BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



of this, would shoot them down even as they 

 tried to help a wounded comrade. 



That wonderful flight is a thing of the past. 

 The flocks of Esquimau Curlew are gone. 

 Within the last few years, it is said, that only 

 occasional specimens have been seen and 

 shot. Even now, when the story of the Curlew 

 is known, those few rare birds have not been 

 left in safety to increase their numbers. 



That far northern land of "Little Sticks," by 

 nature the home of these valuable birds, is now 

 a lonely spot. The nesting season comes and 

 goes. There are no more dense flocks of Cur- 

 lews. It is indeed a barren land. 



Still more numerous at one time was the 

 Passenger Pigeon, known throughout Canada 

 and the United States. These birds abounded 

 in such flocks that their flight is said to have 

 darkened the sun. But alas, they, too, have 

 gone. They were slaughtered at their nesting 

 season and as they migrated. The story of the 

 Passenger Pigeon gives the most forceful 

 proof that no birds, no matter how numerous, 

 can long withstand the attacks of man in their 

 breeding grounds. Too late men awoke to the 

 fact that they had completely wiped them out. 

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