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diff --git a/old/13249.txt b/old/13249.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..324c302 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13249.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22363 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Our Vanishing Wild Life, by William T. Hornaday + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Our Vanishing Wild Life + Its Extermination and Preservation + +Author: William T. Hornaday + +Release Date: August 22, 2004 [EBook #13249] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Murray and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +"_I know no way of judging of the Future but by the Past_." + --_Patrick Henry_. + +REPORT + +of a select committee of the Senate of Ohio, in 1857, on a bill proposed +to protect the passenger pigeon. + + * * * * * + +"The passenger pigeon needs no protection. Wonderfully prolific, having +the vast forests of the North as its breeding grounds, traveling +hundreds of miles in search of food, it is here to-day and elsewhere +to-morrow, and no ordinary destruction can lessen them, or be missed +from the myriads that are yearly produced." + +"The snipe (_Scolopax wilsonii_) needs no protection.... The snipe, too, +like the pigeon, will take care of itself, and its yearly numbers can +not be materially lessened by the gun." + +[Illustration: THE LAST LIVING PASSENGER PIGEON +Now in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens. Twenty years old in 1912. +Copyright 1911, by Enno Meyer.] + + * * * * * + +THE FOLLY OF 1857 AND THE LESSON OF 1912 + + * * * * * + + OUR VANISHING + WILD LIFE + + ITS + EXTERMINATION AND PRESERVATION + + BY + WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Sc.D. + +DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK; +AUTHOR OF "THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY"; +EX-PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN BISON SOCIETY + +WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + +"Hew to the line! Let the chips fall where they will."--_Old Exhortation_. + +"Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."--_Othello_. + +NEW YORK +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +1913 + + * * * * * + +SPECIAL NOTICE + +For the benefit of the cause that this book represents, the author +freely extends to all periodicals and lecturers the privilege of +reproducing any of the maps and illustrations in this volume except the +bird portraits, the white-tailed deer and antelope, and the maps and +pictures specially copyrighted by other persons, and so recorded. This +privilege does not cover reproductions in books, without special +permission. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Portrait of William Dutcher] + + TO + + William Dutcher + + FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE +NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES, AND + LIFE-LONG CHAMPION OF AMERICAN BIRDS + THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY + A SINCERE ADMIRER + +"_I drink to him, he is not here, + Yet I would guard his glory; +A knight without reproach or fear + Should live in song and story_." +--_Walsh_. + + * * * * * + +FOREWORD + + +The preservation of animal and plant life, and of the general beauty +of Nature, is one of the foremost duties of the men and women of +to-day. It is an imperative duty, because it must be performed at +once, for otherwise it will be too late. Every possible means of +preservation,--sentimental, educational and legislative,--must be +employed. + +The present warning issues with no uncertain sound, because this great +battle for preservation and conservation cannot be won by gentle tones, +nor by appeals to the aesthetic instincts of those who have no sense of +beauty, or enjoyment of Nature. It is necessary to sound a loud alarm, +to present the facts in very strong language, backed up by irrefutable +statistics and by photographs which tell no lies, to establish the law +and enforce it if needs be with a bludgeon. + +This book is such an alarm call. Its forceful pages remind me of the +sounding of the great bells in the watch-towers of the cities of the +Middle Ages which called the citizens to arms to protect their homes, +their liberties and their happiness. It is undeniable that the welfare +and happiness of our own and of all future generations of Americans are +at stake in this battle for the preservation of Nature against the +selfishness, the ignorance, or the cruelty of her destroyers. + +We no longer destroy great works of art. They are treasured, and +regarded as of priceless value; but we have yet to attain the state of +civilization where the destruction of a glorious work of Nature, whether +it be a cliff, a forest, or a species of mammal or bird, is regarded +with equal abhorrence. The whole earth is a poorer place to live in when +a colony of exquisite egrets or birds of paradise is destroyed in order +that the plumes may decorate the hat of some lady of fashion, and +ultimately find their way into the rubbish heap. The people of all the +New England States are poorer when the ignorant whites, foreigners, or +negroes of our southern states destroy the robins and other song birds +of the North for a mess of pottage. + +Travels through Europe, as well as over a large part of the North +American continent, have convinced me that nowhere is Nature being +destroyed so rapidly as in the United States. Except within our +conservation areas, an earthly paradise is being turned into an earthly +hades; and it is not savages nor primitive men who are doing this, but +men and women who boast of their civilization. Air and water are +polluted, rivers and streams serve as sewers and dumping grounds, +forests are swept away and fishes are driven from the streams. Many +birds are becoming extinct, and certain mammals are on the verge of +extermination. Vulgar advertisements hide the landscape, and in all +that disfigures the wonderful heritage of the beauty of Nature to-day, +we Americans are in the lead. + +Fortunately the tide of destruction is ebbing, and the tide of +conservation is coming in. Americans are practical. Like all other +northern peoples, they love money and will sacrifice much for it, but +they are also full of idealism, as well as of moral and spiritual +energy. The influence of the splendid body of Americans and Canadians +who have turned their best forces of mind and language into literature +and into political power for the conservation movement, is becoming +stronger every day. Yet we are far from the point where the momentum of +conservation is strong enough to arrest and roll back the tide of +destruction; and this is especially true with regard to our fast +vanishing animal life. + +The facts and figures set forth in this volume will astonish all those +lovers of Nature and friends of the animal world who are living in a +false or imaginary sense of security. The logic of these facts is +inexorable. As regards our birds and mammals, the failures of supposed +protection in America--under a system of free shooting--are so glaring +that we are confident this exposure will lead to sweeping reforms. The +author of this work is no amateur in the field of wild-life protection. +His ideas concerning methods of reform are drawn from long and +successful experience. The states which are still behind in this +movement may well give serious heed to his summons, and pass the new +laws that are so urgently demanded to save the vanishing remnant. + +The New York Zoological Society, which is cooperating with many other +organizations in this great movement, sends forth this work in the +belief that there is no one who is more ardently devoted to the great +cause or rendering more effective service in it than William T. +Hornaday. We believe that this is a great book, destined to exert a +world-wide influence, to be translated into other languages, and to +arouse the defenders and lovers of our vanishing animal life before it +is too late. + +HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN, +10 December, 1912. _President of the New York Zoological Society_ + + * * * * * + +PREFACE + + +The writing of this book has taught me many things. Beyond question, we +are exterminating our finest species of mammals, birds and fishes +_according to law!_ + +I am appalled by the mass of evidence proving that throughout the entire +United States and Canada, in every state and province, the existing +legal system for the preservation of wild life is fatally defective. +There is not a single state in our country from which the killable game +is not being rapidly and persistently shot to death, legally or +illegally, very much more rapidly than it is breeding, with +extermination for the most of it close in sight. This statement is not +open to argument; for millions of men know that it is literally true. We +are living in a fool's paradise. + +The rage for wild-life slaughter is far more prevalent to-day throughout +the world than it was in 1872, when the buffalo butchers paved the +prairies of Texas and Colorado with festering carcasses. From one end of +our continent to the other, there is a restless, resistless desire to +"kill, _kill!_" + +I have been shocked by the accumulation of evidence showing that all +over our country and Canada fully nine-tenths of our protective laws +have practically been dictated by the killers of the game, and that in +all save a very few instances the hunters have been exceedingly careful +to provide "open seasons" for slaughter, as long as any game remains to +kill! + +_And yet, the game of North America does not belong wholly and +exclusively to the men who kill! The other ninety-seven per cent of the +People have vested rights in it, far exceeding those of the three per +cent. Posterity has claims upon it that no honest man can ignore._ + +I am now going to ask both the true sportsman and the people who do not +kill wild things to awake, and do their plain duty in protecting and +preserving the game and other wild life which belongs partly to us, but +chiefly to those who come after us. Can they be aroused, before it is +too late? + +The time to discuss tiresome academic theories regarding "bag limits" +and different "open seasons" as being sufficient to preserve the game, +has gone by! We have reached the point where the alternatives are _long +closed seasons or a gameless continent;_ and we must choose one or the +other, speedily. A continent without wild life is like a forest with no +leaves on the trees. + +The great increase in the slaughter of song birds for food, by the +negroes and poor whites of the South, has become an unbearable scourge +to our migratory birds,--the very birds on which farmers north and south +depend for protection from the insect hordes,--the very birds that are +most near and dear to the people of the North. _Song-bird slaughter is +growing and spreading_, with the decrease of the game birds! It is a +matter that requires instant attention and stern repression. At the +present moment it seems that the only remedy lies in federal protection +for all migratory birds,--because so many states will not do their duty. + +We are weary of witnessing the greed, selfishness and cruelty of +"civilized" man toward the wild creatures of the earth. We are sick of +tales of slaughter and pictures of carnage. It is time for a sweeping +Reformation; and that is precisely what we now demand. + +I have been a sportsman myself; but times have changed, and we must +change also. When game was plentiful, I believed that it was right for +men and boys to kill a limited amount of it for sport and for the table. +But the old basis has been swept away by an Army of Destruction that now +is almost beyond all control. We must awake, and arouse to the new +situation, face it like men, and adjust our minds to the new conditions. +The three million gunners of to-day must no longer expect or demand the +same generous hunting privileges that were right for hunters fifty years +ago, when game was fifty times as plentiful as it is now and there was +only one killer for every fifty now in the field. + +The fatalistic idea that bag-limit laws can save the game is to-day _the +curse of all our game birds, mammals and fishes!