4 Decrease of Birds 



Knowledge of Condition Necessary as a Basis for 

 Intelligent Conservation 



As a basis for intelligent and effective work for conser- 

 ving our valuable wild bird life, a knowledge of the con- 

 ditions under which this wild life exists in the State today 

 is necessary. In order to obtain an average of fair and 

 unprejudiced opinion approaching as near the actual facts 

 as possible and discover possible remedies which should be 

 embodied in a report on this important subject, the Audu- 

 bon Society of South Carolina made a brief inquiry into 

 conditions affecting bird life. 



By way of collecting data from persons competent to 

 give information, 300 circulars containing the following 

 questions were prepared and submitted to a carefully 

 selected list of names made purposely to include farmers, 

 sportsmen, gunners, naturalists, ornithologists and other 

 intelligent observers : 



1. Are the birds decreasing in your locality, county, or 

 in the State generally? 



2. How do their numbers now compare with those of 

 fifteen years ago? Three-fourths as many, one-half, one- 

 third, or do they remain about the same? 



3. Has the decrease (if any) been continuing for 

 twenty, thirty, forty years or longer? 



4. What agencies have been responsible for the de- 

 crease? (1) Sportsmen? (2) Market hunters? (3) Milliners' 

 hunters? (4) Negroes? (5) Nest robbers? (6) Hunting out of 

 season? (7) Sling-shots and air-guns? (8) Guns in the hands 

 of irrseponsible boys? (9) Draining swamps? (10) Burning 

 over woods and fields? (11) Cutting away fence-rows and 

 hedges? (12) Other causes? 



5. Have any species of birds become extinct within 

 recent years, or are any nearing extinction and from what 

 cause? 



6. Are the natural enemies of birds such as cats, owls, 

 hawks, jays, English sparrows, foxes and snakes doing 

 appreciable injury, and what species are the most 

 injurious? 



