DISTRIBUTION AND MIGRATION OF NORTH AMERICAN 



SHOREBIRDS. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Shorebirds form a valuable national resource, and it is the plain 

 duty of the present generation to pass on to posterity this asset 

 undiminished in value. Consistent and intelligent legislation in 

 favor of any group of birds must be founded on extended, accurate 

 information, and must include knowledge of the breeding and distri- 

 bution of the birds — where they spend the summer, whither they 

 retire in winter, and when and by what routes they migrate. The 

 present bulletin supplies this needed information so far as it is now 

 available. 



Consideration of our shorebirds (Limicolse) from an economic point 

 of view is recent. The early settlers found ducks, geese, and swans 

 swarming in certain sections of the United States, and grouse and 

 turkeys very abundant. The size and toothsomeness of these birds 

 made them important objects of pursuit for food, while the shore- 

 birds were considered unworthy of notice. As the great flocks of 

 ducks and geese along the Atlantic coast diminished in numbers, the 

 attention of gunners, especially of market hunters, was turned to 

 the shorebirds, then in countless numbers. A generation of constant 

 harassment spring and fall has almost exterminated some of the 

 larger species and has very greatly reduced even the smaller ones. 

 The time has come when this indiscriminate slaughter must cease if 

 the present remnant of the shorebirds is to be preserved. 



The range of our shorebirds extends from ocean to ocean, so that 

 all parts of the United States have an interest in their preservation. 

 These birds feed naturally in the open country or along the open 

 shore, where they are easily found and are constantly subject to 

 attack. The prairies of the Mississippi Valley in past years formed 

 the great highway of spring migration. Flock followed flock in 

 almost endless succession across the prairies of Kansas, Nebraska, 

 and the Dakotas, over a region that of late years has passed under 

 the plow. As this area becomes more densely populated the shore- 

 birds, once so abundant, are likely to become extinct unless active 

 measures are taken for their preservation. 



There are excellent reasons for protecting and preserving the 

 shorebirds. Some of them, especially the several kinds of plovers, 



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