THE WILD LIFE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



149 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 

 FIRST ALBINO FAWN, AT THE AGE OF THREE YEARS, IN ITS SUMMER COAT, WHEN THE 

 PINK SKIN SHOWS PLAINLY THROUGH THE THIN, WHITE HAIR (SEE P. 185) 



flocks moved into Canada, where a later 

 berry season was the attraction, and by 

 October all departed for the south, unless 

 a heavy crop of beechnuts led some to 

 linger. 



It was in August, 1885, that I made the 

 usual trip to some large plains covered 

 with huckleberries, ten miles up the shore 

 from Marquette and inland about a mile, 

 where it was my custom to kill, once a 

 year, a large number of pigeons for dis- 

 tribution among friends. Such an expe- 

 dition differs from the ones where shoot- 

 ing was limited to a few for camp use. 



Selecting the young, so readily told by 

 the immature plumage, it took only a few 

 hours to accomplish my quest. At this 

 time the birds were in their usual num- 

 bers, and I returned under the belief the 

 wild pigeon would continue for many 

 years in this region. 



BIRDS SUDDENLY VANISH 



The next season I saw a single bird; 

 but, like the rest of the hunters, con- 

 cluded that for some unforeseen reason 

 the pigeons had gone elsewhere and 

 would surely return the following year. 



But not one, to my knowledge, has been 

 seen since along the Lake Superior 

 shores. 



When the unfortunate history of this 

 bird is examined, it is not hard to see that 

 it was doomed because it was a migrant. 

 The rule in each State was to have an 

 open season when such migrants were 

 present and a closed season, if any, after 

 they had gone. This meant, of course, 

 continuous shooting throughout the year. 



In 1857 the Ohio legislature enacted a 

 law protecting local game birds, and the 

 committee report gave as a reason for not 

 including the wild pigeon the following: 



The passenger pigeon needs no pro- 

 tection. Wonderfully prolific, having the 

 vast forests of the north as its breed- 

 ing grounds, traveling hundreds of miles 

 in search of food, it is here today and 

 elsewhere tomorrow, and no ordinary 

 destruction can lessen them or be missed 

 from the myriads that are yearly pro- 

 duced. 



The fact that migrant game birds, 

 above all others, needed protection was 

 not seen at that time, and not until long 

 afterward, when the passage of the Fed- 

 eral migratory bird law made possible an 



