NATURAL HISTORY. 



THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The New York Zoological Society has 

 recently published, in its second annual Re- 

 port, a most startling document. About 6 

 months ago Mr. William T. Hornaday, di- 

 rector of the Zoological Park now being 

 established by the Society, became con- 

 vinced that the destruction of bird life now 

 going on in this country is far greater and 

 more general than even most ornitholo- 

 gists are aware. Acting under the direction 

 of the Society, he instituted a general in- 

 quiry into the decrease in bird life; and 

 it is his report on the results of this inquiry 

 to which I allude. 



Four brief but pointed questions were 

 drawn up, and addressed to a number of 

 competent observers in each state and ter- 

 ritory. They were as follows: 



i. Are birds decreasing in number, in 

 your locality? 



2. About how many are there now, in 

 comparison with the number 15 years ago? 

 (one-half as many? one-third? one fourth?) 



3. What agency (or class of men) has 

 been most destructive to the birds of your 

 locality? 



4. What important species of birds or 

 quadrupeds are becoming extinct in your 

 state? 



Owing to the fact that the inquiry was 

 declared a step in the direction of bird 

 protection, it created keen interest. Over 

 200 replies were received, representing 

 all states and territories save 3. The ob- 

 servers represented all classes of persons 

 specially interested in bird life, and com- 

 petent to report on it, such as ornitholo- 

 gists, hunters, guides, taxidermists and 

 game wardens. Many of the reports were 

 full and valuable, and nearly all bore un- 

 mistakable evidence of thought and care. 

 It was found that different observers in the 

 same state agreed so closely in their frac- 

 tional estimates of decrease that there was 

 no room for doubt as to their general ac- 

 curacy and value. An attempt was made 

 to cover the different sections of each large 

 state, in order to obtain a reasonably ac- 

 curate general average for the entire state. 



Beyond a doubt, the result of Mr. Horn- 

 aday's painstaking investigation will be a 

 great and disagreeable surprise, both to our 

 ornithologists and to the public at large. 

 This seems to have been the first systematic 

 effort yet made to ascertain the actual re- 

 sults thus far accomplished by the destroy- 

 ers of our birds. From 30 states and terri- 

 tories the reports were so complete and 

 clear that it was an easy matter to obtain 

 the percentage of decrease in bird life in 

 each state, during the last 15 years. The 

 result appears in the accompanying series 

 of diagrams. 



DECREASE OF BIRD LIFE IN 30 STATES. 



The shaded portions show the percentages of decrease 

 throughout the states named, during the last 15 years, 

 according to the reports. 



Maine , 52% 



New Hampshire . .32% 

 Vermont ....... 30% 



Massachusetts ... 27% 



Rhode Island 60% 



Connecticut 75% 



New York 48% 



New Jersey 37% 



Pennsylvania . . . . • 51% 



Ohio . . . 38% 



Indiana 00% 



Illinois 38% 



Michigan . , 23% 



Wisconsin L . . ... 40% 



Iowa© , .37% 



Missouri 36% 



Nebraska 10% 



North Dakota. . . . 58% 

 District of Columbia . 33% 

 South Carolina. . . . 32% 



Georgia , . 65% 



Florida ..„,.,.,. 77% 

 Mississippi . . ... . 37% 



Louisiana 55% 



Arkansas . ...... 50% 



Texas . . . «. . , 67% 



Indian Territory . . 75% 

 Montana . * ...,.., . 75% 

 Colorado . „ ,,..., ,.28% 

 Idaho. . ..j. .. , ,. . .40% 

 Average of Above. . . 46% 



The text of Mr. Hornaday's report as- 

 sures us that the majority of observers 

 seemed to take great pains to avoid over- 

 estimating the slaughter, and wherever a 

 doubt existed, the benefit of it was given to 

 the living birds. It need scarcely be said 

 that there is no apparent reason for doubt- 

 ing the accuracy and general truthfulness 

 of the observations now published. 



The 30 states and territories named in 

 the accompanying list comprise at least 3-5 

 of the total area of the United States; and 

 the general average of decrease throughout 

 that vast area is 46 per cent. ! This of 

 course refers to the whole volume of bird 

 life, and to the loss it has suffered during 

 the last 15 years. At the present rate of 



472 



