28 THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOLocists’ SEMI-ANNUAL. 
EXTINCTION OF OUR BIRDS. 
BY LE GRAND T. MEYER. 
Like the once inpenetrable forests which bedecked our prairies, 
protecting us from the varying temperatures and securing an uniform 
rainfall ; like the once well-stocked lakes and rivers with fish, now 
comparitively barren ; like the once common mammals that swarmed 
the woods ; so, likewise, is the time rapidly approaching when our 
present common birds will become rare or obsolete. 
What is the cause of this extermination, you are ready to ask? 
Let me enumerate the artificial causes, taken from trustworthy ob- 
servations and statistics. 
First, the ‘“Pot-Hunters.” Those human fiends that from day to 
day tramp the happy feeding grounds of game birds. Let us take 
some of the common species which were once abundant and are now 
extinct in many localities, and see if my-assertion or logic is defect- 
ive. 
The Pinnated Grouse and Quail (I might mention the Ruffed Grouse 
if it was not for its wonderful powers of flight), were once one of the 
most common game birds east of Mississippi River, now nearly ex- 
tinct among the New England and Middle States. For a market sup- 
ported by bloated epicures and sensualists, they have done their work 
thoroughly. 
The multitudes of Geese and Ducks have become so reduced that 
hunting them as a pursuit has become unprofitable. 
Where are the myriads of Pigeons, Wilson and Audubon give us 
such glowing accounts of, less than a century ago? With us even the 
old settlers remember flocks that would dim the sky for hours in pas- 
sing ; now we see a few straggling pairs paying pilgrimage to their 
ancestor’s haunts. 
Second, for Fashion. ‘Those ladies ( ?) that from their ill-concealed 
vanity yearly sign the death warrants of millions of birds simply be- 
cause they possess an attractive plumage. Recently, an item in an 
exchange read : “Lady Gemini appeared in the reception room with 
a dress decorated with patches of three thousand Brazilian Humming- 
birds !”” Not long ago I saw a woman in a cable-car wearing a hat 
with the heads of, by actual count, twenty-one Quails. Do you think 
