The Destruction and Protection 

 of Our Birds. 



As an introduction to our chapter on '"Bird Protection" we cannot 

 do better tlian to quote from Mr. H. W. Henshaw, of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. He says : "As objects of human care and 

 interest birds occupy a place filled by no other living things, and the 

 various movements to protect and foster them would be fully justified 

 were there no returns other than aesthetic. Only the thoughtless and 

 the ignorant still hold that the graceful forms and Ijeautiful plumage 

 of these masterpieces of nature serve their highest purpose when 

 worn on a hat for a brief season, to be then cast aside and forgotten, 

 the plumage dimmed and faded, the beautiful songs quenched forever." 



Man}' of man's activities as practiced in this country tend toward 

 the extermination of bird-life and for this reason it is of the utmost 

 importance for us to encourage and foster ever}' move for their pro- 

 tection in order to counterbalance, as far as possible, the destructive 

 tendencies. The causes most potent in destroying birds and the 

 results that they have produced may l)e grouped as follows : 



(1) Direct slaughter of birds (a) for the millinery trade. — The 

 absurd and barbarous habit of wearing dead birds or parts of them 

 for "ornament" is something in which all true women should be 

 ashamed to participate. Every bird, every aigrette plume, every Owl, 

 Pelican or Eagle feather, every Grebe's breast, etc., means the slaughter 

 of a beautiful bird and usually the starving of a family of young, as 

 most millinery collecting is done at the breeding season, when the 

 plumage is at its best. 



In New Jersey the women who encourage this slaughter by wearing 

 bird plumage have been responsible for the extermination of the 

 American Egret, Snowy Heron, Little Blue Heron and Least Tern, 

 all of which used to breed regularly along our coast, but to-day are but 

 the rarest stragglers from the south. In addition the Common Tern 

 and Laughing Gull have been so reduced in numl^ers that but a couple 



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