July 25, 1919] 



SCIENCE 



83 



systematic vandalism that has ever occurred 

 on this continent is being carried out at the 

 public expense by the Alaskan territorial gov- 

 ernment, which in 1917 placed a bounty on 

 eagles. In less than two years about five thou- 

 sand six hundred of these birds, which must 

 be of a large percentage of the entire number 

 inhabiting North America, have been killed 

 for fifty cents each, and the slaughter is still 

 going on. From what is known of the habits 

 of the bald eagle it can not be doubted that 

 jeports of its depredations have been grossly 

 exaggerated, and that an impartial scientific 

 investigation would prove that much persecu- 

 tion that it is suffering is both tmneeessary 

 and unjustified. 



Places in North America outside of Alaska 

 and some of the neighboring British terri- 

 tories where eagles can still safely breed are 

 now very few; they rarely successfully raise 

 more than one or two young in one brood, and 

 the growth of the young birds is slow, so that 

 the same pair can not raise young every year. 

 Eagles are naturally very long-lived birds and 

 a large part of those now living were raised 

 many years ago when conditions for breeding 

 ,were more favorable, and at best the birds 

 would not be able to maintain even the present 

 small numbers still existing under the condi- 

 tions now prevailing. It is evident that such 

 destruction as that which is going on in the 

 only part of the continent where these birds 

 are still numerous has already advanced a 

 long way toward adding our national emblem 

 to the list containing the Labrador duck, the 

 passenger pigeon, the whooping crane, the 

 trumpeter swan, the Carolina paroquet and 

 others that have now disappeared forever. 

 With more active interest on the part of those 

 with scientific knowledge, the passenger pigeon 

 might not have become extinct, since it might 

 have been preserved by the simple expedient 

 of protecting its breeding places; the few re- 

 maining individuals of the heath hen would 

 not have been allowed to remain where a 

 single forest fire could wipe them practically 

 all out; the small remaining colonies of the 

 California sea elephant found a few years ago 

 might not have been left without protection. 



/and the golden plover, which is on the verge 

 of extinction, would not be especially excepted 

 from protection by the present federal migra- 

 tory bird law. With more scientific and in- 

 telligent judgment applied to such matters the 

 Klamath lakes, which are among the most im- 

 portant remaining breeding places for wild 

 fowl in the United States, would not now be 

 being drained; and many other mistakes or 

 worse than mistakes might have been avoided, 

 or in some cases might even still be corrected. 

 The particular purpose of this communica- 

 tion is however to call attention to one phase 

 of protective work which is very important 

 for science, and in which scientific men and 

 societies must especially interest themselves 

 if it is to be taken up at all, for the general 

 public can not be expected to appreciate its 

 importance. This is the protection of what 

 remains of the imique and peculiar forms of 

 animal and plant life that inhabit many of the 

 remote islands and isolated island groups in 

 various parts of the world. These contain 

 many species of birds, animals and plants 

 peculiar to themselves, and represented, on ac- 

 /Count of the small area they inhabit, only by 

 few individuals. They are thus very likely 

 to disappear, either through changes caused 

 by, or direct destruction by man or by noxious 

 animals, as the mongoose, domestic cats and 

 rats introduced by man. Hundreds of inter- 

 esting island species, including birds, reptiles, 

 insects, mollusks and members of other groups, 

 have already become totally extinct through 

 human agency, and many of the remaining- 

 ones are immediately threatened with the 

 same fate. On such islands there usually 

 were, and on many there still remain, forest 

 tracts containing plants found nowhere else 

 and presenting ecological conditions entirely 

 unique and therefore of great scientific inter- 

 est. If they could be preserved, which is de- 

 siraible for their own sake, they would serve as 

 reservations for preserving the native ani- 

 mals also. This would in many cases not be 

 an expensive undertaking, as it is ohiefiy in 

 land unfavoraJble in character or situation for 

 agricultural purposes that such forests have 

 been allowed to remain, and it is probable that 



