288 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, Pallas cormo- 

 rant, and Carolina parrakeet, all, with the possible 

 exception of the cormorant, exterminated by the 

 hand of man. Four of these died because they 

 made excellent eating or because their feathers 

 made excellent beds. The native parrakeet was 

 slaughtered for its bright-colored plumage. And, 

 aside from the cormorant, they were all so nu- 

 merous that no one dreamed that they could be 

 exterminated. 



To this casualty list may be added the names of 

 the whooping-crane, sandhill crane, trumpeter- 

 swan, American flamingo, scarlet ibis, Hudsonian 

 godwit, upland plover, willet, black-capped petrel, 

 red egret, heath hen, white-tailed kite, and ivory- 

 billed woodpecker; thirteen birds so nearly ex- 

 tinct that some have not been recorded for several 

 years. And there are also the roseate spoonbill, 

 long-billed curlew, dowitcher, knot, snowy egret, 

 great white heron, wood-duck, several species of 

 hawk, an owl or two, and a score of other birds, 

 the sight of any one of which in its native haunts, 

 from its very rarity, now gives an ornithologist 

 heart palpitations and thrills sufficient to last him 

 a whole season. It is not overstepping the bor- 

 ders of conservation to say that 10 per cent, of 

 the original species in the United States are now 

 in a condition of virtual extinction, and fully 25 

 per cent, of once-common birds may be relegated 

 to the "rare" list. Of the remainder, some have 



