98 ANIMAL BIOLOGY 



of game in late winter and spring. About one half the 

 states have done this, and the other half should act without 

 delay. The sale of game has almost destroyed our once 

 magnificent supply of game birds. We have no right to 

 hand down to posterity a gameless continent. The wild 

 life of to-day is not wholly ours to dispose of as we please. 

 It has been given to us in trust. We must account for it 

 to those who come after us and audit our records." ^ — Dr. 



W. T. HORNADAY. 



But laws, however stringent, are of little avail unless there 

 is a healthy public sentiment to bring about their enforce- 

 ment. Thus, for instance, it is evident that laws merely de- 

 signed to prevent the killing of birds for millinery purposes 

 will be ineffective, so long as women are permitted to wear 

 birds. One thing will completely stop the cruelty of bird 

 millinery — the disapprobation of fashion. "It is our 

 women who hold the great power. Let our women say the 

 word, and hundreds of bird lives will be preserved every 

 year. And until woman does use her influence it is vain 

 to hope that this nameless sacrifice will cease until it has 

 worked out its own end and the birds are gone." — Weed 

 and Dearborn, " Birds in their Relations to Man." 



80. What boys and girls can do to protect birds. — " Now 



that adequate statutes are either enacted or may reasonably 

 be expected very soon, it remains to scatter information 

 about birds everywhere, so that laws may be respected . . . 

 and it is in this line that those interested in their conservation 

 should work. There must be lectures, short articles of a 

 popular nature in newspapers and magazines, distribution 

 of government and other publications relating to birds, 



^ The authors are indebted to Dr. W. T. Hornaday, of the New 

 York Zoological Park, for many suggestions relating to conservation 

 of birds and for a careful reading of the chapters on birds and fishes. 



