356 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



form, a series of articles from competent observers upon the alarming de- 

 struction of bird-life in the United States. It is such an array of startling 

 facts as to amount to a revelation, and I Itave thought that I could hardly 

 render a better service to those within the the influence of my words than to 

 give a condensed account of the suggestive publication. 



Birds, as we well know, are slain for food, for pastime, for scientific or 

 artistic purposes, and for personal decoration Those killed for food are 

 commonly called the "game birds," such as pigeons, various kinds of grouse, 

 ducks, geese "and the great horde of smaller waders, known as 'peeps,' snipes, 

 plovers, rails, etc." The injudicious slaughter of these has been so great that, 

 to prevent their actual extermination, game laws have been enacted and numer- 

 ous protective associations organized in the several States. The other birds, 

 almost legion by name, are more or less protected according to public senti- 

 ment in different localities. Of these, the number slain for strictly scientific 

 purposes is indeed large. The aggregate public and private collections in this 

 country are estimated to be about 500,000. These figures, however, do not 

 mean that so many are annually killed for scientific uses. They represent the 

 accumulation of many years. Still, there is grave reason for believing that 

 "science" like "charity" is often made to cover a multitude of sins, and that 

 ostensibly in its interest but really to satisfy impulse or caprice large numbers 

 of birds are needlessly and cruelly sacrificed. It is a matter that calls for the 

 enactment of more stringent laws by our Legislatures. 



We come upon a very serious evil when we touch the matter of killing birds 

 for mere "sport." It is a remnant of that ancient cruelty still uneliminated 

 from human nature, and which appears in every amateur sportsman who 

 learns to handle the deadly shot-gun and to whom anything in the shape of 

 animal life is "game" or "fun." The number of birds thus annually slain — 

 recklessly slain — for no other reason than that of pastime, must be very large 

 indeed. Boys, too, thoughtlessly destroy much bird-life by nest-hunting and 

 by means of "pea-shooters" — the latter implements proving so fatal that in 

 some States their use has been prohibited by law. 



But after we have gathered these items together they are inconsiderable in 

 view of the appalling fact that at least five millions of birds are annually killed 

 in this country for the sole purpose of personal decoration. Whoever looks 

 into the milliners' windows, or observes the hats of ladies upon the street or in 

 the public assembly, will readily divine the main cause of the depletion 'of 

 American bird life. These enormous figures are sufficiently startling, but when 

 we come to analyze the items which go to make up the footing, we may well 

 wonder that any birds are left in our land. The eastern portion of the Atlantic 

 coast has been almost depleted of gulls and terns, or sea swallows, to satisfy the 

 demands "of the trade." At cape Cod alone 40,000 of these birds have been 

 killed in one senson. A sportsman in Texas has been s known to contract for 

 the delivery of the plumes of 10,000 egerts, or white herons; while the skins of 

 grebes, much in favor for hat decoration on account of their fur-like plumage, 

 are transported from the Pacific coast in bales like the pelts of the furrier. 

 An enterprising New York milliner has in one season contracted for the skins 

 of 40,000 birds, to be delivered in Paris. As many as 70,000 have been known 

 to be supplied to New York dealers during a season from one Long Island vil- 

 lage. Such has been the wholesale destruction in New Jersey on account of the 

 Philadelphia and New York markets that the legislature of the State has been 

 obliged to pass the most stringent laws to prevent the extermination of its birds. 



