146 



Bird- Lore 



coasts of the United States have been 

 combed systematically by plume-hunters 

 Breeding colonies and rookeries in the 

 tropics, from Australia to Venezuela, and 

 the most distant islands in the Pacific 

 Ocean, have been devastated by the 

 emissaries of the plume trade. The 

 trafl&c in the United States has caused the 

 practical extinction of some of the most 

 beautiful birds, including egrets, the least 

 tern, and locally of several other species. 

 Breeding colonies of certain sea birds have 

 been practically annihilated along the 

 coasts of New Jersey and Virginia. The 

 egrets, formerly found in every state in 

 the Union, with half a dozen exceptions, 

 are now restricted to a comparatively few 

 isolated colonies in the southern states 

 and a few wandering individuals which 

 occasionally stray northward to visit 

 the haunts where they were formerly 

 abundant. 



2. The value of insectivorous and seed- 

 eating native birds is too well known to 

 need detailed exposition in this connec- 

 tion. The economic value of the egrets 

 and other species of plume birds is not 

 generally appreciated. Recent investi- 

 gations in Florida by a representative of 

 the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies has shown that herons of several 

 species, during the breeding seasons are 

 not only important scavengers, but de- 

 stroy immense numbers of crayfish, cut- 

 worms and grasshoppers. Without going 

 into detail, the following table shows at 

 a glance the character of the food of four 

 species of young herons in Florida. The 

 results are based on examination of the 

 components of fifty meals of each species. 

 The table shows that fifty snowy egrets 

 consumed no less than 762 grasshoppers 

 and 91 cutworms; that fifty little blue 

 herons destroyed 1,900 grasshoppers, 149 

 cutworms, and 142 crayfish, and 50 

 Louisiana herons consumed no less than 

 2,876 grasshoppers. The stomach of one 

 Louisiana heron was found to contain 

 200 grasshoppers. 



Based on the examination by O. E. 

 Baynard, Orange Lake, Florida, of fifty 

 meals of each ot the following species: 



Grass- Cut- Cray- Suck- 

 hoppers worms fish ers Misc. 



Snowy Egret 762 91 29 .. 9 



Little Blue Heron. 1,900 149 142 .. 45 

 Louisiana Heron .2,876 17 67 .. 14 

 Egrets 176 61 297 



Under the heading, 'Misc.' are included 

 a large number of water moccasins and 

 other snakes well known as very destruc- 

 tive to fish. 



Both the egret and the snowy egret are 

 destructive to field mice, and are there- 

 fore of pronounced economic value to the 

 agricultural interests of the country, as 

 shown in Bulletin No. 33 of the Biological 

 Survey of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture. 



3. Illegal traffic. — The trade in plumage 

 of native birds is now illegal in a number 

 of the states, including Massachusetts, 

 New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Louisiana, 

 Missouri, Colorado, California, Oregon. 

 Washington, and other states. The trade 

 in plumage of native birds is thus pro- 

 hibited in such important millinery 

 centers as Boston, New York, New Orleans 

 Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas 

 City, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, 

 Portland, and Seattle. The Federal Law 

 (25 Stat. 1 137) already prohibits inter- 

 state commerce in plumage shipped in 

 violation of local laws. The United 

 States should not permit the importation 

 of goods which are contraband in some 

 states. Their importation should be pro- 

 hibited, as has already been done in the 

 case of lottery tickets, opium, sealskins 

 illegally captured, ecc. 



4. The death knell of any species of 

 wild life is sounded when mankind begins 

 to commercialize it. x\ number of species 

 of North American birds are today on the 

 verge of extinction because of the activities 

 of the collectors working in the interests 

 of the world's great millinery establish- 

 ments. In collecting heron aigrettes the 

 most barbarous cruelties are practised. 

 The long airy feathers are the nuptial 

 adornments of the birds and are found 

 only in the breeding-season. To procure 

 these feathers it is absolutely necessary 

 to take the life of the birds which produce 

 them. This means that the young are 



