44 Wild Bird Guests 



killed and sold. Hundreds of towns and cities 

 grew up, great markets were established, and 

 more and more gunners took the field every year 

 in order to supply those markets. Professional 

 game dealers came into existence and professional 

 market gunners took up their trade and saw to 

 it that they were well supplied with birds. At 

 first the game dealers would not buy more than 

 could be used within a few days, that is before it 

 spoiled, but presently the system of cold storage 

 was invented and there seemed to be no limit to 

 the quantity which would be bought and stored 

 away. Another class of men, the sportsmen, 

 also began to kill the birds, not because they 

 actually needed them for food but because they 

 found pleasure and recreation in hunting them. 

 Nor were the game birds the only ones to suffer. 

 With the coming of certain fashions in dress came 

 a demand for bird plumage for women's hats 

 and another class of bird killers, known as plume- 

 hunters, sprang into existence. These men 

 made a practice of shooting any kind of bird for 

 which the milliners had a market. At one time 

 it was grebes, at another gulls and terns, snowy 

 herons, or bright-colored song birds like orioles 

 and scarlet tanagers. 



To supply this ever-increasing army of shoot- 

 ers great gun factories were established and the 



