42 WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON 



time since the slaughter of wild life began on 

 these shores the country as a whole has been 

 aroused to the need of instant and country-wide 

 protection. The Federal Government has acted. 

 As I am writing these lines, the custom-house 

 officers are snipping off the lovely aigrettes from 

 the hats brought into our ports from abroad. The 

 women are weeping and wringing their hands 

 and doing more violent things at the wicked de- 

 struction of the costly plumes; but could they 

 see the white heron rookeries with the heaps of 

 rotting carcasses, and the nests of piping, starving 

 young, could they see the plumes stripped from 

 the brooding mothers' backs, they would under- 

 stand; and no more would they make themselves 

 the occasion for such cruel, unspeakable destruc- 

 tion. 



And so it will soon be with us in our feeling 

 for the new federal laws prohibiting the shooting 

 of the migratory birds. A few hunters think that 

 their rights (to kill the wild birds that fly over 

 and belong to us all, but to no one person) are 

 being encroached upon. But they will learn bet- 

 ter soon. And soon we shall all of us learn better 

 how to live with the birds and other wild things, 



