184 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
of eggs have thus been destroyed, and little scientific 
knowledge gained by this manner of study. Not one 
egg in a thousand was preserved two months; not many 
of them that number of days. I have had thousands 
brought to me by boys for identification. In answer 
to questions, I more frequently found that the boys had 
little or no knowledge of the subject, often not knowing 
what species they had robbed. These eggs were to 
them as so many marbles, or other toys, trophies, 
valuable only as objects of barter, but the effects_on 
the bird population were none the less injurious. Many 
of the older members, claiming to be engaged in the 
investigation of science, go forth maiming and killing 
their thousands of the commonest birds, those that 
every intelligent school-boy knows. What new facts 
will these people ever give in return for this license? 
Our birds have all been identified and described, and a 
further persecution of them in that direction is selfishly 
barbarous, and ought not longer to be tolerated. Even 
all these causes seem dwarfed when compared with the 
destruction of the birds for millinery and decorative 
purposes. If the facts connected with this traffic could 
generally be made known, a thrill of indignation would 
take possession of every right-minded person, and the 
community in wrath would demand that the outrage 
be summarily stopped. 
Unfortunately the killing is carried on surreptitiously, 
much of it in out-of-the-way places. Those who have 
investigated the subject know that thousands of men 
and boys, all over the country, are regularly employed 