_ It is a fraud, a +delusion and a snare. That miserable fetish has been worshipped much too +long. Our game is being exterminated, everywhere, by blind insistence +upon "open seasons," and solemn reliance upon "legal bag-limits." If a +majority of the people of America feel that so long as there is any game +alive there must be an annual two months or four months open season for +its slaughter, then assuredly we soon will have a gameless continent. + +The only thing that will save the game is by stopping the killing of it! +In establishing and promulgating this principle, the cause of wild-life +protection greatly needs three things: money, labor, and publicity. With +the first, we can secure the second and third. But can we get it,--and +_get it in time to save?_ + +This volume is in every sense a contribution to a Cause; and as such it +ever will remain. I wish the public to receive it on that basis. So much +important material has drifted straight to it from other hands that this +unexpected aid seems to the author like a good omen. + +The manuscript has received the benefit of a close and critical reading +and correcting by my comrade on the firing-line and esteemed friend, Mr. +Madison Grant, through which the text was greatly improved. But for the +splendid encouragement and assistance that I have received from him and +from Professor Henry Fairneld Osborn the work involved would have borne +down rather heavily. + +The four chapters embracing the "New Laws Needed; A Roll-Call of the +States," were critically inspected, corrected and brought down to date +by Dr. T.S. Palmer, our highest authority on the game laws of the Nation +and the States. For this valuable service the author is deeply grateful. +Of course the author is alone responsible for all the opinions and +conclusions herein recorded, and for all errors that appear outside of +quotations. + +I trust that the Reader will kindly excuse and forget all the +typographic and clerical errors that may have escaped me in the rush +that had to be made against Time. + +W.T.H. + +UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, NEW YORK, +December 1, 1912. + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS + + +PART I.--EXTERMINATION + +Chapter +I. FORMER ABUNDANCE OF WILD LIFE +II. EXTINCT SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS +III. THE NEXT CANDIDATES FOR OBLIVION +IV. EXTINCT AND NEARLY EXTINCT SPECIES OF MAMMALS +V. THE EXTERMINATION OF SPECIES, STATE BY STATE +VI. THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION +VII. THE GUERRILLAS OF DESTRUCTION +VIII. THE UNSEEN FOES OF WILD LIFE +IX. DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE BY DISEASES +X. DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE BY THE ELEMENTS +XI. SLAUGHTER OF SONG-BIRDS BY ITALIANS +XII. DESTRUCTION OF SONG-BIRDS BY SOUTHERN NEGROES + AND POOR WHITES +XIII. EXTERMINATION OF BIRDS FOR WOMEN'S HATS +XIV. THE BIRD TRAGEDY ON LAYSAN ISLAND +XV. UNFAIR FIREARMS AND SHOOTING ETHICS +XVI. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME--I +XVII. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME--II +XVIII. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AFRICAN GAME +XIX. THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF GAME IN ASIA +XX. DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS IN THE FAR EAST. BY C. WILLIAM BEEBE +XXI. THE SAVAGE VIEWPOINT OF THE GUNNER + + +PART II.--PRESERVATION + +XXII. OUR ANNUAL LOSSES BY INSECTS +XXIII. THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS +XXIV. GAME AND AGRICULTURE: DEER AS A FOOD SUPPLY +XXV. LAW AND SENTIMENT AS FACTORS IN PRESERVATION +XXVI. THE ARMY OF THE DEFENSE +XXVII. HOW TO MAKE A NEW GAME LAW +XXVIII. NEW LAWS NEEDED: A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES--I +XXIX. NEW LAWS NEEDED: A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES--II +XXX. NEW LAWS NEEDED: A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES--III +XXXI. NEW LAWS NEEDED: A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES--IV +XXXII. NEED FOR A FEDERAL MIGRATORY BIRD LAW, NO-SALE-OF-GAME + LAW, AND OTHERS +XXXIII. BRINGING BACK THE VANISHED BIRDS AND GAME +XXXIV. INTRODUCED SPECIES THAT HAVE BEEN BENEFICIAL +XXXV. INTRODUCED SPECIES THAT HAVE BECOME PESTS +XXXVI. NATIONAL AND STATE GAME PRESERVES AND BIRD REFUGES +XXXVII. GAME PRESERVES AND GAME LAWS IN CANADA +XXXVIII. PRIVATE GAME PRESERVES +XXXIX. BRITISH GAME PRESERVES IN AFRICA +XXL. BREEDING GAME AND FUR IN CAPTIVITY +XLI. TEACHING WILD-LIFE PROTECTION TO THE YOUNG +XLII. ETHICS OF SPORTSMANSHIP +XLIII. THE DUTY OF AMERICAN ZOOLOGISTS TO AMERICAN WILD LIFE +XLIV. THE GREATEST NEED OF THE CAUSE; AND THE DUTY OF THE HOUR + + * * * * * + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Folly of 1857 and the Lesson of 1912 _Frontispiece_ +Shall We Leave Any One of Them Open? +Six Recently Exterminated North American Birds +Sacred to the Memory of Exterminated Birds +Whooping Cranes in the Zoological Park +California Condor +Primated Grouse, or "Prairie Chicken" +Sage Grouse +Snowy Egrets in the McIlhenny Preserve +Wood-Duck +Gray Squirrel +Skeleton of a Rhytina +Burchell's Zebra +Thylacine, or Tasmanian Wolf +West Indian Seal +California Elephant Seal +The Regular Army of Destruction +G.O. Shields +Two Gunners of Kansas City +Why the Sandhill Crane is Becoming Extinct +A Market Gunner at Work on Marsh Island +Ruffed Grouse +A Lawful Bag of Ruffed Grouse +Snow Bunting +A Hunting Cat and Its Victim +Eastern Red Squirrel +Cooper's Hawk +Sharp-Shinned Hawk +The Cat that Killed Fifty-eight Birds in One Year +An Italian Roccolo on Lake Como +Dead Song-Birds +The Robin of the North +The Mocking-Bird of the South +Northern Robins Ready for Southern Slaughter +Southern-Negro Method of Combing Out the Wild Life +Beautiful and Curious Birds Destroyed for the Feather Trade--I +Sixteen Hundred Hummingbirds at Two Cents Each +Beautiful and Curious Birds Destroyed for the Feather Trade--II +Beautiful and Curious Birds--III +Fight in England Against the Use of Plumage +Young Egrets, Unable to Fly, Starving +Snowy Egret Dead on Her Nest +Miscellaneous Bird Skins, Eight Cents Each +Laysan Albatrosses, Before the Great Slaughter +Laysan Albatross Rookery, After the Great Slaughter +Acres of Gull and Albatross Bones +Shed Filled with Wings of Slaughtered Birds +Four of the Seven Machine Guns +The Champion Game-Slaughter Case +Slaughtered According to Law +A Letter that Tells its Own Story +The "Sunday Gun" +The Prong-Horned Antelope +Hungry Elk in Jackson Hole +The Wichita National Bison Herd +Pheasant Snares +Pheasant Skins Seized at Rangoon +Deadfall Traps in Burma +One Morning's Catch of Trout near Spokane +The Cut-Worm +The Gypsy Moth +Downy Woodpecker +Baltimore Oriole +Nighthawk +Purple Martin +Bob-White +Rose-Breasted Grosbeak +Barn Owl +Golden-Winged Woodpecker +Kildeer Plover +Jacksnipe +A Food Supply of White-Tailed Deer +White-Tailed Deer +Notable Protectors of Wild Life: + Madison Grant, Henry Fairfield Osborn, John F. Lacey, and William Dutcher +Notable Protectors: Forbush, Pearson, Burnham, Napier +Notable Protectors: Phillips, Kalbfus, McIlhenny, Ward +Band-Tailed Pigeon +Six Wild Chipmunks Dine with Mr. Loring +Chickadee, Tamed +Chipmunk, Tamed +Object Lesson in Bringing Back the Ducks +Gulls and Terns of Our Coast +Egrets and Herons in Sanctuary on Marsh Island +Bird Day at Carrick, Pa +Distributing Bird Boxes and Fruit Trees + + * * * * * + +MAPS + + +The Wilderness of North America +Former and Existing Ranges of the Elk +Map Showing the Disappearance of the Lion +States and Provinces Requiring Resident Licenses. +Eighteen States Prohibit the Sale of Game +Map Used in Campaign for Bayne Law +United States National Game Preserves +Bird Reservations on the Gulf Coast and Florida +Marsh Island and Adjacent Preserves +Most Important Game Preserves of Africa + + * * * * * + +OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE + +PART I. EXTERMINATION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE FORMER ABUNDANCE OF WILD LIFE + + +_"By my labors my vineyard flourished. But Ahab came. Alas! for Naboth."_ + +In order that the American people may correctly understand and judge the +question of the extinction or preservation of our wild life, it is +necessary to recall the near past. It is not necessary, however, to go +far into the details of history; for a few quick glances at a few high +points will be quite sufficient for the purpose in view. + +Any man who reads the books which best tell the story of the development +of the American colonies of 1712 into the American nation of 1912, and +takes due note of the wild-life features of the tale, will say without +hesitation that when the American people received this land from the +bountiful hand of Nature, it was endowed with a magnificent and +all-pervading supply of valuable wild creatures. The pioneers and the +early settlers were too busy even to take due note of that fact, or to +comment upon it, save in very fragmentary ways. + +Nevertheless, the wild-life abundance of early American days survived +down to so late a period that it touched the lives of millions of people +now living. Any man 55 years of age who when a boy had a taste for +"hunting,"--for at that time there were no "sportsmen" in America,--will +remember the flocks and herds of wild creatures that he saw and which +made upon his mind many indelible impressions. + +"Abundance" is the word with which to describe the original animal life +that stocked our country, and all North America, only a short +half-century ago. Throughout every state, on every shore-line, in all +the millions of fresh water lakes, ponds and rivers, on every mountain +range, in every forest, _and even on every desert_, the wild flocks and +herds held sway. It was impossible to go beyond the settled haunts of +civilized man and escape them. + +It was a full century after the complete settlement of New England and +the Virginia colonies that the wonderful big-game fauna of the great +plains and Rocky Mountains was really discovered; but the bison +millions, the antelope millions, the mule deer, the mountain sheep and +mountain goat were there, all the time. In the early days, the millions +of pinnated grouse and quail of the central states attracted no serious +attention from the American people-at-large; but they lived and +flourished just the same, far down in the seventies, when the greedy +market gunners systematically slaughtered them, and barreled them up for +"the market," while the foolish farmers calmly permitted them to do it. + +We obtain the best of our history of the former abundance of North +American wild life first from the pages of Audubon and Wilson; next, +from the records left by such pioneers as Lewis and Clark, and last from +the testimony of living men. To all this we can, many of us, add +observations of our own. + +To me the most striking fact that stands forth in the story of American +wild life one hundred years ago is the wide extent and thoroughness of +its distribution. Wide as our country is, and marvelous as it is in the +diversity of its climates, its soils, its topography, its flora, its +riches and its poverty, Nature gave to each square mile and to each acre +a generous quota of wild creatures, according to its ability to maintain +living things. No pioneer ever pushed so far, or into regions so +difficult or so remote, that he did not find awaiting him a host of +birds and beasts. Sometimes the pioneer was not a good hunter; usually +he was a stupid fisherman; but the "game" was there, nevertheless. The +time was when every farm had its quota. + +The part that the wild life of America played in the settlement and +development of this continent was so far-reaching in extent, and so +enormous in potential value, that it fairly staggers the imagination. +From the landing of the Pilgrims down to the present hour the wild game +has been the mainstay and the resource against starvation of the +pathfinder, the settler, the prospector, and at times even the +railroad-builder. In view of what the bison millions did for the +Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Texas, it is only right and square +that those states should now do something for the perpetual preservation +of the bison species and all other big game that needs help. + +For years and years, the antelope millions of the Montana and Wyoming +grass-lands fed the scout and Indian-fighter, freighter, cowboy and +surveyor, ranchman _and sheep-herder_; but thus far I have yet to hear +of one Western state that has ever spent one penny directly for the +preservation of the antelope! And to-day we are in a hand-to-hand fight +in Congress, and in Montana, with the Wool-Growers Association, which +maintains in Washington a keen lobbyist to keep aloft the tariff on +wool, and prevent Congress from taking 15 square miles of grass lands on +Snow Creek, Montana, for a National Antelope Preserve. All that the +wool-growers want is the entire earth, all to themselves. Mr. McClure, +the Secretary of the Association says: + +"The proper place in which to preserve the big game of the West is in +city parks, where it can be protected." + +To the colonist of the East and pioneer of the West, the white-tailed +deer was an ever present help in time of trouble. Without this +omnipresent animal, and the supply of good meat that each white flag +represented, the commissariat difficulties of the settlers who won the +country as far westward as Indiana would have been many times greater +than they were. The backwoods Pilgrim's progress was like this: + +Trail, deer; cabin, deer; clearing; bear, corn, deer; hogs, deer; +cattle, wheat, independence. + +And yet, how many men are there to-day, out of our ninety millions of +Americans and pseudo-Americans, who remember with any feeling of +gratitude the part played in American history by the white-tailed deer? +Very few! How many Americans are there in our land who now preserve that +deer for sentimental reasons, and because his forbears were +nation-builders? As a matter of fact, are there any? + +On every eastern pioneer's monument, the white-tailed deer should +figure; and on those of the Great West, the bison and the antelope +should be cast in enduring bronze, "_lest we forget!