as it was a hundred or even fifty years ago.
Why? The markets where their bodies commanded a price of so much per
head have swallowed them up. The shotgun has also played havoc with
the Prairie Chicken and the Sage Grouse. Of the former possibly as
many as one thousand exist on the Heath Hen Reservation of Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts, a pitiful remnant of the eastern form of the
species. Even in the Prairie States wide ranges of country that
formerly knew them by tens of thousands now know them no more.

We might go farther and note also the rapidly decreasing numbers of the
Sandhill Crane and the Limpkin of Florida. They are being shot for
food. The large White Egret, the Snowy Egret, and the Roseate
Spoonbill are found in lessening numbers each {135} year because they
have been commercialized. There is a demand in the feather trade which
can be met only by the use of their plumage, and as no profitable means
has been devised for raising these birds in captivity the few remaining
wild ones must be sacrificed, for from the standpoint of the killers it
is better that a few men should become enriched by bird slaughter than
that many people should derive pleasure from the birds which add so
much beauty and interest to the landscape.

_Change of Nesting Habits._--The nesting habits of some birds have been
revolutionized by the coming of civilization to the American
wilderness. The Swallow family provides three notable examples of
this. The Cliff Swallow and Barn Swallow that formerly built their
nests on exposed cliffs now seek the shelter of barns and other
outbuildings for this purpose. The open nest of the Barn Swallow is
usually found on the joists of hay barns and large stables and not
infrequently on similar supports of wide verandas. The Cliff Swallow
builds its gourd-shaped {136} mud nest under the eaves and hence is
widely known as the Eaves Swallow. No rest of any kind in the form of
a projecting beam is needed, as the bird skilfully fastens the mud to
the vertical side of the barn close up under the overhanging roof. In
such a situation it is usually safe from all beating rains. The Cliff
Swallow has exhibited wisdom to no mean extent in exchanging the more
or less exposed rocky ledge for the safety of sheltering eaves.
Swallows show a decided tendency to gather in colonies in the breeding
season. Under the eaves of a warehouse on the cost of Maine I once
counted exactly one hundred nests of