CHAPTER XVIII 

 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRD WORLD 



Bird Destruction. — There are many things to be learned 

 about birds besides their names, and their length in milli- 

 metres. To-day the first thing to be taught is the fact that 

 from this time henceforth all birds must be protected, or they 

 will all be exterminated. Every reader is particularly requested 

 to read the whole of Chapter XXXVIII, which appears at the 

 end of Volume III of this work, entitled : k The Slaughter of 

 North American Birds." 



To-day it is a safe estimate that there are ten million 

 shotguns at large in the United States, and a loaded cartridge 

 for each living bird. Each succeeding year produces about 

 five hundred thousand more shotguns, seven hundred million 

 cartridges and a new crop of gun-demons, eager to slay, am- 

 bitious to make records as sportsmen or collectors. If a bird 

 is so unfortunate as to possess plumes, or flesh which can be 

 sold for ten cents, the mob of pot-hunters seeks it out, even 

 unto the ends of the earth. 



In 1897-9S the writer made for the New York Zoological 

 Society a careful inquiry into the volume of bird life in the 

 United States, with special reference to its increase or de- 

 crease during the fifteen years prior to that date. From one 



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