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ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



Srparttnmts : 

 Mammals Reptiles 



W. T. Hornaday. Raymond L. Ditmars 



Birds 

 C. William Beebe. 

 Lee S. Crandai.i.. 



Aquarium 



C. H. ToWNSEND. 



Raymond C. Osburn 



Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 

 11 Wall Street, New York City. 



Yearly by Mail, $1.00. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, 1913, by the New York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 



and the proof reading: of his contribution. 



Elwin R. Sanborn. Editor. 



Vol. XVI. No. 59. 



SEPTEMBER, 1913 



OUR DEFENSE OF THE BIRDS 

 OF THE WORLD 



The destruction of wild life has progressed 

 so far that now the prevention of slaughter 

 has been lifted off the low level of expediency, 

 and set on high as a cause involving individual 

 and national honor. The slaughterer is no 

 longer regarded as a gentleman. He is now 

 classed with other monsters of cruelty. The 

 saving of wild life has now become a cause 

 of common humanity: and it is a waste of 

 time to regard it otherwise. 



During the past ten years, the United 

 States Senate has splendidly responded to 

 every reasonable appeal that has been made 

 to it in behalf of wild life. The passage of 

 the Weeks-McLean law for the saving of 

 migratory birds gave joy to ninety million 

 of people. Many times during the past five 

 years, in print and from the platform we have 

 assured the friends of wild life that they may 

 with absolute confidence rely upon the Con- 

 gress of the United States to do its whole 

 duty in the saving of the imperiled birds and 

 beasts. We believed that as sincerely as we 

 believe the Sermon on the Mount. 



In view of all this, it is natural that the 

 present attitude of the Senate Finance Com- 

 mittee and the Senate majority should now 

 cause in the breasts of all bird-lovers a feeling 

 of regret quite akin to pain. The open, per- 

 sistent and sweeping espousal of the cause of 

 "the feather trade" — slaughterers of the 

 innocents for gain — came to the friends of 

 birds as a stunning surprise. It is so unlike 

 the United States Senate! By nature and 

 by education, a United States Senator has no 

 more sympathy with the slaughter of millions 

 of birds for profit and vanity than he has with 

 the slave trade or the rubber atrocities. To 

 say that we have no duty in this matter toward 

 any birds outside our own national boundaries 

 is preposterous. 



Can it be possible that the Senate of the 

 United States, the highest legislative body 

 in this great nation, the arbiter of national 

 ethics and the creator of standards, will to 

 the end continue to champion the sordid 

 cause of the feather dealers, and the bloody 

 campaign of the South American and East 

 Indian savages who are mercilessly pursuing 

 the birds? Can it be possible that the dem- 

 ocratic majority will to the end ignore the 

 humanitarian demands of the American press 

 and people? Can it be possible that that 

 majority will to the end ignore the prompt- 

 ings of its own standards of ethics, ignore 

 the dictates of humanity and the insistent 

 appeal of the press and its own constituents? 

 We have been told that uncountable thou- 

 sands of letters of appeal and remonstrance 

 have been sent to Senators by the very best 

 of the men and women whom they are repre- 

 senting in Washington. One Senator says 

 that he has received between 500 and 600 

 bird letters: and it is safe to assert that not 

 one of them voiced a selfish demand or thought. 



At this moment the defenders of the birds 

 believe that they have on their side, in the 

 Senate, a good majority — provided there 

 could be a full debate and a free vote. Natu- 

 rally, we object to having 20 democratic 

 Senators of humane instincts and right de- 

 sires in this matter, bound by a rule of the 

 caucus to vote contrary to their own views, 

 and against our cause. We object to being 

 beaten in the Senate by a minority of the 

 members of that body while the majority 

 is really on the side of the birds. 



A majority vote of the caucus has decided 

 that the entire 4!) democratic Senators shall 

 comply with the demands of the feather 

 trade — except as to one trifling item. The 

 great force thus designed and perfected, 

 now can — if it chooses — roll on its way 

 through the Senate, in spite of the protests 

 of all the United States except the feather 

 trade and a few milliners. Today the ques- 

 tion is: Will the United States Senate 

 continue to the end to stand on the record it 

 has made (up to date) as the champion of 

 the plume-hunters and other savages who 

 slaughter wild birds for the cash profit and 

 the vanity of less than one per cent, of the 

 American people? 



We are very glad to say that the present 

 indications are that it will not. There are 

 signs which indicate that the views of the 

 democratic leaders in the Senate are under- 

 going a change, and we have reason to hope 

 that ere long the Senate amendment will 

 voluntarily be withdrawn. W. T. H. 



