THE DECREASE OF WILDFOWL. 579 



Mr. Storey was asked for facts bearing on the mat- 

 ter, but never responded. No one could be found who 

 had knowledge of any such trade. Nothing definite 

 was written about the matter, and no particle of evi- 

 dence was ever brought forward to show that such 

 trade existed. No names were given of those who 

 gathered the eggs or shipped them, nor of the con- 

 signees to whom they went, nor of the vessels by which 

 they arrived, nor of the people who received the eggs 

 and manufactured them. There was never a word of 

 detail, not a scintilla of evidence — just a series of gen- 

 eralities about millions and carloads of duck eggs, set 

 in a glittering frame painted over with pictures of the 

 far-stretching tundra and the on-moving clouds of 

 ducks, geese, swans and auks. 



In the Forest and Stream's investigation, inquiry 

 was made first of the transportation lines; second, at 

 the custom houses, and third, of those persons con- 

 cerned with the manufacture of commercial albumen, 

 where these carloads and shiploads of millions of eggs 

 were supposed to be consumed. 



It was found that the transcontinental railway lines, 

 by which of necessity the wildfowl eggs must have 

 reached the East, had never transported any. Inquiry 

 at the dififerent custom ports showed that wildfowl eggs 

 had never been imported through any of the custom 

 houses along our northern or northwestern border; 

 and, finally, the largest manufacturers of albumen in 

 this country stated that practically all the albumen 

 product used in this country was obtained in Russia, 