_" + +The game birds of America played a different part from that of the deer, +antelope and bison. In the early days, shotguns were few, and shot was +scarce and dear. The wild turkey and goose were the smallest birds on +which a rifleman could afford to expend a bullet and a whole charge of +powder. It was for this reason that the deer, bear, bison, and elk +disappeared from the eastern United States while the game birds yet +remained abundant. With the disappearance of the big game came the fat +steer, hog and hominy, the wheat-field, fruit orchard and poultry +galore. + +The game birds of America, as a class and a mass, have not been swept +away to ward off starvation or to rescue the perishing. Even back in the +sixties and seventies, very, very few men of the North thought of +killing prairie chickens, ducks and quail, snipe and woodcock, in order +to keep the hunger wolf from the door. The process was too slow and +uncertain; and besides, the really-poor man rarely had the gun and +ammunition. Instead of attempting to live on birds, he hustled for the +staple food products that the soil of his own farm could produce. + +First, last and nearly all the time, the game birds of the United States +as a whole, have been sacrificed on the altar of Rank Luxury, to tempt +appetites that were tired of fried chicken and other farm delicacies. +To-day, even the average poor man hunts birds for the joy of the outing, +and the pampered epicures of the hotels and restaurants buy game birds, +and eat small portions of them, solely to tempt jaded appetites. If +there is such a thing as "class" legislation, it is that which permits a +few sordid market-shooters to slaughter the birds of the whole people in +order to sell them to a few epicures. + +The game of a state belongs to the whole people of the state. The +Supreme Court of the United States has so decided. (Geer vs. +Connecticut). If it is abundant, it is a valuable asset. The great value +of the game birds of America lies not in their meat pounds as they lie +upon the table, but in the temptation they annually put before millions +of field-weary farmers and desk-weary clerks and merchants to get into +their beloved hunting togs, stalk out into the lap of Nature, and say +"Begone, dull Care!" + +And the man who has had a fine day in the painted woods, on the bright +waters of a duck-haunted bay, or in the golden stubble of September, can +fill his day and his soul with six good birds just as well as with +sixty. The idea that in order to enjoy a fine day in the open a man must +kill a wheel-barrow load of birds, is a mistaken idea; and if +obstinately adhered to, it becomes vicious! The Outing in the Open is +the thing,--not the blood-stained feathers, nasty viscera and Death in +the game-bag. One quail on a fence is worth more to the world than ten +in a bag. + +The farmers of America have, by their own supineness and lack of +foresight, permitted the slaughter of a stock of game birds which, had +it been properly and wisely conserved, would have furnished a good +annual shoot to every farming man and boy of sporting instincts through +the past, right down to the present, and far beyond. They have allowed +millions of dollars worth of _their_ birds to be coolly snatched away +from them by the greedy market-shooters. + +There is one state in America, and so far as I know _only one_, in which +there is at this moment an old-time abundance of game-bird life. That is +the state of Louisiana. The reason is not so very far to seek. For the +birds that do not migrate,--quail, wild turkeys and doves,--the cover is +yet abundant. For the migratory game birds of the Mississippi Valley, +Louisiana is a grand central depot, with terminal facilities that are +unsurpassed. Her reedy shores, her vast marshes, her long coast line and +abundance of food furnish what should be not only a haven but a heaven +for ducks and geese. After running the gauntlet of guns all the way from +Manitoba and Ontario to the Sunk Lands of Arkansas, the shores of the +Gulf must seem like heaven itself. + +The great forests of Louisiana shelter deer, turkeys, and fur-bearing +animals galore; and rabbits and squirrels abound. + +Naturally, this abundance of game has given rise to an extensive +industry in shooting for the market. The "big interests" outside the +state send their agents into the best game districts, often bringing in +their own force of shooters. They comb out the game in enormous +quantities, without leaving to the people of Louisiana any decent and +fair quid-pro-quo for having despoiled them of their game and shipped a +vast annual product outside, to create wealth elsewhere. + +At present, however, we are but incidentally interested in the +short-sightedness of the people of the Pelican State. As a state of +oldtime abundance in killable game, the killing records that were kept +in the year 1909-10 possess for us very great interest. They throw a +startling searchlight on the subject of this chapter,--the former +abundance of wild life. + +From the records that with great pains and labor were gathered by the +State Game Commission, and which were furnished me for use here by +President Frank M. Miller, we set forth this remarkable exhibit of +old-fashioned abundance in game, A.D. 1909. + + * * * * * + +OFFICIAL RECORD OF GAME KILLED IN LOUISIANA DURING THE SEASON (12 +MONTHS) OF 1909-10 + +BIRDS + +Wild Ducks, sea and river 3,176,000 +Coots 280,740 +Geese and Brant 202,210 +Snipe, Sandpiper and Plover 606,635 +Quail (Bob-White) 1,140,750 +Doves 310,660 +Wild Turkeys 2,219 + ---------- + Total number of game birds killed 5,719,214 + +MAMMALS + +Deer 5,470 +Squirrels and Rabbits 690,270 + ---------- + Total of game mammals 695,740 +Fur-bearing mammals 1,971,922 + ---------- + Total of mammals 2,667,662 + ---------- + Grand total of birds and mammals 8,386,876 + + * * * * * + +Of the thousands of slaughtered robins, it would seem that no records +exist. It is to be understood that the annual slaughter of wild life in +Louisiana never before reached such a pitch as now. Without drastic +measures, what will be the inevitable result? Does any man suppose that +even the wild millions of Louisiana can long withstand such slaughter as +that shown by the official figures given above? It is wildly impossible. + +But the darkest hour is just before the dawn. At the session of the +Louisiana legislature that was held in the spring of 1912, great +improvements were made in the game laws of that state. The most +important feature was the suppression of wholesale market hunting, by +persons who are not residents of the state. A very limited amount of +game may be sold and served as food in public places, but the +restrictions placed upon this traffic are so effective that they will +vastly reduce the annual slaughter. In other respects, also, the cause +of wild life protection gained much; for which great credit is due to +Mr. Edward A. McIlhenny. + +It is the way of Americans to feel that because game is abundant in a +given place at a given time, it always will be abundant, and may +therefore be slaughtered without limit. That was the case last winter in +California during the awful slaughter of band-tailed pigeons, as will be +noted elsewhere. + +It is time for all men to be told in the plainest terms that there never +has existed, anywhere in historic times, a volume of wild life so great +that civilized man could not quickly exterminate it by his methods of +destruction. Lift the veil and look at the stories of the bison, the +passenger pigeon, the wild ducks and shore birds of the Atlantic coast, +and the fur-seal. + +[Illustration: SHALL WE LEAVE ANY ONE OF THEM OPEN?] + +As reasoning beings, it is our duty to heed the lessons of history, and +not rush blindly on until we perpetrate a continent destitute of wild +life. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER II + +EXTINCT SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS + + +For educated, civilized Man to exterminate a valuable wild species of +living things is a crime. It is a crime against his own children, and +posterity. + +No man has a right, either moral or legal, to destroy or squander an +inheritance of his children that he holds for them in trust. And man, +the wasteful and greedy spendthrift that he is, has not created even the +humblest of the species of birds, mammals and fishes that adorn and +enrich this earth. "The earth is THE LORD'S, and the fulness thereof!" +With all his wisdom, man has not evolved and placed here so much as a +ground-squirrel, a sparrow or a clam. It is true that he has juggled +with the wild horse and sheep, the goats and the swine, and produced +some hardy breeds that can withstand his abuse without going down before +it; but as for species, he has not yet created and placed here even so +much as a protozoan. + +The wild things of this earth are _not_ ours, to do with as we please. +They have been given to us _in trust_, and we must account for them to +the generations which will come after us and audit our accounts. + +But man, the shameless destroyer of Nature's gifts, blithely and +persistently exterminates one species after another. Fully ten per cent +of the human race consists of people who will lie, steal, throw rubbish +in parks, and destroy forests and wild life whenever and wherever they +can do so without being stopped by a policemen and a club. These are +hard words, but they are absolutely true. From ten per cent (or more) of +the human race, the high moral instinct which is honest without +compulsion _is absent_. The things that seemingly decent citizens,--men +posing as gentlemen,--will do to wild game when they secure great +chances to slaughter, are appalling. I could fill a book of this size +with cases in point. + +To-day the women of England, Europe and elsewhere are directly promoting +the extermination of scores of beautiful species of wild birds by the +devilish persistence with which they buy and wear feather ornaments made +of their plumage. They are just as mean and cruel as the truck-driver +who drives a horse with a sore shoulder and beats him on the street. But +they do it! And appeals to them to do otherwise they laugh to scorn, +saying, "I will wear what is fashionable, when I please and where I +please!" As a famous bird protector of England has just written me, "The +women of the smart set are beyond the reach of appeal or protest." + +To-day, the thing that stares me in the face every waking hour, like a +grisly spectre with bloody fang and claw, is _the extermination of +species_. To me, that is a horrible thing. It is wholesale murder, no +less. It is capital crime, and a black disgrace to the races of +civilized mankind. I say "civilized mankind," because savages don't do +it! + +There are three kinds of extermination: + +_The practical extermination of a species_ means the destruction of its +members to an extent so thorough and widespread that the species +disappears from view, and living specimens of it can not be found by +seeking for them. In North America this is to-day the status of the +whooping crane, upland plover, and several other species. If any +individuals are living, they will be met with only by accident. + +_The absolute extermination_ of a species means that not one individual +of it remains alive. Judgment to this effect is based upon the lapse of +time since the last living specimen was observed or killed. When five +years have passed without a living "record" of a wild specimen, it is +time to place a species in the class of the totally extinct. + +_Extermination in a wild state_ means that the only living +representatives are in captivity or otherwise under protection. This is +the case of the heath hen and David's deer, of China. The American bison +is saved from being wholly extinct as a wild animal by the remnant of +about 300 head in northern Athabasca, and 49 head in the Yellow-stone +Park. + +It is a serious thing to exterminate a species of any of the vertebrate +animals. There are probably millions of people who do not realize that +civilized (!) man is the most persistently and wickedly wasteful of all +the predatory animals. The lions, the tigers, the bears, the eagles and +hawks, serpents, and the fish-eating fishes, all live by destroying +life; but they kill only what they think they can consume. If something +is by chance left over, it goes to satisfy the hunger of the humbler +creatures of prey. _In a state of nature, where wild creatures prey upon +wild creatures, such a thing as wanton, wholesale and utterly wasteful +slaughter is almost unknown!