Milwaukee Journal 
of January 19, 1911, both the writer 
and Mr. H. L. Ward denied any de¬ 
crease in sparrows hereabouts. How- j 
ever, a parasitic disease of English 
sparrows is known and has been found! 
at Madison, Wisconsin, by Professor 
L. J. Cole. (See Bulletin of the Wis¬ 
consin Natural History Society for 
April, 1911, pp. 42-8). 
Nesting Sites .—The question of nest¬ 
ing sites has been much discussed be¬ 
cause of the nuisances committed by I 
the birds about the eaves, also, because I 
they drive other birds out of nesting I 
points. Has anyone a reason to offer j 
why the English sparrows nest amidst 
purple martins and tree swallorvs in j 
the eaves of the University Observatory 
here at Madison, and in the eaves of 
an old building on University Avenue, | 
without the usual war between combat-1 
ing families? Although passing one 
or the other buildings nearly every I 
day during the past year, 1 have failed 
to see a pitched battle between families t 
of two or more species. 
Insect Food. — In an atricle soon to j 
be published,—“Notes on the Lake 
Michigan Swarms of Chironomids”, of9 
the writer will tell of many orb spider 
rvebs broken down from numbers of j 
Chironomid midges catching in the webs J 
whose shreds hung like living ropes. 
For several mornings in May, 1910, the 
