DESTRUCTION OF BIRD LIFE. 
STEPS have been taken under the 
direction of the New York zo- 
ological society to ascertain, as 
nearly as possible, to what ex- 
tent the destruction of bird life has 
been carried in this country and the re- 
sult of the investigation is given in its 
second annual report, recently pub- 
lished. Replies to questions on the 
subject were received from over two 
hundred competent observers in the 
different states and territories, and the 
following table is believed to give a 
fair, certainly not exaggerated, idea of 
the loss of bird life within the past 
decade and a half. 
The following are the percentages of 
decrease throughout the states men- 
tioned, during the last fifteen years, ac- 
cording to the reports: 
Maine 52 per cent. 
New Hampshire 32 per cent. 
Vermont 30 per cent. 
Massachusetts 27 per cent. 
Rhode Island 60 per cent. 
Connecticut 75 per cent. 
New York 48 per cent. 
New Jersey 37 per cent. 
Pennsylvania 51 per cent. 
Ohio 38 per cent. 
Indiana 60 per cent. 
Illinois 38 per cent. 
Michigan 28 per cent. | 
Wisconsin 40 per cent. 
Iowa 37 per cent. 
Missouri 36 per cent. 
Nebraska 10 per cent. 
North Dakota 58 per cent. 
District of Columbia 33 per cent. 
South Carolina 32 per cent. 
Georgia 65 per cent. 
Florida 77 per cent. 
Mississippi 37 per cent. 
Louisiana 55 per cent. 
Texas 67 per cent. 
Arkansas 50 per cent. 
Montana 75 per cent. 
Idaho 40 per cent. 
Colorado 28 per cent. 
Indian Territory 75 per cent. 
General Average 46 per cent. 
At least three-fifths of the total area 
of the United States is represented by 
the thirty states and territories above 
named, and the general average of de- 
crease of bird life therein is 46 per cent. 
These figures are startling indeed and 
should arouse everyone to the gravity 
of the situation which confronts us. It 
requires but little calculation to show 
that if the volume of bird life has suf- 
fered a loss of 46 per cent, within fif- 
teen years, at this rate of destruction 
practically all birds will be extermin- 
ated in less than a score of years from 
now. 
WE BELIEVE IT. 
THERE isnobeingso homely, none 
so venomous, none so encased 
in slime or armed with sword- 
like spines, none so sluggish or 
so abrupt in behavior, that it cannot 
win our favor and admiration — the 
more, the better we know it. However 
it may be in human society, with the 
naturalist it is not familiarity which 
breeds contempt. On the contrary, it 
has been said, with every step of his ad- 
vancing knowledge he finds in what 
was at first indifferent, unattractive, or 
repulsive, some wonder of mechanism, 
some exquisite beauty of detail, some 
strangeness of habit. Shame he feels at 
having so long had eyes which seeing 
saw not; regret he feels that the limits 
of his life should be continually con- 
tracting, while the boundaries of his 
science are always expanding; but so 
long as he can study and examine, he 
is so far contented and happy. 
109 