_ + +When the wild mink, weasel and skunk suddenly finds himself in the midst +of scores of man's confined and helpless domestic fowls, or his caged +gulls in a zoological park, an unusual criminal passion to murder for +the joy of killing sometimes seizes the wild animal, and great slaughter +is the result. + +From the earliest historic times, it has been the way of savage man, +red, black, brown and yellow, to kill as the wild animals do,--only what +he can use, or _thinks_ he can use. The Cree Indian impounded small +herds of bison, and sometimes killed from 100 to 200 at one time; but it +was to make sure of having enough meat and hides, and because he +expected to use the product. I think that even the worst enemies of the +plains Indians hardly will accuse them of killing large numbers of +bison, elk or deer merely for the pleasure of seeing them fall, or +taking only their teeth. + +[Illustration: SIX RECENTLY EXTERMINATED NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS +Great Auk Labrador Duck +Eskimo Curlew Pallas Cormorant +Passenger Pigeon Carolina Parrakeet] + +It has remained for the wolf, the sheep-killing dog and civilized man to +make records of wanton slaughter which puts them in a class together, +and quite apart from other predatory animals. When a man can kill bison +for their tongues alone, bull elk for their "tusks" alone, and shoot a +whole colony of hippopotami,--actually damming a river with their +bloated and putrid carcasses, all untouched by the knife,--the men who +do such things must be classed with the cruel wolf and the criminal dog. + +It is now desirable that we should pause in our career of destruction +long enough to look back upon what we have recently accomplished in the +total extinction of species, and also note what we have blocked out for +the immediate future. Here let us erect a monument to the dead species +of our own times. + +It is to be doubted whether, up to this hour, any man has made a list of +the species of North American birds that have become extinct during the +past sixty years. The specialists have no time to spare from their +compound differential microscopes, and the bird-killers are too busy +with shooting, netting and clubbing to waste any time on such trifles as +exterminated species. What does a market-shooter care about birds that +can not be killed a second time? As for the farmers, they are so busy +raising hogs and prices that their best friends, the birds, get scant +attention from them,--until a hen-hawk takes a chicken! + +Down South, the negroes and poor whites may slaughter robins for food by +the ten thousand; but does the northern farmer bother his head about a +trifle of that kind? No, indeed. Will he contribute any real money to +help put a stop to it? Ask him yourself. + +Let us pause long enough to reckon up some of our expenditures in +species, and in millions of individuals. Let us set down here, in cold +blood, a list of the species of our own North American birds that have +been totally exterminated in our own times. After that we will have +something to say about other species that soon will be exterminated; and +the second task is much greater than the first. + + * * * * * + +ROLL CALL OF THE DEAD SPECIES OF AMERICAN BIRDS + +THE GREAT AUK,--_Plautus-impennis_, (Linn.), was a sea-going diving bird +about the size of a domestic goose, related to the guillemots, murres +and puffins. For a bird endowed only with flipper-like wings, and +therefore absolutely unable to fly, this species had an astonishing +geographic range. It embraced the shores of northern Europe to North +Cape, southern Greenland, southern Labrador, and the Atlantic coast of +North America as far south as Massachusetts. Some say, "as far south as +Massachusetts, the Carolinas and Florida," but that is a large order, +and I leave the A.O.U. to prove that if it can. In the life history of +this bird, a great tragedy was enacted in 1800 by sailors, on Funk +Island, north of Newfoundland, where men were landed by a ship, and +spent several months slaughtering great auks and trying out their fat +for oil. In this process, the bodies of thousands of auks were burned as +fuel, in working up the remains of tens of thousands of others. + +On Funk Island, a favorite breeding-place, the great auk was +exterminated in 1840, and in Iceland in 1844. Many natives ate this bird +with relish, and being easily captured, either on land or sea, the +commercialism of its day soon obliterated the species. The last living +specimen was seen in 1852, and the last dead one was picked up in +Trinity Bay, Ireland, in 1853. There are about 80 mounted and unmounted +skins in existence, four skeletons, and quite a number of eggs. An egg +is worth about $1200 and a good mounted skin at least double that sum. + +THE LABRADOR DUCK,--_Camptorhynchus labradoricus_, (Gmel.).--This +handsome sea-duck, of a species related to the eider ducks of arctic +waters, became totally extinct about 1875, before the scientific world +even knew that its existence was threatened. With this species, the +exact and final cause of its extinction is to this day unknown. It is +not at all probable, however, that its unfortunate blotting out from our +bird fauna was due to natural causes, and when the truth becomes known, +it is very probable that the hand of man will be revealed. + +The Labrador duck bred in Labrador, and once frequented our Atlantic +coast as far south as Chesapeake Bay; but it is said that it never was +very numerous, at least during the twenty-five years preceding its +disappearance. About thirty-five skins and mounted museum specimens are +all that remain to prove its former existence, and I think there is not +even one skeleton. + +THE PALLAS CORMORANT,--_Carbo perspicillatus_, (Pallas).--In 1741, when +the Russian explorer, Commander Bering, discovered the Bering or +Commander Islands, in the far-north Pacific, and landed upon them, he +also discovered this striking bird species. Its plumage both above and +below was a dark metallic green, with blue iridescence on the neck and +purple on the shoulders. A pale ring of naked skin around each eye +suggested the Latin specific name of this bird. The Pallas cormorant +became totally extinct, through causes not positively known, about 1852. + +THE PASSENGER PIGEON,--_Ectopistes migratoria_, (Linn.).--We place this +bird in the totally-extinct class, not only because it is extinct in a +wild state, but only one solitary individual, a twenty-year-old female +in the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, now remains alive. One living +specimen and a few skins, skeletons and stuffed specimens are all that +remain to show for the uncountable millions of pigeons that swarmed over +the United States, only yesterday as it were! + +There is no doubt about where those millions have gone. They went down +and out by systematic, wholesale slaughter for the market and the pot, +before the shotguns, _clubs_ and _nets_ of the earliest American +pot-hunters. Wherever they nested they were slaughtered. + +It is a long and shameful story, but the grisly skeleton of its Michigan +chapter can be set forth in a few words. In 1869, from the town of +Hartford, Mich., _three car loads_ of dead pigeons were shipped to +market each day for _forty days_, making a total of 11,880,000 birds. It +is recorded that another Michigan town marketed 15,840,000 in two years. +(See Mr. W.B. Mershon's book, "The Passenger Pigeon.") + +Alexander Wilson, the pioneer American ornithologist, was the man who +seriously endeavored to estimate by computations the total number of +passenger pigeons in one flock that was seen by him. Here is what he has +said in his "American Ornithology": + +"To form a rough estimate of the daily consumption of one of these +immense flocks, let us first attempt to calculate the numbers of that +above mentioned, as seen in passing between Frankfort and the Indiana +territory. If we suppose this column to have been one mile in breadth +(and I believe it to have been much more) and that it moved at the rate +of one mile in a minute, four hours, the time it continued passing, +would make its whole length two hundred and forty miles. Again, +supposing that each square yard of this moving body comprehended three +pigeons; the square yards in the whole space multiplied by three would +give 2,230,272,000 pigeons! An almost inconceivable multitude, and yet +probably far below the actual amount." + + * * * * * + +"Happening to go ashore one charming afternoon, to purchase some milk at +a house that stood near the river, and while talking with the people +within doors, I was suddenly struck with astonishment at a loud rushing +roar, succeeded by instant darkness, which, on the first moment, I took +for a tornado about to overwhelm the house and every thing around in +destruction. The people observing my surprise, coolly said, 'It is only +the pigeons!' On running out I beheld a flock, thirty or forty yards in +width, sweeping along very low, between the house and the mountain or +height that formed the second bank of the river. These continued passing +for more than a quarter of an hour, and at length varied their bearing +so as to pass over the mountains, behind which they disappeared before +the rear came up. + +"In the Atlantic States, though they never appear in such unparalleled +multitudes, they are sometimes very numerous; and great havoc is then +made amongst them with the gun, the clap-net, and various other +implements of destruction. As soon as it is ascertained in a town that +the pigeons are flying numerously in the neighborhood, the gunners rise +_en masse_; the clap-nets are spread out on suitable situations, +commonly on an open height in an old buckwheat field, four or five live +pigeons, _with their eyelids sewed up_,[A] are fastened on a movable +stick, a small hut of branches is fitted up for the fowler at the +distance of forty or fifty yards. By the pulling of a string, the stick +on which the pigeons rest is alternately elevated and depressed, which +produces a fluttering of their wings, similar to that of birds +alighting. This being perceived by the passing flocks, they descend with +great rapidity, and finding corn, buckwheat, etc, strewed about, begin +to feed, and are instantly, by the pulling of a cord, covered by the +net. In this manner ten, twenty, and even thirty dozen have been caught +at one sweep. Meantime the air is darkened with large bodies of them +moving in various directions; the woods also swarm with them in search +of acorns, and the thundering of musquetry is perpetual on all sides +from morning to night. Wagon loads of them are poured into market, where +they sell from fifty to twenty-five and even twelve cents per dozen; and +pigeons become the order of the day at dinner, breakfast and supper, +until the very name becomes sickening." + +[Footnote A: To-day, we think that the fowlers of the roccolos of +northern Italy are very cruel in their methods