CHAPTER XVIII 
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BIRD WORLD 
Birp Drestruction.—There are many things to be learned 
about birds besides their names, and their length in milli- 
metres. To-day the first thing to be taught is the fact that 
from this time henceforth all birds must be protected, or they 
will all be exterminated. Every reader is particularly requested 
to read the whole of Chapter XX XVIII, which appears at the 
end of Volume III of this work, entitled: “‘The Slaughter of 
North American Birds.” 
To-day it is a safe estimate that there are ten million 
shotguns at large in the United States, and a loaded cartridge 
for each living bird. Each succeeding year produces about 
five hundred thousand more shotguns, seven hundred million 
cartridges and a new crop of gun-demons, eager to slay, am- 
bitious to make records as sportsmen or collectors. If a bird 
is so unfortunate as to possess plumes, or flesh which can be 
sold for ten cents, the mob of pot-hunters seeks it out, even 
unto the ends of the earth. 
In 1897-98 the writer made for the New York Zoological 
Society a careful inquiry into the volume of bird life in the 
United States, with special reference to its increase or de- 
crease during the fifteen years prior to that date. From one 
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