Papers oil the Dcstnictioji of Native Birds. 185 



sider this an exaggeration, wliich it probably is, but ibr tlie sake of 

 a basis we will admit it to be true. Mr. Allen further estnnates, 

 allowing for the "making over" necessities of the economically- 

 disposed ladies, that five million birds per year will be required to 

 satisfy this demand. ' 



Now, what effect practically, will this have on the bird fauna 

 of America, for as two-thirds or more of the birds of any one North 

 American locality are migrants, and many of them pass from South 

 to North America, and vice versa., we must estimate the effect on 

 the continent at large, as we do not limit the bird-wearing ladies to 

 any one locality. Moreover^ the ornithologist who attempts to 

 identify the contents of boxes of bird skins in our millinery estab- 

 lishments will find the vast majority of exotic forms, as I have 

 already noted. The ultimate influence of the destruction of birds 

 then must be estimated by the number of birds in the whole 

 country. Now, unfortunately tor our purposes we have no Reliable 

 census of American birds, as applied to individuals, but, following 

 the example of Mr. Allen, we may estimate that the 15,000,000 

 square miles, comprised in North and South America and the V\''est 

 India Islands, will average at least two hundred birds to the s(|uare 

 mile (and I think my ornithological friends that are present will 

 agree with me that this is an exceedingly moderate estimate). 



According to our estimate, then, we would have a bird popu- 

 lation in the Americas of 3,000,000,000 — (that this is not an ex- 

 cessive estimate is evidenced by the fact that Alexander Wilson 

 computed the number of pigeons alone in a single flight at over 

 2,000,000,000) — or 1,500,000,000 pairs. Now, another very moder- 

 ate estimate would allow at least two birds /rr anniiiii to each pair for 

 natural increase; so that 3,000,000,000 birds must be destroyed 

 annually, by all causes, in order that the bird fauna shall remain at 

 its present proportions ; in other words, until that number are de- 

 stroyed there will be no decrease in numbers. Now, the propor- 

 tion destroyed for millinery purposes taken at Mr. Allen's estimate 

 of 5,000,000 and allowing another 5,000,000 for South America, 

 Canada, Mexico and the West Indies, would be as 10 is to 3,000, 

 or as I to 300 ; the other 299 meeting their death from other 

 causes. In other words a mortality rate of 3 1-3 per 1,000, 

 while a rate of 20 to 25 per 1,000 in the human species excites no 

 comment whatever. 



The actual rate in the birds is manifestly much less than that 

 above stated, since a section of the country with only 200 birds to 



