February 26, 1886 ] 



SCIEXCE. 



199 



the female love of ornament. Take up any daily 

 or fashion paper, and one can see such items as the 

 following, clipped from the New York Sun of Dec. 

 13 and 20, 1885: "Miss Brady looked extremely 

 well in white, with a whole nest of sparkling, 

 scintillating birds in her hair, which it would have 

 puzzled an ornithologist to classify," and " Mrs. 

 Stanton "Whitney had her gown of unrelieved black 

 looped up with blackbirds : and a winged creature, 

 so dusky that it could have been intended for noth- 

 ing but a crow, reposed among the curls and braids 

 of her hair." It is said, ' Where ignorance is bliss,' 

 tis folly to be wise.' Perhaps, if the lady in ques- 

 tion could have seen the crow during its lifetime 

 perched upon and feeding on the decaying carcass 

 of a horse, she might have objected to the associa- 

 tion. 



On the other hand we quote from the London 

 Truth an item showing the humanity of England's 

 queen : " I am glad to hear that the queen con- 

 templates issuing a ukase censuring the barbar- 

 ous fashion which so many women have lately 

 adopted, of wearing the bodies of birds, or parts of 

 their bodies, in bonnets and hats and on dresses. 

 Her majesty strongly disapproves of this practice, 

 which of late has greatly increased, which is 

 daily increasing, and which most assuredly ought 

 to be abolished." 



As long as the ladies continue to demand bird- 

 skins for ornamental purposes, so long will the 

 gunners and taxidermists undertake to supply the 

 market, therefore the initiative in the movement 

 for the protection of birds must be with the 

 " wives, sweethearts, and mothers,' and not alone 

 with the laws and lawmakers. 



William Dutcher. 



DESTR UC Tj.OX OF THE EGGS OF BIRDS 

 FOR FOOD. 

 Few persons living at a distance from the sea- 

 shore have any idea of the immense destruction 

 of bird-life by residents of the coast, who make 

 the systematic and wholesale robbery of water- 

 birds of their eggs a yearly pastime. A thought- 

 less and relentless warfare has been waged, 

 until extermination of all bird-life on our shores 

 stares us in the face. This destruction has been 

 carried to such an extent, that many of our water- 

 birds, such as gulls, terns, herons, and shore-birds, 

 have become scarce where formerly numberless 

 thousands added life and beauty to our harbors 

 and beaches. The shooting of these beautiful and 

 graceful ornaments of our water-ways for mil- 

 linery purposes is undeniably one cause of their 

 decrease ; but. great as is this cause, it is in no 

 degree comparable to the destruction made by the 



so-called ' eggers,' in their annual forays in the 

 name of food-hunting. 



My scientific explorations during the last ten 

 years have taken me to many of the breeding- 

 places of various species of water-birds ; and some 

 facts which have come under my observation, 

 illustrating how the few birds still to be found 

 along our extensive coast-lines are gradually suc- 

 cumbing to the slaughter, may prove of interest. 

 There is probably not a port, pass, or bay on the 

 entire coast of Texas, whose inhabitants do not 

 regularly devote several days each year to what 

 they term 'egging.' As soon as the 'scouts' or 

 fishermen report the birds established, and laying 

 their eggs on the islands and secluded beaches, all 

 work is suspended, every craft is pressed into 

 service, and everybody is off to assist in the 

 ghastly sport at the breeding-grounds. Arrived 

 at the desired locality, the first day's work is that 

 of thoroughly destroying every egg already laid ; 

 and this ruthless sacrifice of thousands of eggs 

 is made before any are secured by the robbers, 

 that they may avoid carrying away any partially 

 incubated ones. Returning to their boats after 

 this work of destruction, the perpetrators remain 

 in hiding, or quietly sail about the lagoons, until 

 the next day, by which time the distracted birds 

 that had not laid their full complement of eggs 

 when frightened away by the intruders, and who 

 had meantime been hard pressed to deposit their 

 treasures, will have laid many thousands of eggs 

 in the very face of destruction. Two or three 

 days are now devoted to gathering the freshly- 

 laid eggs, and to stowing them away in barrels 

 and tubs in the boats. All eggs, from an inch in 

 diameter upwards, are taken, excepting, perhaps, 

 those of the pelican, whose eggs are too fishy for 

 any stomach. I have known of boats which 

 came a distance of over a hundred miles to 

 gather these eggs, cruising from reef to reef 

 until they had secured a good load. For days 

 after the return from these expeditions, the shops 

 along the coast expose quantities of bird's eggs 

 for sale, which are disposed of cheaply, according 

 to size. As these eggs of wild birds are much 

 more fragile than those of domestic fowls, a very 

 large proportion of them are broken by the rough 

 handling they receive before they reach the mar- 

 kets. No doubt more eggs are thus wasted 

 than are eaten; and, unless one is familiar with 

 the breeding-places of these birds, no idea can 

 be formed of the appalling extent of this yearly 

 destruction. I examined, before the eggers had 

 reached it, one of a group of grassy islands or 

 flats, about the size of a city block, on which 

 were breeding not less than ten thousand birds, 

 consisting chiefly of gulls, terns, and herons: 



