. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . hat are this element ofpopulation is prohibitedfrom carrying guns, theeffect of their inroadsupon bird life will soonbe manifest here. Trustworthy correspondents state thatthe Italian contract laborers kill practically all the birds inthe neighborhood of their camps. Many Italians trap birdsby means of birdlime or trap cages. Boys with shot guns,air rifles, an
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . hat are this element ofpopulation is prohibitedfrom carrying guns, theeffect of their inroadsupon bird life will soonbe manifest here. Trustworthy correspondents state thatthe Italian contract laborers kill practically all the birds inthe neighborhood of their camps. Many Italians trap birdsby means of birdlime or trap cages. Boys with shot guns,air rifles, and various destructive weapons, shoot at any-thing that oilers a fair mark. The improvement in firearmsand the reduction in their price go hand in hand with the con-stant increase in the numl)er of people able to bear arms, theaugmentation of the number of crack shots, and the acces-sion to the number of dogs trained to hunt birds. Snares are still much used, even where forbidden bylaw. Children, especially boys, destroy the nests and eggsof birds, thus constituting a considerable check on bird in-crease. The mania for collecting l)irds eggs is boys use the nests of birds for tarijets and their eff^s. Fig. 154. —The Italian spoi-tsman and his decoyOwl. (From Bird-Lore.) 360 USEFUL BIRDS. for missiles in the same S})irit in which such joung savagesmurder the toads about a pond. Something is wrong with asystem of education under which such wholesale abuses ofuseful creatures are possible. There are many direct ways in which man reduces thenumbers of birds. Marshes are drained, and the sustenanceof marsh birds destroyed. Reservoirs are made, and thehaunts of land birds overflowed. The building of dams formanufacturing purposes holds back the waters of rivers, sothat heavy rainfalls in the breeding season flood the nests ofmany marsh birds, destroying eggs and young. Thus Rails,Bitterns, and Marsh Wrens are drowned or driven of birds and their nests
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidusefulbi, booksubjectbirds
