NATURAL HISTORY. 



473 



destruction, another 15 years will witness 

 the complete annihilation from that area 

 of practically all birds save the small and 

 insignificant warblers and sparrows. 



To sportsmen, however, the worst re- 

 mains to be told. Although no separate 

 general average was obtained to show the 

 decrease in the game birds alone, it is evi- 

 dent, from the long list of special reports 

 quoted by the author, that the decrease in 

 game birds generally has been fully 75 per 

 cent.! Mr. Hornaday counts up 144 species 

 of gallinaceous birds, ducks, geese, and 

 other swimmers, shore birds, pigeons, 

 doves, and rails, which he groups under 

 the general term " edible birds." As every 

 one knows, these are the birds that are most 

 universally and persistently persecuted — in 

 spite of laws for their protection. 



The so-called plume birds are declared to 

 have been already exterminated through- 

 out the United States. A long list is given 

 of birds that are reported as "becoming ex- 

 tinct " — or already so — in which are found 

 the wild turkey, passenger pigeon, pinnated 

 grouse, heath hen, ruffed grouse, wood 

 duck, flamingo, roseate spoonbill, bluebird, 

 Carolina paroquet, and a dozen others. In 

 the order of their importance, the chief 

 destructive agencies have been reported as 

 fo^ows: Sportsmen, and " so-called sports- 

 men " ; boys who shoot; " plume-hunt- 

 ers " and " milliners' hunters " ; market 

 hunters and " pot hunters " ; " shooters, 

 generally"; egg-collecting, chiefly by boys; 

 the English sparrow; clearing off timber, 

 and development of towns and cities; Ital- 

 ians, and others, who kill song birds as 

 food; cheap firearms, etc. 



Three states — North Carolina, Oregon, 

 and California — show a stationary condi- 

 tion of bird life, i.e., as many birds as 15 

 years ago. Four states show an increase in 

 bird life! These are Kansas, Wyoming, 

 Utah and Washington — in the last named 

 due to clearing away of the dense and dark 

 coniferous forests that hitherto have been 

 almost untenable by insectivorous birds. 

 Kansas appears to be the banner state for 

 bird protection — due to her admirable law 

 against the shipment and sale of game. 

 Cheyenne is the banner city — due to tree- 

 planting, and the presistent efforts of a 

 newspaper man, Mr. Frank Bond, of the 

 " Wyoming Daily Tribune," in bird pro- 

 tection and the extermination of the Eng- 

 lish sparrow in that locality. Birds are 

 now many times more numerous in Chey- 

 enne than 15 years ago. 



The fact that in Massachusetts, Connecti- 

 cut, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Louisi- 

 ana hordes of ignorant aliens — chiefly 

 Italians and Hungarians — are now regular- 

 ly killing our finest song birds for food, is 

 decidedly startling. It will be strange, 

 however, if the publication of the facts does 

 not lead to prompt and decisive measures, 

 in all the localities named, for the instant 



suppression of this new form of outrage on 

 bird life. 



In the matter of the classes most to blame 

 for the slaughter of the birds, it is refresh- 

 ing to see that Mr. Hornaday handles some 

 of them without gloves. Among those who 

 receive their just deserts are the hotel men 

 and others who insist on having " game on 

 the bill of fare," and the hat-bird women, 

 who are declared to be " in practice as cruel 

 and bloodthirsty as the birds of prey." The 

 egg-collectors, and the " side "- hunters re- 

 ceive due attention, and so do the profes- 

 sional ornithologists, the most of whom 

 " have been so intent on their studies that 

 they have not noticed the slaughter going 

 on around them." By implication, also, 

 the great scientific museums and universi- 

 ties are held partly culpable; for it is urged 

 that they now detail some of their pro- 

 fessional zoologists for the practical work 

 of promoting legislation, and general sen- 

 timent, for the thorough protection of our 

 remnant of birds and quadrupeds. The 

 American Museum of Natural History is 

 the only institution credited with having 

 done anything in this line. 



In the evident hope that the investigation 

 now reported upon may lead to practical 

 results, the author takes pains to set forth 

 at length a series of carefully worded 

 " Conclusions " and " Recommendations " 

 regarding birds, and Western quadrupeds. 



IN DEFENSE OF "GAME HOGS." 



ALLAN BROOKS. 



Please notice the inverted commas in the 

 title. As I have no wish to defend the real 

 game hog, but only to say a word for many 

 good sportsmen who are classed as game 

 hogs, by your readers. 



One of the best articles that ever ap- 

 peared in your magazine was " On Croa- 

 tan," by E. J. Myers; yet this man is stig- 

 matized by a reader as a game hog. Daniel 

 Arrowsmith and other well known sports- 

 men are also brought under the same cog- 

 nomen. 



As a rule the men who most bitterly de- 

 nounce game hogs, market hunters, spring 

 shooting, etc., are those who care only to 

 go shooting for a day or 2 in the whole 

 year, if at all. Such men grumble and 

 curse the more successful sportsmen if they 

 do not make a good bag. To them the 

 sport of hunting for the game is nothing. 

 They talk of " snipes," " quails," and 

 " wild ducks " and can scarcely tell one 

 game bird from another. Of course there 

 are many good sportsmen among the 

 "more protection" cranks; but most of 

 them have curious ideas on the subject. 



The great failing, with most of these, is 

 in not discriminating between resident 

 and migratory game. 



