The Earth as Modified by Human ActionMarsh, George P. (George Perkins)
History
The Earth as Modified by Human Action
Marsh, George P. (George Perkins)
Conservation of natural resources; Human geography; Nature -- Effect of human beings on; Physical geography
Birds are less hardy in constitution, they possess less facility of
accommodation, [Footnote: Wild birds are very tenacious in their habits.
The extension of particular branches of agriculture introduces new
birds; but unless in the case of such changes in physical conditions,
particular species seem indissolubly attached to particular localities.
The migrating tribes follow almost undeviatingly the same precise line
of flight in their annual journeys, and establish themselves in the same
breeding-places from year to year. The stork is a strong-winged bird and
roves far for food, but very rarely establishes new colonies. He is
common in Holland, but unknown in England. Not above five or six pairs
of storks commonly breed in the suburbs of Constantinople along the
European shore of the narrow Bosphorous, while--much to the satisfaction
of the Moslems, who are justly proud of the marked partiality of so
orthodox a bird--dozens of chimneys of the true believers on the Asiatic
side are crowned with his nests. The appearance of the dove-like grouse,
Tetrao paradoxus, or Syrrhaptus Pallassi, in various parts of Europe, in
1850 and the following years, is a noticable exception to the law of
regularity which seems to govern the movements and determine the habitat
of birds. The proper home of this bird is the Steppes of Tartary, and it
is no recorded to have been observed in Europe, or at least west of
Russia, until the year above mentioned, when many flocks of twenty or
thirty, and even a hundred individuals, were seen in Bohemia, Germany,
Holland, Denmark, England, Ireland, and France. A considerable flock
frequented the Frisian island of Borkum for more than five months. It
was hoped that they would breed and remain permanently in the island but
this expectation has now been disappointed, and the steppe-grouse seems
to have disappeared again altogether.] and they are more severely
affected by climatic excess than quadrupeds. Besides, they generally
want the special means of shelter against the inclemency of the weather
and against pursuit by their enemies, which holes and dens afford to
burrowing animals and to some larger beasts of prey. The egg is exposed
to many dangers before hatching, and the young bird is especially
tender, defenceless, and helpless. Every cold rain, every violent wind,
every hailstorm during the breeding season, destroys hundreds of
nestlings, and the parent often perishes with her progeny while brooding
over it in the vain effort to protect it. [Footnote: It is not the
unfledged and the nursing bird alone that are exposed to destruction by
severe weather. Whole flocks of adult and strong-winged tribes are
killed by hail. Severe winters are usually followed by a sensible
diminution in the numbers of the non-migrating birds, and a cold storm
in summer often proves fatal to the more delicate species. On the 10th
of June, 184-, five or six inches of snow fell in Northern Vermont. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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