of catching song-birds +wholesale for the market (chapter xi); but our own countrymen of +Wilson's day were just as cruel in the method described above.] + + + * * * * * + +The range of the passenger pigeon covered nearly the whole United +States from the Atlantic coast westward to the Rocky Mountains. A few +bold pigeons crossed the Rocky Mountains into Oregon, northern +California and Washington, but only as "stragglers," few and far +between. The wide range of this bird was worthy of a species that +existed in millions, and it was persecuted literally all along the line. +The greatest slaughter was in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In 1848 +Massachusetts gravely passed a law protecting the _netters_ of wild +pigeons from foreign interference! There was a fine of $10 for damaging +nets, or frightening pigeons away from them. This was on the theory that +the pigeons were so abundant they could not by any possibility ever +become scarce, and that pigeon-slaughter was a legitimate industry. + +In 1867, the State of New York found that the wild pigeon needed +protection, and enacted a law to that effect. The year 1868 was the last +year in which great numbers of passenger pigeons nested in that State. +Eaton, in "The Birds of New York," said that "millions of birds occupied +the timber along Bell's Run, near Ceres, Alleghany County, on the +Pennsylvania line." + +In 1870, Massachusetts gave pigeons protection except during an "open +season," and in 1878 Pennsylvania elected to protect pigeons on their +nesting grounds. + +The passenger pigeon millions were destroyed so quickly, and so +thoroughly _en masse_, that the American people utterly failed to +comprehend it, and for thirty years obstinately refused to believe that +the species had been suddenly wiped off the map of North America. There +was years of talk about the great flocks having "taken refuge in South +America," or in Mexico, and being still in existence. There were +surmises about their having all "gone out to sea," and perished on the +briny deep. + +A thousand times, at least, wild pigeons have been "reported" as having +been "seen." These rumors have covered nearly every northern state, the +whole of the southwest, and California. For years and years we have been +patiently writing letters to explain over and over that the band-tailed +pigeon of the Pacific coast, and the red-billed pigeon of Arizona and +the southwest are neither of them the passenger pigeon, and never can +be. + +There was a long period wherein we believed many of the pigeon reports +that came from the states where the birds once were most numerous; but +that period has absolutely passed. During the past five years large cash +rewards, aggregating about $5000, have been offered for the discovery +of one nesting pair of genuine passenger pigeons. Many persons have +claimed this reward (of Professor C.F. Hodge, of Clark University, +Worcester, Mass.), and many claims have been investigated. The results +have disclosed many _mourning doves_, but not one pigeon. Now we +understand that the quest is closed, and hope has been abandoned. + +The passenger pigeon is a dead species. The last wild specimen (so we +believe) that ever will reach the hands of man, was taken near Detroit, +Michigan, on Sept. 14, 1908, and mounted by C. Campion. That is the one +definite, positive record of the past ten years. + +The fate of this species should be a lasting lesson to the world at +large. Any wild bird or mammal species can be exterminated by commercial +interests in twenty years time, or less. + +THE ESKIMO CURLEW,_--Numenius borealis_, (Forst.). This valuable game +bird once ranged all along the Atlantic coast of North America, and +wherever found it was prized for the table. It preferred the fields and +meadows to the shore lines, and was the companion of the plovers of the +uplands, especially the golden plover. "About 1872," says Mr. Forbush, +"there was a great flight of these birds on Cape Cod and Nantucket. They +were everywhere; and enormous numbers were killed. They could be bought +of boys at six cents apiece. Two men killed $300 worth of these birds at +that time." + +Apparently, that was the beginning of the end of the "dough bird," which +was another name for this curlew. In 1908 Mr. G.H. Mackay stated that +this bird and the golden plover had decreased 90 per cent in fifty +years, and in the last ten years of that period 90 per cent of the +remainder had gone. "Now (1908)," says Mr. Forbush, "ornithologists +believe that the Eskimo curlew is practically extinct, as only a few +specimens have been recorded since the beginning of the twentieth +century." The very last record is of two specimens collected at Waco, +York County, Nebraska, in March, 1911, and recorded by Mr. August Eiche. +Of course, it is possible that other individuals may still survive; but +so far as our knowledge extends, the species is absolutely dead. + + * * * * * + +In the West Indies and the Guadeloupe Islands, five species of macaws +and parrakeets have passed out without any serious note of their +disappearance on the part of the people of the United States. It is at +least time to write brief obituary notices of them. + +We are indebted to the Hon. Walter Rothschild, of Tring, England, for +essential facts regarding these species as set forth in his sumptuous +work "Extinct Birds". + +THE CUBAN TRICOLORED MACAW,--_Ara tricolor_, (Gm.). In 1875, when the +author visited Cuba and the Isle of Pines, he was informed by Professor +Poey that he was "about ten years too late" to find this fine species +alive. It was exterminated for food purposes, about 1864, and only four +specimens are known to be in existence. + +[Illustration SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN +Great Auk +Pallas Cormorant +Labrador Duck +Passenger Pigeon +Eskimo Curlew +Cuban Tricolor Macaw +Gosse's Macaw +Guadeloupe Macaw +Yellow Winged Green Parrot +Purple Guadaloupe Parakeet +Carolina Parakeet +EXTERMINATED BY CIVILIZED MAN 1840-1910] + +GOSSE'S MACAW,--_Ara gossei_, (Roth.).--This species once inhabited the +Island of Jamaica. It was exterminated about 1800, and so far as known +not one specimen of it is in existence. + +GUADELOUPE MACAW,--_Ara guadeloupensis_, (Clark).--All that is known of +the life history of this large bird is that once it inhabited the +Guadeloupe Islands. The date and history of its disappearance are both +unknown, and there is not one specimen of it in existence. + +YELLOW-WINGED GREEN PARROT,--_Amazona olivacea_, (Gm.).--Of the history +of this Guadeloupe species, also, nothing is known, and there appear to +be no specimens of it in existence. + +PURPLE GUADELOUPE PARRAKEET,--_Anodorhynchus purpurescens_, +(Rothschild).--This is another dead species, that once lived in the +Guadeloupe Islands, and passed away silently and unnoticed at the time, +leaving no records of its existence, and no specimens. + +THE CAROLINA PARRAKEET,--_Conuropsis carolinensis_, (Linn.), brings us +down to the present moment. To this charming little green-and-yellow +bird, we are in the very act of bidding everlasting farewell. Ten +specimens remain alive in captivity, six of which are in the Cincinnati +Zoological Garden, three are in the Washington Zoological Park and one +is in the New York Zoological Park. + +Regarding wild specimens, it is possible that some yet remain, in some +obscure and _neglected_ corner of Florida; but it is extremely doubtful +whether the world ever will find any of them alive. Mrs. Minnie Moore +Willson, of Kissimee, Fla. reports the species as totally extinct in +Florida. Unless we would strain at a gnat, we may just as well enter +this species in the dead class; for there is no reason to hope that any +more wild specimens ever will be found. + +The former range of this species embraced the whole southeastern and +central United States. From the Gulf it extended to Albany, N.Y., +northern Ohio and Indiana, northern Iowa, Nebraska, central Colorado and +eastern Texas, from which it will be seen that once it was widely +distributed. It was shot because it was destructive to fruit and for its +plumage, and many were trapped alive, to be kept in captivity. I know +that one colony, near the mouth of the Sebastian River, east coast of +Florida, was exterminated in 1898 by a local hunter, and I regret to say +that it was done in the hope of selling the living birds to a New York +bird-dealer. By holding bags over the holes in which the birds were +nesting, the entire colony, of about 16 birds, was caught. + +Everywhere else than in Florida, the Carolina parrakeet has long been +extinct. In 1904 a flock of 13 birds was seen near Lake Okechobee; but +in Florida many calamities can overtake a flock of birds in eight years. +The birds in captivity are not breeding, and so far as perpetuation by +them is concerned, they are only one remove from mounted museum +specimens. This parrakeet is the only member of its order that ranged +into the United States during our own times, and with its disappearance +the Order Psittaciformes totally disappears from our country. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER III + +THE NEXT CANDIDATES FOR OBLIVION + + +In the world of human beings, murder is the most serious of all crimes. +To take from a man that which no one ever can restore to him, his life, +is murder; and its penalty is the most severe of all penalties. + +There are circumstances under which the killing of a wild animal may be +so wanton, so revolting and so utterly reprehensible that the act may +justly be classed as murder. The man who kills a walrus from the deck of +a steamer that he knows will not stop; the man who wantonly killed the +whole colony of hippopotami that Mr. Dugmore photographed in life; the +man who last winter shot bull elk in Wyoming for their two ugly and +shapeless teeth, and the man who wantonly shot down a half-tame deer +"for fun" near Carmel, Putnam County, New York, in the summer of +1912,--all were guilty of _murdering_ wild animals. + +The murder of a wild animal species consists in taking from it that +which man with all his cunning and all his preserves and breeding can +not give back to it,--its God-given place in the ranks of Living Things. +Where is man's boasted intelligence, or his sense of proportion, that +every man does not see the monstrous moral obliquity involved in the +destruction of a species! + +If the beautiful Taj Mehal at Agra should be destroyed by vandals, the +intelligent portion of humanity would be profoundly shocked, even though +the hand of man could at will restore the shrine of sorrowing love. +To-day the great Indian rhinoceros, certainly one of the most wonderful +four-footed animals still surviving, is actually being exterminated; and +even the people of India and England are viewing it with an indifference +that is appalling. Of course there are among Englishmen a great many +sportsmen and several zoologists who really care; but they do not +constitute one-tenth of one per-cent of the men who ought to care! + +In the museums, we stand in awe and wonder before the fossil skeleton of +the Megatherium, and the savants struggle to unveil its past, while the +equally great and marvelous _Rhinoceros indicus_ is being rushed into +oblivion. We marvel at the fossil shell of the gigantic turtle called +_Collosochelys atlas_, while the last living representatives of the +gigantic land tortoises are being exterminated in the Galapagos Islands +and the Sychelles, for their paltry oil and meat; and only one man (Hon. +Walter Rothschild) is doing aught to save any of them in their haunts, +where they can breed. The dodo of Mauritius was exterminated by swine, +whose bipedal descendants have exterminated many other species since +that time. + +A failure to appreciate either the beauty or the value of our living +birds, quadrupeds and fishes is the hall-mark of arrested mental +development and ignorance. The victim is _not always to blame_; but in +this practical world the cornerstone of legal jurisprudence is the +inexorable principle that "ignorance of the law excuses no man." + +These pages are addressed to my countrymen, and the world at large, not +as a reproach upon the dead Past which is gone beyond recall, but in the +faint hope of somewhere and somehow arousing forces that will reform the +Present and save the Future. The extermination of wild species that now +is proceeding throughout the world, is a dreadful thing. It is not only +injurious to the economy of the world, but it is a shame and a disgrace +to the civilized portion of the human race. + +It is of little avail that I should here enter into a detailed +description of each species that now is being railroaded into oblivion. +The bookshelves of intelligent men and women are filled with beautiful +and adequate books on birds and quadrupeds, wherein the status of each +species may be determined, almost without effort. There is time and +space only in which to notice the most prominent of the doomed species, +and perhaps discuss a few examples by way of illustration. Here is a + + * * * * * + +PARTIAL LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THREATENED WITH EARLY EXTERMINATION + +WHOOPING CRANE +TRUMPETER SWAN +AMERICAN FLAMINGO +ROSEATE SPOONBILL +SCARLET IBIS +LONG-BILLED CURLEW +HUDSONIAN GODWIT +UPLAND PLOVER +RED-BREASTED SANDPIPER +GOLDEN PLOVER +DOWITCHER +WILLET +PECTORAL SANDPIPER +BLACK-CAPPED PETREL +AMERICAN EGRET +SNOWY EGRET +WOOD DUCK +BAND-TAILED PIGEON +HEATH HEN +SAGE GROUSE +PRAIRIE SHARP-TAIL +PINNATED GROUSE +WHITE-TAILED KITE + + * * * * * + +THE WHOOPING CRANE.