THE FOWLS OF THE FARM 115 



resting place. One generation of Americans found the 

 pigeons in "inexhaustible supply:" the next saw them 

 vanish — vanish, so quickly that few museums even sought 

 to keep specimens of their skins or their nests or their eggs; 

 the third generation (which we represent) marvels at the true 

 tales of their aforetime abundance, and at the swiftness of 

 their passing; and it allows the process of extermination to go 

 on only a little more slowly, with other fine native species. 



The waterfowl have fared a little better. Their migratory 

 habits have kept most of them, except at the season of their 

 coming and going, out of the way of the pot-hunter. In their 

 summer breeding grounds in the far north, and in their winter 

 feeding grounds in the far south they have been exposed mainly 

 to those natural enemies with which they were fitted to cope. 

 Yet, before the fusillade of lead that has followed their every 

 flight across our borders their ranks have steadily thinned. 

 Their size and conspicuousness (and consequent ability to 

 gratify the hunter's zeal for big game) seem to be determining 

 the order of their passing. The swans have disappeared: 

 the geese are nearly gone: rarely do we hear their honk, 

 honk overhead in springtime; and the wild ducks appear in 

 our Cayuga skies in ever-lessening numbers. Who that 

 has grown up in a land of abundant wild fowl, has known 

 them as heralds of summer and winter, has seen them coming 

 out of the north and disappearing into the south, has not 

 marvelled at the swiftness, strength and endurance of their 

 flight, and been uplifted with enthusiasm as he watched their 

 well-drilled V-shaped companies, cleaving the sky in lines of 

 perfect alignment and spacing. Our literature testifies 

 abundantly to the inspiration of this phenomenon. How 

 much poorer will our posterity be if these signs are to dis- 

 appear from our zodiac! 



The terrestrial wild fowl have vanished also; especially 

 those that, like the wild turkey, were large enough to be 



