Evening journal., 1900-02-23
A slRp FAX.
The Common Birds Of the Country
Not Decreasing In Number.

NV b@SIcaeiUS IN NumpcFs
There Is reassuring Bird Talk"
by John Burroughs I'm 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 as the farmers
natural enemies. Crows and all kinds
OF hawks and owls were destroyed
whenever chance offered. l knew a
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 Is very wary OF man
with a gun. but he has not yet learned
OF the danger that turks in a steel trap
on the top of a pole.
II a strict account could be kept
with our crows and hawks for year.
It would be found at the end OF that
time that most OF them had balance
to their credit. That Is. they do us
more good than injury. A few Of them.
like the hsh-crow and sharp-shinned
hawk. Coopers hawk and the duck
hawk. are destructive to the birds and
wild fowls; but the others live mainly
upon insects and vermin.
l do not share the alarm expressed
in some quarters over the seeming de
crease in the number of birds. People
are always more OF less gloomy In re
gard to the present and present
things. AS we grow older the number
OF beautiful things In the world seems
to be fewer. The Indian summer IL
not what II used to be: the winters are
not so bracing; the spring is more un
certain; and honest men are fewer
But there Is not much change after all
The change is mainly in us. l see nc
decrease in the great body Of our com
mon field, orchard and wood birds.
do not see the cliff swallows / used e
see in my youth; they go farthei
north, TO northern New England and
Canada. At Rangeley Lake. a Maine
I saw the caves Of barn as crowded
with their mud nests as I used to SCI
the caves OF my fathers barns amiG
the Catskills. In the cliffs along thu
Yukon in Alaska they are said Z
swarm In great numbers. Nearly al
our game-birds are decreasing in mum
bers, because sportmen are more ant
more numerous and slrilful. and thei
guns more and more deadly. The boh
olinks are fewer than they were q dc
cade or two ago, because they ar
slaughtered more and more in tn
marshes and rice fields of the South
The bluebirds and hermit-thrushe
were threatened with extinction by
cold wave and a severe storm in tn
Southern States q few years age
These birds appear to have been slail
by the hundred thousand. But the
are slowly recovering lost ground, an
in ten or more years will no doubt b
as numerous as ever. / see along tn
Hudson River fewer eagles than
used to see fifteen years ago. The co
. lectors and the riiemen are no dout
responsible for this decrease. But III
robins, thrushes, finches, warbler
blackbirds, orioles. hy-catchers, vireC
and woodpeckers are quite as abun
r ant as they were a quarter OF Gel
tury ago. If not moro so.