JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



25 



the mouutainous region of the cen- 

 tral zone of Asia, where man probably 

 first appeared on earth and where in 

 early times the human species multi- 

 plied and advanced far beyond the 

 barbarous state. These domesticated 

 animals furnished meat, milk and ma- 

 terial for clothing, bore burdens and 

 drew the plough, enabling the shep- 

 herds and herdsmen to become agri- 

 culturalists. 



2nd. Is the killing of birds to be 

 used as mere ornaments a violation 

 of animal i-ights? A fair-minded and 

 innocent person can answer this ques- 

 tion in but one way. The collectors of 

 birds, birds' plumes and wings, for 

 millinery purposes are simply butchers 

 and ought to be imprisoned, and the 

 wholesale dealers in plumes are abet- 

 tors. Their business, if continued, will 

 cause the extinction of many species 

 of our most beautiful birds, for the 

 region where some of these birds live 

 is very limited. One of the humming- 

 birds is found only in the crater of an 

 extinct volcano and in its immediate 

 neighborhood. Its tiny throat is so 

 fiery that Mr. Gould says it seems to 

 have caught upon its throat the last 

 spark of the volcano before it was 

 extinguished. Our own humming-bird, 

 the Ruby-throat, rears its young here 

 in the Northern States, migrates in 

 early autumn and leaves our country 

 for Mexico and Central America. Who 

 could cause the death of this tiny 

 creature and wear it as an ornament, 

 which had survived the perils of this 

 long migration twice a year for the 

 sake of passing a short summer in 

 this region with us? Who could be 

 so cruel and inhospitable? But we 

 must presume that the milliners and 

 their patrons, the wearers of these 

 birds and plumes, are innocent or 

 guilty, at most, of only ignorance or 

 carelessness. The suppression of this 

 wrong lies with those who are gen- 

 erally ready to co-operate in every 

 good work. 



3d. Ought animals to be used as 

 food? Doubtless we all wish we 

 could be vegetarians. Scientists 

 think that our teeth and digestive or- 

 gans imply that we are to be omniv- 

 orous. The fact that man could eat 

 meat greatly aided him in his early 

 struggle for existence. If animal 

 food is necessary for man's health, 

 success and improvement, we must 

 answer this question in the affirma- 



tive. Of course the transportation 

 and slaughtering of animals ought to 

 be conducted under the strictest gov- 

 ernmental supervision. 



4th. Is vivisection a violation of 

 animal rights? It is a shameful vio- 

 lation as it has sometimes been prac- 

 ticed. The practice of vivisection 

 should also be under the strictest su- 

 pervision of the government. Li- 

 censes to practice it ought to be 

 granted to the great scientists only, 

 whose observations will be likely to 

 lead to important results in alleviat- 

 ing man's sufferings. It ought not to 

 be indulged in to verify well-known 

 facts or to amuse a class of college or 

 medical students. 



5th. We have one of these very 

 difficult problems here in the State of 

 Maine. We congratulate ourselves 

 that Maine, with its seaside, its lakes, 

 rivers and forests, is the best health 

 resort in all the known world and we 

 heartily welcome to this sanitarium 

 all that will come. If our legislature 

 should prohibit altogether the killing 

 of the moose, caribou and deer and 

 allow these large animals to multiply 

 for a period of years at least, the 

 moose would be saved from extinc- 

 tion, for Maine is its last stronghold 

 and under the present state regula- 

 tions its numbers are diminishing, 

 the caribou, which is now disappear- 

 ing from the State, would remain with 

 us, and the summer visitors would see 

 the deer feeding among the domestic 

 cattle. Let the legislature afford every 

 facility to visitors to visit our forests 

 in September and October, by furnish- 

 ing licensed and thoroughly compe- 

 tent guides, as now, and by increasing 

 the food supply through the multipli- 

 cation of the fishes in all our rivers 

 and lakes by artificial propagation. 

 Fishing and pretending to fish have 

 been a delightful amusement in all 

 ages. The prohibition of the killing 

 of moose, deer and caribou would 

 keep away the amateur hunters who 

 cannot distinguish deer from men and 

 domestic cattle. It would keep away 

 butchers that visit our woods merely 

 for the sake of killing something. 

 Our woods would be even more 

 attractive to clergymen, lawyers, 

 physicians, teachers and business 

 men who go there to see the wild ani- 

 mals in their native haunts and to 

 study their habits; to see nature in its 

 most somber, mysterious and im- 



