22 THe ALU DO BONS Ue cela 
most states east of the Mississippi River. Perhaps the more general 
painting of barns and the consequent falling down of their nests 
before any young can be raised may be a partial explanation. In fact, 
a similar calamity is befalling most swallows. That beloved harbinger 
of spring, the barn swallow, is woefully decreasing in numbers. This 
is also true to the purple martin in some places, but to a lesser degree. 
Only here are we able to assign a definite reason; viz. the coming of 
the automobile and the consequent disappearance of many or most 
horse stables, the breeding places of flies. 
The migrant shrike has almost disappeared from the roadsides 
in our region. Formerly a pair could be seen every two or three miles 
along the road, but now one may drive for days without seeing one. 
Here the very general cutting down of the Osage orange hedges may 
be partly responsible, although, on the other hand, there are still 
plenty of field mice, grasshoppers, and sparrows for their commissary, 
and hawthorns and plum thickets for nesting sites. However, I know 
of localities in other parts of the state where they are still tolerably 
common. 
Even that well-beloved little acrobat, the chickadee, formerly so 
abundant, especially as a migrant, is of late becoming strangely rare 
in our woods and gardens. Where formerly dozens and scores could 
be seen, now I often see no more than three or four during the spring 
or fall migration. What occult cause is operative here? 
To a lesser degree this is also true of the bluebird. Whereas 
they formerly nested in my garden, I now see only three to five in 
the spring or fall migration. In this case the coming of the starling, 
which also nests in cavities, may be a partial explanation. In other 
regions bluebirds seem to be as common as ever. 
A tragic case is that of the red-headed woodpecker. Its numbers 
are going down rapidly owing to the automobile. The bird often 
settles on the highway to pick up insects and, not being able to get 
under way fast enough to get out of the path of the deadly menace, 
is struck and killed. During a drive of several hours in southern 
Wisconsin I counted seven dead redheads on the road. 
In former years the voice of the whippoorwill was one of the 
commonest summer evening sounds heard in these states. Now they 
have vanished as a breeding species over a large area. This is prob- 
ably due to the fact that the farmers use their woodlots as pastures 
for their livestock, making breeding of this ground-nesting species 
impossible. 
For an entirely different reason the numbers of the yellow warb- 
ler, the red-eyed vireo, the warbling vireo, and perhaps the chipping 
Sparrow, seem to be going down, possibly because of the depredations 
of the cowbird which lays its eggs in the nests of these and other 
species with the result that the young of the rightful owners perish. 
Among the flycatchers, the kingbird and the phoebe seem to be going 
down in numbers for no apparent reason, except perhaps the dimin- 
ished supply of flies as noted under the swallows. 
