INTRODUCTION 33 



Among birds are eagles, hawks, especially the peregrine type, owls, ravens, crows, 

 magpies, and gulls. Among reptiles crocodiles and certain snakes are the most im- 

 portant, while turtles, where the larger kinds occur on breeding waters, take a heavy 

 toll of young birds. The huge monitor lizards of the genus Varanus eat both eggs 

 and young and are destructive to certain tropical ducks. Fish of the pike family are 

 dangerous to young ducks. Sea ducks have even been caught by large clams, when 

 diving for food. 



Many parasitic worms have been found in the intestines of ducks, some encysted 

 in the muscles of the breast. There are also various feather-mites which are common. 

 Ducks have been known to be killed by leeches. 



We might include under enemies the lead-poisoning from eating shot, which is 

 found rather commonly in ducks, and also the alkali poisoning, or "duck sickness," 

 seen recently in our own West. 



STATUS 

 This is a subject which ought to interest us above all others. We are living at a time 

 when the whole world is being overrun and desolated by civilized man, and we of 

 this generation will be held responsible by those who follow us. To us comes the 

 task, hopeless as it seems at times, of saving those remnants of birds and mammals 

 that are found to be compatible with life on an ever more crowded and greedy globe. 

 With many rare and beautiful species we can collect only a few skins for preserva- 

 tion, and chronicle in our journals the date of the taking of the last wild specimen. 

 But fortunately with our group there is much that can be done, and many of our 

 most valuable kinds of ducks breed so far from agricultural latitudes that the crea- 

 tion of suitable winter refuges and of certain sanctuaries to ensure them food and 

 protection during migration is all that is necessary at present. 



There is, I think, no group of birds that will respond so readily to encouragement 

 as the Anatidce, but they are faced throughout the interior with grave dangers, be- 

 cause of the constant drainage of lakes and swamps, while on the coast they are 

 threatened with a constantly increasing amount of pollution by oil. Nevertheless, 

 there is a brighter side to this picture, for great storage-basins for the irrigation of 

 vast desert tracts are being created in many heretofore nearly waterless regions, and 

 it seems as if the benefit from these might offset the damage from the other. The oil 

 nuisance may be stopped in time, as sportsmen are already thoroughly aroused, and 

 oil kills fish as well as birds. 



The status of a species is most difficult to estimate, and until some sort of a status 

 bureau is created which shall have for its object the sole duty of checking up State 

 game and fish, sportsmen's-club, warden, and individual reports, we shall really 

 know little about the subject. A bureau such as this would in a few years well repay 

 its cost, and it would gather very valuable data on the shifting of bird populations, 



