THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 275 



numbers. In four states, and to them commendation is due, the 

 number of birds has increased. They are Kansas, Wyoming, Washing- 

 ton and Utah. 



What has become of the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) , 

 prairie chicken (Tympanums cupido), the Carolina paroquet (Conurus 

 carolinensis) ; and why are the following so nearly extinct: blue bird 

 (Sialia sialis), the white heron (Ardea candidissima) ? In every case 

 the answer is one or all of the following conditions: indiscriminate 

 hunting, wanton slaughter, and the collection of plumes or of eggs. 

 None of these are natural conditions, and therefore it is not beyond 

 the power of man to better them. 



The birds which are affected most by the indiscriminate hunting are 

 the gallinaceous birds, such as the grouse, quail, partridge and turkeys. 

 The wild ducks and shore birds are also considerably affected. The 

 wading birds, among which are the various forms of heron and bittern, 

 have found their worst enemies among the plume collectors, or plume 

 thieves. The men who collect feathers from these birds are not content 

 to pluck the feathers and release the birds, or to confine their depreda- 

 tions to the males ; but they kill the female herons, for the plumes and 

 egrets that they furnish, while they are on the nest. It is only during 

 the mating season that the feathers are in a suitable condition for 

 plucking, hence the annual raid made upon the nesting herons. 



It seems strange that women, who by nature are supposed to possess 

 so much gentleness and sympathy, and who shrink from anything that 

 savors of cruelty, should be content to adorn their hats with feathers, 

 the procuring of which necessitates so much wanton cruelty and 

 murder. But Dame Fashion has decreed that feathers shall be worn; 

 regardless of how they are secured, they have been worn, and a study of 

 the following figures will give some idea of the effects thereby produced 

 on the colonies of herons and egrets. Within the past twenty years the 

 snowy heron has practically disappeared from China, where it was 

 once so plentiful. Twenty years ago, there was in the region about 

 Charleston, S. C, at least three million of these birds; to-day less than 

 one hundred remain. There is but one small colony of the American 

 egret left in this country, and that one is on the coast of South Carolina. 

 This colony was fired into last year, and again this year, so that now 

 less than twenty birds remain. It will be but a few years, unless some 

 drastic measures are taken, before the history of this bird will be the 

 same as that of the passenger pigeon. Our grandparents tell us of the 

 times when the skies were darkened by the millions of pigeons which 

 were seen in the middle west. Last year a reward of four hundred 

 dollars was offered by a college professor to any one who could furnish 

 accurate proof of a single nesting pair of passenger pigeons. I am of 

 the opinion that no one applied for the reward. 



