BIRDS OF PEASE MARSH 



way south in the fall on that long, long flight 

 from the Arctic to the southernmost part of 

 America. On the way they had well-known 

 resting places. Men found out these resting 

 places and the date at which the Curlew were 

 due there, and fell upon the weary birds as they 

 alighted. At some places when they were 

 roosting at night on the beach banks, packed 

 close together, men went out with lanterns and 

 slaughtered them by hundreds and thousands. 

 They were killed off Labrador, off Newfound- 

 land, off the New England coast, at any spot 

 where they attempted to rest. 



Terribly decreased in numbers they at last 

 tried to escape their human enemy by chang- 

 ing their course, flying, instead of along the 

 eastern coast, inland as far as the Mississippi. 

 They were only to find that the human beings 

 who should have protected them were there 

 also to kill them. The fact that they were won- 

 derful birds, with almost human instincts, only 

 helped in their destruction. If one were 

 wounded and called to the others they would 

 come back to it and hover round it. In spite 

 of their own danger they would not leave it and 

 men, no better than savages, taking advantage 

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