December 1959 | Volume 11, Issue 1 As the frontier moved
westward and wildlife declined, the tireless Audubon drove
himself to record its wonders To such ends and others, in the
past we Americans managed to wipe out astronomical numbers of
birds. In recent times, however, man and bird have achieved a
tolerable state of coexistence in our part of the world. Country
folk may continue to worry about the nuisance of hawks and
crows, and city dwellers about the untidy habits of pigeons and
starlings. But we have abandoned the practice of massacring
songbirds to decorate our ladies’ hats. Notwithstanding the
conflicting interests of our Air Force, we have provided
peaceful sanctuary for the whooping crane, and have even granted
immunity to the peregrine falcons that occasionally rocket down
from the heights of tall buildings for tasty bits of the more
domesticated birds that, in a horseless age, still feed as
before in the city streets. On their side, the birds—some of
them—have accommodated their habits to the str