--This splendid bird will almost certainly be the +next North American species to be totally exterminated. It is the only +new world rival of the numerous large and showy cranes of the old world; +for the sandhill crane is not in the same class as the white, black and +blue giants of Asia. We will part from our stately _Grus americanus_ +with profound sorrow, for on this continent we ne'er shall see his like +again. + +The well-nigh total disappearance of this species has been brought close +home to us by the fact that there are less than half a dozen individuals +alive in captivity, while in a wild state the bird is so rare as to be +quite unobtainable. For example, for nearly five years an English +gentlemen has been offering $1,000 for a pair, and the most +enterprising bird collector in America has been quite unable to fill the +order. So far as our information extends, the last living specimen +captured was taken six or seven years ago. The last wild birds seen and +reported were observed by Ernest Thompson Seton, who saw five below Fort +McMurray, Saskatchewan, October 16th, 1907, and by John F. Ferry, who +saw one at Big Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, in June, 1909. + +The range of this species once covered the eastern two-thirds of the +continent of North America. It extended from the Atlantic coast to the +Rocky Mountains, and from Great Bear Lake to Florida and Texas. Eastward +of the Mississippi it has for twenty years been totally extinct, and the +last specimens taken alive were found in Kansas and Nebraska. + +[Illustration: WHOOPING CRANES IN THE ZOOLOGICAL PARK +Very Soon this Species will Become Totally Extinct.] + +THE TRUMPETER SWAN.--Six years ago this species was regarded as so +nearly extinct that a doubting ornithological club of Boston refused to +believe on hearsay evidence that the New York Zoological Park contained +a pair of living birds, and a committee was appointed, to investigate in +person, and report. Even at that time, skins were worth all the way from +$100 to $150 each; and when swan skins sell at either of those figures +it is because there are people who believe that the species either is on +the verge of extinction, or has passed it. The pair referred to above +was acquired in 1900. Since that time, Dr. Leonard C. Sanford procured +in 1910 two living birds from a bird dealer who obtained them on the +coast of Virginia. We have done our utmost to induce our pair to breed, +but without any further results than nest-building. + +The loss of the trumpeter swan (_Olor americanus_) will not be so great, +nor felt so keenly, as the blotting out of the whooping crane. It so +closely resembles the whistling swan that only an ornithologist can +recognize the difference, a yellow spot on the side of the upper +mandible, near its base. The whistling swan yet remains in fair numbers, +but it is to be feared that soon it will go as the trumpeter has gone. + +THE AMERICAN FLAMINGO, SCARLET IBIS AND ROSEATE SPOONBILL are three of +the most beautiful and curious water-haunting birds of the tropics. Once +all three species inhabited portions of the southern United States; but +now all three are gone from our star-spangled bird fauna. The brilliant +scarlet plumage of the flamingo and ibis, and the exquisite pink +rose-color and white of the spoonbill naturally attracted the evil eyes +of the "milliner's taxidermists" and other bird-butchers. From Florida +these birds quickly vanished. The six great breeding colonies of +Flamingoes on Andros Island, Bahamas, have been reduced to two, and from +Prof. E.A. Goeldi, of the State Museum Goeldi, Para, Brazil, have come +bitter complaints of the slaughter of scarlet ibises in South America by +plume-hunters in European pay. + +I know not how other naturalists regard the future of the three species +named above, but my opinion is that unless the European feather trade is +quickly stopped as to wild plumage, they are absolutely certain to be +shot into total oblivion, within a very few years. The plumage of these +birds has so much commercial value, for fishermen's flies as well as for +women's hats, that the birds will be killed as long as their feathers +can be sold and any birds remain alive. + +Zoologically, the flamingo is the most odd and interesting bird on the +American continent except the emperor penguin. Its beak baffles +description, its long legs and webbed feet are a joke, its nesting +habits are amazing, and its food habits the despair of most +zoological-garden keepers. Millions of flamingos inhabit the shores of a +number of small lakes in the interior of equatorial East Africa, but +that species is not brilliant scarlet all over the neck and head, as is +the case with our species. + +If the American flamingo, scarlet ibis and roseate spoonbill, one or all +of them, are to be saved from total extinction, efforts must be made in +each of the countries in which they breed and live. Their preservation +is distinctly a burden upon the countries of South America that lie +eastward of the Andes, and on Yucatan, Cuba and the Bahamas. The time +has come when the Government of the Bahama Islands should sternly forbid +the killing of any more flamingos, on any pretext whatever; and if the +capture of living specimens for exhibition purposes militates against +the welfare of the colonies, _they should forbid that also_. + +THE UPLAND PLOVER, OR "BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER."--Apparently this is the +next shore-bird species that will follow the Eskimo curlew into +oblivion. Four years ago,--a long period for a species that is on the +edge of extermination,--Mr. E.H. Forbush[B] wrote of it as follows: + +"The Bartramian Sandpiper, commonly known as the Upland Plover, a bird +which formerly bred on grassy hills all over the State and migrated +southward along our coasts in great flocks, is in imminent danger of +extirpation. A few still breed in Worcester and Berkshire Counties, or +Nantucket, so there is still a nucleus which, if protected, may save the +species. Five reports from localities where this bird formerly bred give +it as nearing extinction, and four as extinct. This is one of the most +useful of all birds in grass land, feeding largely on grasshoppers and +cutworms. It is one of the finest of all birds for the table. An effort +should be made at once to save this useful species." + +[Footnote B: "Special Report on the Decrease of Certain Birds, and its +Causes."--Mass. State Board of Agriculture, 1908.] + +THE BLACK-CAPPED PETREL, (_Aestrelata hasitata_).--This species is +already recorded in the A.O.U. "Check list" as extinct; but it appears +that this may not as yet be absolutely true. On January 1, 1912, a +strange thing happened. A much battered and exhausted black-capped +petrel was picked up alive in Central Park, New York, taken to the +menagerie, and kept there during the few days that it survived. When it +died it was sent to the American Museum; and this may easily prove to be +the last living record for that species. In reality, this species might +as well be listed with those totally extinct. Formerly it ranged from +the Antilles to Ohio and Ontario, and the causes of its blotting out are +not yet definitely known. + +This ocean-going bird once had a wide range overseas in the temperate +areas of the North Atlantic. It is recorded from Ulster County, New +York, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and Florida. It was about +of the size of the common tern. + +THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR, (_Gymnogyps californianus_).--I feel that the +existence of this species hangs on a very slender thread. This is due to +its alarmingly small range, the insignificant number of individuals now +living, the openness of the species to attack, and the danger of its +extinction by poison. Originally this remarkable bird,--the largest +North American bird of prey,--ranged as far northward as the Columbia +River, and southward for an unknown distance. Now its range is reduced +to seven counties in southern California, although it is said to extend +from Monterey Bay to Lower California, and eastward to Arizona. + +Regarding the present status and the future of this bird, I have been +greatly disturbed in mind. When a unique and zoologically important +species becomes reduced in its geographic range to a small section of a +single state, it seems to me quite time for alarm. For some time I have +counted this bird as one of those threatened with early extermination, +and as I think with good reason. In view of the swift calamities that +now seem able to fall on species like thunderbolts out of clear skies, +and wipe them off the earth even before we know that such a fate is +impending, no species of seven-county distribution is safe. Any species +that is limited to a few counties of a single state is liable to be +wiped out in five years, by poison, or traps, or lack of food. + +[Illustration: CALIFORNIA CONDOR +Now Living in the New York Zoological Park.] + +On order to obtain the best and also the most conservative information +regarding this species, I appealed to the Curator of the Museum of +Vertebrate Zoology, of the University of California. Although written in +the mountain wilds, I promptly received the valuable contribution that +appears below. As a clear, precise and conservative survey of an +important species, it is really a model document. + + * * * * * + +THE STATUS OF THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR IN 1912 _By Joseph Grinnell_ + +"To my knowledge, the California Condor has been definitely observed +within the past five years in the following California counties: Los +Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Kern, and +Tulare. In parts of Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern +counties the species is still fairly common, for a large bird, probably +equal in numbers to the golden eagle in those regions that are suited to +it. By suitable country I mean cattle-raising, mountainous territory, +of which there are still vast areas, and which are not likely to be put +to any other use for a very long time, if ever, on account of the lack +of water. + +"While in Kern County last April, I was informed by a reliable man who +lives near the Tejon Rancho that he had counted twenty-five condors in a +single day, since January 1 of the present year. These were on the Tejon +Rancho, which is an enormous cattle range covering parts of the +Tehachapi and San Emigdio Mountains. + +"Our present state law provides complete protection for the condor and +its eggs; and the State Fish and Game Commission, in granting permits +for collectors, always adds the phrase--'except the California condor +and its eggs.' I know of two special permits having been issued, but +neither of these were used; that is, no 'specimens' have been taken +since 1908, as far as I am aware. + +"In my travels about the state, I have found that practically everyone +knows that the condor is protected. Still, there is always the hunting +element who do not hesitate to shoot anything alive and out of the +ordinary, and a certain percentage of the condors are doubtless picked +off each year by such criminals. It is possible, also, that the +mercenary egg-collector continues to take his annual rents, though if +this is done it is kept very quiet. It is my impression that the present +fatalities from all sources are fully balanced by the natural rate of +increase. + +"There is one factor that has militated against the condor more than any +other one thing; namely, the restriction in its food source. Its forage +range formerly included most of the great valleys adjacent to its +mountain retreats. But now the valleys are almost entirely devoted to +agriculture, and of course far more thickly settled than formerly. + +"The mountainous areas where the condor is making its last stand seem to +me likely to remain adapted to the bird's existence for many +years,--fifty years, if not longer. Of course, this is conditional upon +the maintenance and enforcement of the present laws. There is also the +enlightenment of public sentiment in regard to the preservation of wild +life, which I believe can be depended upon. This is a matter of general +education, which is, fortunately, and with no doubt whatever, +progressing at a quite perceptible rate. + +"Yes; I should say that the condor has a fair chance to survive, in +limited numbers. + +"Another bird which in my opinion is far nearer extinction than the +condor, so far as California is concerned, is the white-tailed kite. +This is a perfectly harmless bird, but one which harries over the +marshes, where it has been an easy target for the idle duck-hunter. +Then, too, its range was limited to the valley bottoms, where human +settlement is increasingly close. I know of only _two_ live pairs within +the state last year! + +"Finally, let me remark that the rate of increase of the California +condor is not one whit less than that of the band-tailed pigeon! Yet, +there is no protection at all for the latter in this state, even in the +nesting season; and thousands were shot last spring, in the +unprecedented concentration of the species in the southern coast +counties. (See Chambers in _The Condor_ for May, 1912, p. 108.)" + + * * * * * + +The California Condor is one of the only two species of condor now +living, and it is the only one found in North America. As a matter of +national pride, and a duty to posterity, the people of the United States +can far better afford to lose a million dollars from their national +treasury than to allow that bird to become extinct. Its preservation for +all coming time is distinctly a white man's burden upon the state of +California. The laws now in force for the condor's protection are not +half adequate! I think there is no law by which the accidental poisoning +of those birds, by baits put out for coyotes and foxes, can be stopped. +A law to prevent the use of poisoned meat baits anywhere in southern +California, should be enacted at the next session of California's +legislature. The fine for molesting a condor should be raised to $500, +with a long prison-term as an alternative. A competent, interested game +warden should be appointed _solely for the protection of the condors_. +It is time to count those birds, keep them under observation, and have +an annual report upon their condition. + +THE HEATH HEN.--But for the protection that has been provided for it by +the ornithologists of Massachusetts, and particularly Dr. George W. +Field, William Brewster and John E. Thayer, the heath hen or eastern +pinnated grouse would years ago have become totally extinct. New York, +New Jersey and Massachusetts began to protect that species entirely too +late. It was given five-year close seasons, without avail. Then it was +given ten-year close seasons, but it was _too late_! + +To-day, the species exists only in one locality, the island of Martha's +Vineyard, and concerning its present status, Mr. Forbush has recently +furnished us the following clear statement: + + "The heath hens increased for two years after the Massachusetts Fish + and Game Commission established a reservation for them, but in 1911 + they had not increased. There are probably about two hundred birds + extant. + + "I found a great many marsh hawks on the Island and the Commission + did not kill them, believing them to be beneficial. In watching + them, I concluded that they were catching the young heath hens. A + large number of these hawks have been shot and their stomachs sent + to Washington for examination, as I was too busy at the time to + examine them. So far as I know, no report of the examination has + been made, but Dr. Field himself examined a few of the stomachs and + found the remains of the heath hen in some. + + "The warden now says that during the past two years, the heath hen + has not increased, but I can give you no definite evidence of this. + I am quite sure they are being killed by natives of the island and + that at least one collector supplies birds for museums. We are + trying to get evidence of this. + + "I believe if the heath hen is to be increased in numbers and brought + back to this country, we shall have to have more than one warden on + the reservation and, eventually, we shall have to establish the bird + on the mainland also." + +[Illustration: PINNATED GROUSE, OR "PRAIRIE CHICKEN" +From the "American Natural History"] + +THE PINNATED GROUSE, SAGE GROUSE AND PRAIRIE SHARP-TAIL.--In view of the +fate of the grouse of the United States, as it has been wrought out thus +far in all the more thickly settled areas, and particularly in view of +the history of the heath hen, we have no choice but to regard all three +of the species named above as absolutely certain to become totally +extinct, within a short period of years, unless the conditions +surrounding them are immediately and radically changed for the better. +Personally, I do not believe that the gunners and game-hogs of +Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and California +will permit any one of those species to be saved. + +If the present open seasons prevail in the states that I have mentioned +above, no power on earth can save those three species of grouse from the +fate of the heath hen. To-day their representatives exist only in small +shreds and patches, and from fully nineteen-twentieths of their original +ranges they are forever gone. + +The sage grouse will be the first species to go. It is the largest, the +most conspicuous, the one most easily found, and the biggest mark for +the gunner. Those who have seen this bird in its native sage-brush well +understand how fatally it is exposed to slaughter. + +Many appeals have been made in behalf of the pinnated grouse; but the +open seasons continue. The gunners of the states in which a few remnants +still exist are determined to have them, all; and the state legislatures +seem disposed to allow the killers to have their way. It may be +however, that like New York with the heath hen, they will arouse and +virtuously lock the stable door--after the horse has been stolen! + +[Illustration: SAGE GROUSE +The First of the Upland Game Birds that will Become Extinct] + +THE SNOWY EGRET AND AMERICAN EGRET, (_Egretta candidissima and Herodias +egretta_).--These unfortunate birds, cursed for all time by the +commercially valuable "aigrette" plumes that they bear, have had a very +narrow escape from total extinction in the United States, despite all +the efforts made to save them. The "plume-hunters" of the millinery +trade have been, _and still are_, determined to have the last feather +and the last drop of egret blood. In an effort to stop the slaughter in +at least one locality in Florida, Warden Guy Bradley was killed by a +plume-hunter, who of course escaped all punishment through the +heaven-born "sympathy" of a local jury. + +Of the bloody egret slaughter in Florida, not one-tenth of the whole +story ever has been told. Millions of adult birds,--all there +were,--were killed _in the breeding season_, when the plumes were ripe +for the market; and millions of young birds starved in their nests. It +was a common thing for a rookery of several hundred birds to be attacked +by the plume-hunters, and in two or three days utterly destroyed. The +same bloody work is going on to-day in Venezuela and Brazil; and the +stories and "affidavits" stating that the millions of egret plumes being +shipped annually from those countries are "shed feathers," "picked up +off the ground," are absolute lies. The men who have sworn to those lies +are perjurers, and should be punished for their crimes. (See Chapter +XIII). + +By 1908, the plume-hunters had so far won the fight for the egrets that +Florida had been swept almost as bare of these birds as the Colorado +desert. + +Until Mr. E.A. McIlhenny's egret preserve, at Avery Island, Louisiana, +became a pronounced success, we had believed that our two egrets soon +would become totally extinct in the United States. But Mr. McIlhenny has +certainly saved those birds to our fauna. In 1892 he started an egret +and heron preserve, close beside his house on Avery Island. By 1900 it +was an established success. To-day 20,000 pairs of egrets and herons are +living and breeding in that bird refuge, and the two egret species are +safe in at least one spot in our own country. + +[Illustration: SNOWY EGRETS IN THE McILHENNY EGRET PRESERVE +It is at This Period That the Parent Birds are Killed for Their Plumes, +and the Young Starve in the Nest +Photo by E.A. McIlhenny] + +Three years ago, I think there were not many bird-lovers in the United +States, who believed it possible to prevent the total extinction of both +egrets from our fauna. All the known rookeries accessible to +plume-hunters had been totally destroyed. Two years ago, the secret +discovery of several small, hidden colonies prompted William Dutcher, +President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, and Mr. T. +Gilbert Pearson, Secretary, to attempt the protection of those colonies. +With a fund contributed for the purpose, wardens were hired and duly +commissioned. As previously stated, one of those wardens was shot dead +in cold blood by a plume hunter. The task of guarding swamp rookeries +from the attacks of money-hungry desperadoes to whom the accursed plumes +were worth their weight in gold, is a very chancy proceeding. There is +now one warden in Florida who says that "before they get my rookery they +will first have to get me." + +Thus far the protective work of the Audubon Association has been +successful. Now there are twenty colonies, which contain all told, about +5,000 egrets and about 120,000 herons and ibises which are guarded by +the Audubon wardens. One of the most important is on Bird Island, a mile +out in Orange Lake, central Florida, and it is ably defended by Oscar E. +Baynard. To-day, the plume hunters who do not dare to raid the guarded +rookeries are trying to study out the lines of flight of the birds, to +and from their feeding-grounds, and shoot them in transit. Their motto +is--"Anything to beat the law, and get the plumes." It is there that the +state of Florida should take part in the war. + +The success of this campaign is attested by the fact that last year a +number of egrets were seen in eastern Massachusetts--for the first time +in many years. And so to-day the question is, can the wardens continue +to hold the plume-hunters at bay? + +THE WOOD-DUCK (_Aix sponsa_), by many bird-lovers regarded as the most +beautiful of all American birds, is threatened with extinction, in all +the states that it still inhabits with the exception of eight. Long ago +(1901) the U.S. Biological Survey sounded a general alarm for this +species by the issue of a special bulletin regarding its disappearance, +and advising its protection by long close seasons. To their everlasting +honor, eight states responded, by the enactment of long close-season +laws. This, is the + +ROLL OF HONOR + +CONNECTICUT +MAINE +MASSACHUSETTS +NEW HAMPSHIRE +NEW JERSEY +NEW YORK +VERMONT +WEST VIRGINIA + +[Illustration: WOOD DUCK +Regularly Killed as "Food" in 15 States] + +And how is it with the other states that number the wood-duck in their +avian faunas? I am ashamed to tell; but it is necessary that the truth +should be known. + +Surely we will find that if the other states have not the grace to +protect this bird on account of its exquisite beauty they will not +penalize it by extra long open seasons. + +_A number of them have taken pains to provide extra long_ OPEN _seasons +on this species, usually of five or six months!!