- 



v^iirttti^hr^kil 



"Better to search the fields for health unbought, 

 Than fee the doctor tor a nauseus draught, 



The wise for health on exercise depend, 



God never made his work for man to mend." 



VOL. I. 



e^Esco, iom% iw*» 1553. 



1]0. 3. 



FACTS ABOUT THE BIRDS. 



MISLEADING STATISTICS RESPECTING 

 FASHION'S DEMANDS. 



Dr. F. W. Lang-don, of Cincinnati, 

 recently delivered an address before 

 the Society of Natural History, of 

 that city, in which he discussed the 

 object of "The Destruction of our 

 Native Birds" from what he admit- 

 ted to be the unpopular side A 

 portion of his address will be found 

 of much interest to general readers, 

 nevertheless, and it is here given: 



"The main proposition," he said, 

 "sought to be established by the re- 

 port of your committee, the Com- 

 mittee of the American Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union, and papers of similar 

 tenor by various individuals, is: That 

 our song birds, insect-eating species, 

 and smaller birds generally are in 

 danger of suffering a notable decrease 

 in numbers, or even extermination, 

 by reason of the demands of fashion 

 for millinery and dress ornaments; 

 the bloodthirsty disposition of the 

 'bad small boy;' the market gunner 

 or 'pot hunter' and the ornithological 

 collector and student. 



'In support of the claim that the 

 demand for millinery purposes is the 

 chief cause of an anticipated exter- 

 mination of song birds, we And nu- 

 merous high-sounding figures in the 

 various papers referred to. Let us 



see what these figures are and to 

 what birds they apply. Mr. William 

 Dutcher states (quoted also by your 

 committee) 'that 40,000 terns vere 

 killed on Cape Cod in one season; 

 that at Cobb's Island, off the Virgin- 

 ia coast, 40,000 bird's, mainly gulls 

 and terns, were contracted for by an 

 enterprising woman from New York 

 to ship to Paris; that 11,018 skins 

 were taken on the South Carolina 

 coast in a three months' trip of one 

 dealer; that 70,000 were supplied to 

 New York dealers from a village on 

 Long Island. Note, if you please, 

 that these large figures apply to 

 'coast' birds, mainly or entirely, there 

 fore composed of gulls, terns, and the 

 'shore' birds. My friend Mr. George 

 B. Sennett is also quoted as stating 

 that he overheard the agent of a 

 millinery firm endeavoring to make a 

 contract in Texas for 10,000 plumes of 

 egrets (a species of heron, or fish- 

 eating wader). Then, in another 

 place is an estimate that the number 

 of grebes shipped, mainly from the 

 Pacific slope of North America, must 

 range far into the tens if not hun- 

 dreds of thousands. And my friend 

 Mr. Dury has drawn your attention 

 to the fact that the herons and other 

 water birds have been destroyed by 

 thousands in the swamps of Florida. 

 "Now, the argument sought to be 

 sustained by this startling array of 

 figures is that we are in danger of 



