118 MARVELS OF THE ANIMAL WORLD 



twenty per cent., and in Paris the milliners fear 

 that the fashion for aigrettes is as good as dead, 

 because their best customers can wear them no 

 more.' 



There are rather more than fifty bird sanctuaries 

 in the United States. These are situated along 

 the coasts, consist of numerous small islands, and 

 are the resort of herons, gulls, terns, egrets, pelicans, 

 ducks, etc. That known as Pelican Island, off 

 the coast of Florida, is, as its name implies, a 

 avourite spot where pelicans congregate arid nest. 

 It was first proclaimed as a sanctuary in the year 

 1903, and although it only covers an area of about 

 three acres of ground, yet, owing to the sociable 

 nature of the birds which select the island for 

 their home, there is sufficient accommodation for 

 the two thousand or so individuals which dwell 

 and nest thereon. Of the bird sanctuaries nearer 

 home we read that in the year 1907 the State of 

 Hamburg established one as a breeding place for 

 sea-fowl upon the Island of Neuwerk, at the mouth 

 of the Elbe ; while at a somewhat earlier date the 

 British Government set aside a portion of the 

 Shetland Islands as a refuge for the great skua or 

 bonxie. 



The protection of animals by mankind may be 

 said to have had its origin at a very early date, 

 for the ancient Egyptians regarded many creatures 

 such as baboons, snakes, shrews, wolves, crocodiles, 

 certain fish and beetles, and even lions and hippo- 

 potami, as sacred. It was considered a great crime 

 for any person to kill or injure one of these, the 



