162 BIRD FRIENDS 



central part of the United States are many small 

 marshes which are being tiled and reclaimed by the 

 farmer. 



During migration seasons many birds lose their 

 lives by dashing against lighthouses that happen 

 to be in their path. This has been especially ob- 

 served along the Atlantic Coast. It was reported 

 that at the base of the statue of Liberty in Xew 

 York Harbor there were found one morning four- 

 teen hundred dead birds which had been killed 

 during the night. 



And finally man has played a very prominent 

 part directly in bird-destruction by intentionally 

 and deliberately killing birds; and this forms one 

 of the saddest stories in connection with bird life, 

 sad from the standpoint of birds on account of the 

 harm that has been done them, and sad from the 

 standpoint of mankind, as indicating the savage 

 spirit which still pervades "civilized" man. All 

 other forces combined are mere trifles compared 

 with the part that man has played in the extermina- 

 tion of bird life. 



Shooting for sport. Every year a vast army of men 

 and boys, equipped with modern weapons, goes to 

 the woods, fields, and lakes to slaughter birds. Mr. 

 H. W. Henshaw, chief of the United States Biologi- 

 cal Survey, writes that more than ten per cent of all 

 people in the Northwest are licensed hunters, and 

 that there are probably not far from five millions 



