20 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO. 



termination (46). At a farmers' contest in Georgia in 1911, 11,231 meadow- 

 larks were killed for prizes (47). 



While the slaughter of game birds by sportsman and market hunters has 

 been in progress, the destruction of non-game birds for millinery purposes 

 has been even greater. The terrific drain of the feather trade upon bird life is 

 not generally appreciated. Since dealers discovered that the world was 

 awakening to the enormity of the destruction and its disastrous results, gen- 

 eral statistics upon the subject, and especially relating to the use of our na- 

 tive, law-protected species, are unobtainable. Isolated items become known 

 from time to time, and a few of these culled from various sources may 

 throw some light upon the subject. Many of the birds used are of species 

 which range over the United States in summer, but retire to Central or South 

 America for the winter, so that their destruction even in Guatemala or 

 Venezuela directly affects us. It is quite likely that the slaughter will con- 

 tinue in out-of-the-way places so long as the market furnishes a demand for 

 bird plumage. The work of the Audubou Societies and other organizations 

 and individuals in discouraging the use of plumage, except that of the do- 

 mestic birds, is producing good results. The non-game birds are now pro- 

 tected by law in most of our states and some foreign countries, but a de- 

 cisive blow would be the adoption of the plan now under consideration in 

 Germany and elsewhere prohibiting the importation of foreign plumage, car- 

 rying with it even provisions prohibiting the wearing of the plumage of 

 wild birds. 



According to Forbush (48), in Oregon, from 1900 to 1908, 20 to 30 camps 

 were engaged in killing grebes for the feather trade ; over 1,500,000 egrets 

 were killed in Venezuela in 1898 for their plumes ; 400,000 hummingbirds were 

 shipped from the West Indies to 1 London dealer in 1 year; the birds of 

 paradise are being exterminated for their plumage, 2 dealers for some years 

 prior to 1907 shipping 12,000 of the skins every 3 months ; 250,000 albatrosses 

 were killed in 1 year on Pacific Islands. 



Palmer tells us (49) that 3,000 terns were marketed from Long Island 

 by 1 gunner in 1883, and 40,000 killed at Cape Cod about the same time, 

 while in Florida 1 man boasted that he and his companion killed 130,000 

 herons, egrets and terns in one winter. Most of these birds are killed during 

 the nesting season when plumes are at their best, thus preventing reproduc- 

 tion. 



Sullivan (50) says that at one auction in London 400,000 bird skins from 

 America and 350,000 from India were sold, and that 70,000 skins of song- 

 birds were taken on Long Island in 4 months. A recent London sale in- 

 volved 19,029 birds of paradise (51). 



(46) Judd, Sylvester D., The Grouse and Wild Turkeys of the United States, and 

 their Economic Value, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv., Bull. 24 ; The Bobwhite and other 

 Quails of the United States in their Economic Relations, ibid., Bull. 21. McAtee, W. L., 

 Our Vanishing Shorebirds, ibid., Circular No. 79. Fisher, A. K., Two Vanishing Game 

 Birds : The Woodcock and the Wood Duck, U. S. Dept. Agric., Yearbook for 1901, pp. 

 447-458. Bailey, Vernon, Birds Known to Eat the Boll Weevil, U. S. Biol. Surv., Bull. 

 No. 22, p. 15. Hornaday, W. T., Our Vanishing Wild Life. 1913. 



(47) Bird-Lore, Vol. XIII, p. 123, 1911. 



(48) Forbush, E. H., Fourth Annual Report of State Ornithologist (Mass.), for 

 1911, 24th Ann. Rept. Mass. St. Brd. Agric., 26-27. See also Bird Lore, Vol. II, p. 

 34, 1900; Vol. VII, pp. 339-340, 1905. 



(49) Palmer, T. S., Review of Economic Ornithology, ibid, pp. 273-274. 



(50) Sullivan, R. H., The Economic Value of Bird Life, Exten. Dept. Kansas State 

 Agric. Coll., Agricultural Education, Vol. Ill, No. 7, p. 13. 



(51) Museum News, Vol. VII, p. 54, 1912. 



