Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1900-03-23
A BIRD TALK.
The Common Birds OF the Country
Not Decreasing In Number.

wv SSStOabtHS w NufUpSTs
There Is a reassuring BIRD Talk"
by John Burroughs in the November
st. Nicholas. One OF the good signs
OF the times, he says, Is the interest
our young people are taking In the
birds, and the numerous clubs and so
cieties that are being formed through.
out the country for bird protection
and cultivation. In my youth but little
was heard about the birds. They were
looked upon as of little account. Many
of them were treated IA the farmers
natural enemies. Crows and all kinds
OF hawks and owls were destroyed
whenever chance offered. | knew
farmer who every summer caught and
killed all the red.tailed hawks he
could. He stood up poles In his
meadows, upon the tops of which he
would set steel traps. The hawks.
looking for meadow mice. would alight
upon them and be caught. The farmer
was thus staying his best friends, as
these large hawks live almost entirely
upon mice and vermin. The redtail,
or hen-hawk Ia very wary of II man
with gun. but he has not yet learned
of the danger that turks In u steel trap
on the top Of pole.
II strict account could be kept
with our crows and hawks for a year.
II would be found at the end of that
time that most of them had balance
to their credit. That IL, they do us
more good than injury. A few of them,
like the fish.crow and sharp-shlnned
hawk. Cooper's hawk and the duck,
hawk. are destructive to the birds and
wild fowls; but the others live mainly
upon insects and vermin.
do not share the alarm expressed
In some quarters over the seeming de-
crease In the number of birds. People
are always more or less gloomy In re.
gard to the present and present
things Az we grow older the number
Of beautiful things In the world seems
to be fewer, THE Indian summer IL
not what 1t used to be: the winters are
not so braclng; the spring Ia more un.
certain; and honest men are fewer"
But there Is not much change after all,
The change IL mainly In US. | see no
decrease In the great body OF our com
mon field. orchard and wood birds.
do not see the cliff swallows used to
see In my youth; they go farther
north, to northern New England and
Canada. At Rangeley Lake. In Maine.
saw the caves Of IA barn as crowded
with their mud nests az | used to see
the caves OF my fathers barns amid
the Catskills. In tho cliffs along tho
Yukon In Alaska they are said to
swarm In great numbers. Nearly all
our game-birds are decreasing In mum
bers, because aportmen arc more and
more numerous and skllful, and their
guns more and more deadly. The bob
ollnks are fewer than they were a de-
cade or two ago, because they are
slaughtered more and more In the
marshes and rice fields Of the South.
The blueblrds and hermit-thrushes
were threatened with extinction by n
cold wave and severe storm IN the
Southern States few years ago.
These birds appear to have been slain
by the hundred thousand. But they
are slowly recovering lost ground, and
In ten or more years will no doubt bo
as numerous an ever. ! see along the
Hudson River fewer eagles than !
used to see fifteen years ago. The col
lectora and the rinemen are no doubt
responsible for this decrease. But the
robins, thrushes, finches, warblers.
blackbirds, orioles, fy-catchers. vireos
and woodpeckers are quite as abund'
ant as they were n quarter OF a cen
fury ago. II not more 80