300 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



It is largely due to the propaganda of these as- 

 sociations that the present intense interest among 

 sportsmen for increased protective measures has 

 arisen. The theory upon which they wwrk is that 

 upon the sportsman rests the chief onus of pro- 

 ducing game for posterity. Once sportsmen are 

 taught to look the future squarely in the face and 

 to forget about the glorious past, except as a hide- 

 ous object-lesson, they will begin to produce sport 

 for their descendants. 



The future of birds is now pretty well assured, 

 not only in America, but everywhere else in the 

 world. It has been stated by the highest authori- 

 ties on the subject that the age of mammals is 

 drawing to a close and fifty years more will see the 

 last of virtually all the wild four-footed creatures. 

 But, while twenty years ago a similar fate seemed 

 to threaten the avian world, that condition has 

 been greatly relieved. The world may yet see 

 an "age of birds." Many species are still bound 

 to pass away, — their ''balance" has been upset 

 and their numbers have been reduced below the 

 danger-point, a blighted condition from which the 

 species can never recover, — ^but other birds, if en- 

 couraged, will multiply in population to take their 

 places. 



The time is not far off when conservation of 

 bird life throughout the world will overcome de- 

 struction, in the same way that it is beginning to do 

 so in America. The world-wide traffic in plumage 



