264 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



Apart from the fact that certain parts of the Yukon Terri- 

 tory contain some of the finest moose in the Dominion, the 

 Territory cannot afford to have its game resources unneces- 

 sarily wiped out in such a manner. The situation demands 

 immediate and stern action before it is too late to prevent 

 the inevitable consequences. 



THE MIGRATORY BIRDS CONVENTION 



For many years the numbers of our migratory birds, such 

 as ducks, geese, insectivorous birds, and shore-birds, which 

 class includes the plovers, sandpipers, snipe, woodcock, etc., 

 have been decreasing. This decrease is a matter of com- 

 mon knowledge and observation throughout the Dominion. 

 Certain of these migratory birds, such as the Eskimo curlew, 

 which formerly existed in enormous numbers and was killed 

 for the market, the Labrador duck, the passenger pigeon, 

 and the great auk have now become extinct. Others, such 

 as the whooping crane and the wood duck, the most beau- 

 tiful of our native ducks, have become so reduced in num- 

 bers as to render their continued existence without further 

 protection a matter of doubt. 



From a national standpoint the prospect of this continued 

 decrease involved serious economic consideration. Leaving 

 out of account the value from an aesthetic point of view of 

 this portion of our Canadian wild life, great as that is, and 

 regarding it as an economic asset to the country, we were 

 faced with the gradual reduction of our migratory wild 

 fowl, whose value as food and as means of securing recreation 

 is inestimable, and of our insectivorous birds, which are of 

 even greater importance to the welfare of om* agricultural 

 interests. 



Insectivorous birds constitute one of the chief natural 

 agencies controlling insect pests affecting field crops, or- 

 chards, and forests. In field crops alone the annual loss 



