the Value of B'lnh to Man. 115 



plumage in Yucatan was followed by a great increase of 

 liuuian mortality among the inhabitants of the coast, which 

 mortality was irrefutably due to the loss of the birds that 

 formerlj' assisted in kee])ing the harbours and bays free from 

 the decaying matter which the sea is constantly casting 

 ashore. 



I wonder if these men who wish the Gull destroyed ever 

 give a thought to what would happen to their own smelling 

 villages if this bird was not present to eat the refuse they 

 throw about ? Or, again, if they ever reflect on that feeling 

 of relief they experience when, in thick weather, they hear, 

 through the fog, the clamour of these feathered bell-buoys, 

 warning them that they are ncaring rock or bar. 



The Bird as a Guano Producer. 



Now that I am on the subject of pelagic birds, I will 

 speak of their value as guano producers. 



Undoubtedly the present enormous trade in fertilisers 

 owes its origin to the bird, for the fertilising properties of 

 the phosphoric acid and nitrogen contained in fish was not 

 recognised until guano — which is the excrement of sea-birds 

 mixed with fish — became a, stimulus to intensive agriculture, 

 and furnished a source of revenue to civilised nations. 



It is true guano has depreciated in price since the manu- 

 facture of fertilisers, but it has still a considerable commercial 

 value. 



Because of this, and because their slaughter is characterised 

 by practices which are abominable and full of horror, 

 tolerance of the wholesale destruction of sea-birds on their 

 breeding-grounds by the agents of feather-dealers is a blot 

 on our civilisation. 



Not many years ago, William Alanson Bryan, United States 

 S})ecial Inspector of Birds, reported that on several islands 

 in the North Pacific — which islands are the property of the 

 United States, and legally established bird reservations — he 

 walked waist-high through heaps of dead x\lbatrosses. Terns, 

 and Gulls, the feathers of which had been strijtped off to bo 

 sold as hat-trinnnings, and the bodies thrown aside to rot. 



