472 SCIENCE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 



birds to sell in the market, enormous numbers have been 

 killed, and our game birds have greatly decreased in num- 

 bers. In the case of the passenger pigeon, the birds have 

 become extinct. Formerly these birds existed in tremendous 

 numbers, single flocks being seen which were estimated to 

 contain two billion birds. These birds were slaughtered 

 for market in such numbers that they gradually became 

 scarcer, until to-day not a single living passenger pigeon is 

 left. To-day, however, there is very little hunting for 

 market. 



Another reason for the marked decrease in game birds 

 has been excessive shooting by sportsmen. It is estimated 

 that each year an army of about five million men and boys 

 go out in the fall to shoot game birds. The open season has 

 been so long and the bag limit so high, that the birds have 

 gradually decreased. If the sportsmen were few, the danger 

 would not be so apparent ; but there is such an enormous 

 number of them that even when all keep within the limits 

 of the law, it is easy to see that large numbers of birds must 

 be killed, and that many species may disappear altogether 

 unless they are given better protection. 



In years past, many birds have been killed for millinery 

 purposes. As a result some species, like the egrets, have 

 become very scarce and even almost extinct. But on the 

 whole at the present time very few birds are being killed for 

 their plumage. 



Bird protection. Having shown that birds are of great 

 value to man, and that these have certain enemies, we may 

 next ask what is being done and can be done to protect birds 

 from these enemies. 



Audubon Societies. The most important agency in this 

 country in the cause of bird protection is the National 

 Association of Audubon Societies. At first, separate state 

 Audubon Societies were formed. Later, this national 

 organization was formed, the state societies cooperating with 



