164 Canadian Record of Science. 



times more than the number of specimens extant in all our 

 scientific collections, private and public together, and pro- 

 bably a thousand times greater than the annual destruction 

 of birds (including also eggs) for scientific purposes. 



" Fortunately, perhaps, the supply of bird-skins for deco- 

 rative purposes is not all drawn from a single country, the 

 whole world being laid under tribute. The ornithologist 

 recognizes in the heterogeneous groups of birds on women's 

 hats, met with on every hand, a great preponderance of 

 North American species ; but with them are many of the 

 common birds of Europe, and a far greater variety from 

 South America, and many from Africa, Australia, !New 

 Guinea, and India. But, on the other hand, it is well 

 known that our own birds are exported in immense num- 

 bers to Europe ; but, whether the exportation exceeds the 

 importation, it is impossible to determine, from lack of 

 proper statistics. 



" With the foregoing facts before us in regard to the annual 

 destruction of birds, it is no longer surprising that many 

 species, and even genera, of birds, are fast disappearing from 

 our midst. Considering that this slaughter has been waged 

 for years, but with rapid increase year by year, is it not 

 rather a wonder that so many birds are still left? 



" The destruction of 40,000 terns in a single season on Cape 

 Cod for exportation, a million rails and reed-birds (bobo- 

 links) killed in a single month near Philadelphia, are facts 

 that may well furnish food for reflection. The swamps and 

 marshes of Florida are well known to have recently become 

 depopulated of their egrets and herons, while the State at 

 large has been for years a favorite slaughter-ground of the 

 milliner's emissaries. The present winter parties organized 

 and equipped in this interest are said to be prosecuting the 

 same wholesale warfare against the birds at various points 

 along the whole gulf-coast. 



"But why, some maybe supposed to ask, should the slaugh- 

 ter be interfered with ? Does it not yield profit to many an 

 impecunious idler, who receives so much per head from the 

 'taxidermist' for the freshly killed birds? Do not their 

 preparation and manufacture into the gaudy or otherwise 



