BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



There exists much indisputable testimony that during those dark days men often 

 filled trunks and boxes with thousands of Quail and, taking them to Northern mar- 

 kets, reaped a golden harvest for their industry. Pot-hunters trapped and netted 

 at will, and sold their catch at the neighboring stores. 



In many places men and boys gathered on summer evenings to shoot Nighthawks 

 (Bullbats) , often for no other apparent purpose than for the mere pleasure of see- 

 ing them fall. These birds are usually particularly abundant about a village 

 infested with mosquitoes, on which they greedily feed, so our citizens were following 

 the short-sighted policy of wantonly killing one of our most useful friends. Men 

 who had no interest in the welfare of our State, other than the money which they 

 could make by destroying our bird life, came from New York and New England, 

 eagerly slaughtered our shore birds in untold numbers, and, packing their bodies 

 in barrels of ice, shipped them to Northern markets. 



In our eastern sounds, gulls and many species of beautiful terns have long assem- 

 bled in summer to lay their eggs and rear their young on the small islands and 

 sandy beaches of that district. Thither went the plume hunters, and season after 

 season butchered these exquisite creatures to get the wings for the New York 

 millinery trade. They always chose the time of year when the birds were collected 

 on their rookeries, well knowing that at that time they are easy to approach. 

 Countless thousands of young, being thus deprived of parental support, were left 

 helpless, to die of starvation. 



Beginning about 1882, this barbaric war of extermination was continued each 

 summer until May 1, 1903, when the first Audubon game warden on Pamlico Sound 

 received his appointment. 



This outlines very briefly conditions relative to bird killing in North Carolina 

 when the State Audubon Society was formed. That appalling conditions had been 

 allowed to continue unrebuked was due in part to the ignorance of the general 

 public as to what was going on, and more particularly was it due to apathy on the 

 part of our general population. After all, they said, these creatures were nothing 

 but birds, and if any one gained pleasure or profit by killing them, all well and 

 good. 



Those of us, therefore, who were interested in the formation of the Audubon 

 Society had certain definite things in mind which we sought to see accomplished. 

 These were: 



First. The enactment of a law which would make it absolutely illegal to kill any 

 useful species of bird in North Carolina which was not classed as a game bird. 



Second. To secure laws providing reasonable closed seasons for all game birds 

 and game animals in the counties where no laws of this character then existed. 



Third. To require every nonresident hunter to pay to the State $10 for a shoot- 

 ing license. 



Fourth. To provide for a system of State wardens to enforce these and other 

 game laws. 



Fifth. To give the Audubon Society official recognition in its work of seeking 

 to cultivate public sentiment to a better appreciation of the value of conserving the 

 wild life of the State. 