_ And this for a bird so +exquisitely beautiful that shooting it for the table is like dining on +birds of paradise. Here is a partial list of them: + + * * * * * + +WOOD-DUCK-EATING STATES (1912) + +Georgia kills and eats the Wood-duck from Sept. 1, to Feb. 1. +Indiana, Iowa and Kansas do so " Sept. 1, to Apr. 15. +Kentucky, (extra long!) does so " Aug. 15, to Apr. 1. +Louisiana (extra long!) " " " Sept. 1, to Mar. 1. +Maryland " " " Nov. 1, to Apr. 1. +Michigan " " " Oct. 15, to Jan. 1. +Nebraska (extra long!) " " " Sept. 1, to Apr. 1. +Ohio " " " Sept. 1, to Jan. 1. +Pennsylvania, (extra long!) " " " Sept. 1, to Apr. 11. +Rhode Island, " " " " " Aug. 15, to Apr. 1. +South Carolina " " " " " Sept. 1, to Mar. 1. +South Dakota " " " " " Sept. 10, to Apr. 10. +Tennessee " " " " " Aug. 1, to Apr. 15. +Virginia " " " Aug. 1, to Jan. 1. +Wisconsin " " " Sept. 1, to Jan. 1. + +The above are the states that really possess the wood-duck and that +should give it, one and all, a series of five-year close seasons. Now, +is not the record something to blush for? + +Is there in those fifteen states _nothing_ too beautiful or too good to +go into the pot? + + * * * * * + +THE WOODCOCK _(Philohela minor)_, is a bird regarding which my +bird-hunting friends and I do not agree. I say that as a species it is +steadily disappearing, and presently will become extinct, unless it is +accorded better protection. They reply: "Well, I can show you where +there are woodcock yet!" + +A few months ago a Nova Scotian writer in _Forest and Stream_ came out +with the bold prediction that three more years of the usual annual +slaughter of woodcock will bring the species to the verge of extinction +in that Province. + +It is such occurrences as this that bring the end of a species: + +"Last fall [1911, at Norwalk, Conn.] we had a good flight of woodcock, +and it is a shame the way they were slaughtered. I know of a number of +cases where twenty were killed by one gun in the day, and heard of one +case of fifty. This is all wrong, and means the end of the woodcock, if +continued. There is no doubt we need a bag limit on woodcock, as much as +on quail or partridge." ("Woodcock" in _Forest and Stream_, Mar. 2, +1912.) + +As far back as 1901, Dr. A.K. Fisher of the Biological Survey predicted +that the woodcock and wood-duck would both become extinct unless better +protected. As yet, the better protection demanded has not materialized +to any great extent. + +Says Mr. Forbush, State Ornithologist of Massachusetts, in his admirable +"Special Report," p. 45: + +"The woodcock is decreasing all over its range in the East, and needs +the strongest protection. Of thirty-eight Massachusetts reports, +thirty-six state that "woodcock are decreasing," "rare" or "extinct," +while one states that they are holding their own, and one that they are +increasing slightly since the law was passed prohibiting their sale." + +Let not any honest American or Canadian sportsman lullaby himself into +the belief that the woodcock is safe from extermination. As sure as the +world, it is _going_! The fact that a little pocket here or there +contains a few birds does not in the slightest degree disprove the main +fact. If the sportsmen of this country desire to save the seed stock of +woodcock, they must give it _everywhere_ five or ten-year close seasons, +and _do it immediately_! + +OUR SHORE BIRDS IN GENERAL.--This group of game birds will be the first +to be exterminated in North America as a _group_. Of all our birds, +these are the most illy fitted to survive. They are very conspicuous, +very unwary, easy to find if alive, and easy to shoot. Never in my life +have any shore birds except woodcock and snipe appealed to me as real +game. They are too easy to kill, too trivial when killed, and some of +them are too rank and fishy on the plate. As game for men I place them +on a level with barnyard ducks or orchard turkeys. I would as soon be +caught stealing a sheep as to be seen trying to shoot fishy yellow legs +or little joke sandpipers for the purpose of feeding upon them. And yet, +thousands of full-grown men, some of them six feet high, grow indignant +and turn red in the face at the mention of a law to give all the +shore-birds of New York a five-year close season. + +But for all that, gentlemen of the gun, there are exactly two +alternatives between which you shall choose: + +(1) Either give the woodcock of the eastern United States just _ten +times_ the protection that it now has, or (2) bid the species a long +farewell. If you elect to slaughter old _Philohela minor_ on the altar +of Selfishness, then it will be in order for the millions of people who +do not kill birds to say whether that proposal shall be consummated or +not. + +Read if you please Mr. W.A. McAtee's convincing pamphlet (Biological +Survey, No. 79), on "Our Vanishing Shore Birds," reproduced in full in +Chapter XXIII. He says: "Throughout the eastern United States, shore +birds are fast vanishing. Many of them have been so reduced that +_extermination seems imminent_. So averse to shore birds are present +conditions [of slaughter] that the wonder is that any escape. All the +shore birds of the United States are in great need of better +protection.... Shore birds have been hunted until only a remnant of +their once vast numbers are left. Their limited powers of reproduction, +coupled with the natural vicissitudes of the breeding period, make their +increase slow, and peculiarly expose them to danger of extermination. So +great is their economic value that their retention in the game list and +their destruction by sportsmen is a serious loss to agriculture." + +And yet, here in New York state there are many men who think they +"know," who indignantly scoff at the idea that our shore birds need a +five-year close season to help save them from annihilation. The writer's +appeal for this at a recent convention of the New York State Fish, Game +and Forest League fell upon deaf ears, and was not even seriously +discussed. + +The shore-birds must be saved; and just at present it seems that the +only persons who will do it are those who are _not_ sportsmen, and who +never kill game! If the sportsmen persist in refusing to act, to them we +must appeal. + +Besides the woodcock and snipe, the species that are most seriously +threatened with extinction at an early date are the following: + +SPECIES IN GREAT DANGER + +Willet _Catoptrophorus semipalmatus_ +Dowitcher _Macrorhamphus griseus_ +Knot: Red-Breasted Sandpiper _Tryngites subruficollis_ +Upland Plover _Bartramia longicauda_ +Golden Plover _Charadrius dominicus_ +Pectoral Sandpiper _Pisobia maculata_ + +Of these fine species, Mr. Forbush, whose excellent knowledge of the +shore birds of the Atlantic coast is well worth the most serious +consideration, says that the upland plover, or Bartramian sandpiper, "is +in imminent danger of extinction. Five reports from localities where +this bird formerly bred give it as nearing extinction, and four as +extinct. This is one of the most useful of all birds in grass land, +feeding largely on grasshoppers and cutworms.... There is no difference +of opinion in regard to the diminution of the shore birds; the reports +from all quarters are the same. It is noteworthy that practically all +observers agree that, considering all species, these birds have fallen +off about 75 per cent within twenty-five to forty years, and that +several species are nearly extirpated." + +[Illustration: THE GRAY SQUIRREL, A FAMILIAR FRIEND WHEN PROTECTED] + +In 1897 when the Zoological Society published my report on the +"Extermination of Our Birds and Mammals," we put down the decrease in +the volume of bird life in Massachusetts during the previous fifteen +years at twenty-seven per cent. The later and more elaborate +investigations of Mr. Forbush have satisfactorily vindicated the +accuracy of that estimate. + +There are other North American birds that easily might be added to the +list of those now on the road to oblivion; but surely the foregoing +citations are sufficient to reveal the present desperate conditions of +our bird life in general. Now the question is: What are the great +American people going to do about it? + +THE GRAY SQUIRREL.--The gray squirrel is in danger of extermination. +Although it is our most beautiful and companionable small wild animal, +and really unfit for food, Americans have strangely elected to class it +as "game," and shoot it to death, _to eat_! And this in stall-fed +America, in the twentieth century! Americans are the only white people +in the world who eat squirrels. It would be just as reasonable, and no +more barbarous, to kill domestic cats and eat them. Their flesh would +taste quite as good as squirrel flesh and some of them would afford +quite as good "sport." + +Every intelligent person knows that in the United States the deadly +shot-gun is rapidly exterminating every bird and every small mammal that +is classed as "game," and which legally may be killed, even during two +months of the twelve. The market gunners slaughter ducks, grouse, shore +birds and rabbits as if we were all starving. + +The beautiful gray squirrel has clung to life in a few of our forests +and wood-lots, long after most other wild mammals have disappeared; but +throughout at least ninety-five per cent, of its original area, it is +now extinct. During the past thirty years I have roamed the woods of my +state in several widely separated localities,--the Adirondacks, +Catskills, Berkshires, western New York and elsewhere, and in all that +time I have seen only _three_ wild gray squirrels outside of city parks. + +Except over a very small total area, the gray squirrel is already gone +from the wild fauna of New York State! + +Do the well-fed people of America wish to have this beautiful animal +entirely exterminated? Do they wish the woods to become wholly lifeless? +Or, do they desire to bring back some of the wild creatures, and keep +them for their children to enjoy? + +There is no wild mammal that responds to protection more quickly than +the gray squirrel. In two years' time, wild specimens that are set free +in city parks learn that they are safe from harm and become almost +fearless. They take food from the hands of visitors, and climb into +their arms. One of the most pleasing sights of the Zoological Park is +the enjoyment of visitors, young and old, in "petting" our wild gray +squirrels. + +We ask the Boy Scouts of America to bring back this animal to each state +where it belongs, by securing for it from legislatures and governors the +perpetual closed seasons that it imperatively needs. It is not much to +ask. This can be done by writing to members of the legislatures and +requesting a suitable law. Such a request will be both right and +reasonable; and three states have already granted it. + +The gray squirrel is naturally the children's closest wild-animal +friend. Surely every farmer boy would like to have colonies of gray +squirrels around him, to keep him company, and furnish him with +entertainment. A wood-lot without squirrels and chipmunks is indeed a +lifeless place. For $20 anyone can restock any bit of woods with the +most companionable and most beautiful tree-dweller that nature has given +us. + +The question now is, which will you choose--a gray squirrel colony to +every farm, or lifeless desolation? + +We ask every American to lend a hand to save Silver-Tail. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IV + +EXTINCT AND NEARLY EXTINCT SPECIES OF MAMMALS + + +When we pause and consider the years, the generations and the ages that +Nature spends in the production of a high vertebrate species, the +preservation of such species from extermination should seriously concern +us. As a matter of fact, in modern man's wild chase after wealth and +pleasure, it is only one person out of every ten thousand who pauses to +regard such causes, unless cornered by some protectionist fanatic, held +fast and coerced to listen. + +We are not discussing the animals of the Pleistocene, or the Eocene, or +any period of the far-distant Past. We are dealing with species that +have been ruthlessly, needlessly and wickedly destroyed by man during +our own times; species that, had they been given a fair chance, would be +alive and well to-day. + +In reckless waste of blood and treasure, the nineteenth century has much +for which to answer. Wars and pillage, fires, earthquakes and volcanoes +are unhappily unavoidable. Like the poor of holy writ, we have them with +us always. But the destruction of animal life is in a totally different +category from the accidental calamities of life. It is deliberate, +cold-blooded, persistent, and in its final stage, _criminal_! Worst of +all, there is no limit to the devilish persistence of the confirmed +destroyer, this side of the total extinction of species. No polar night +is too cold, no desert inferno is too hot for the man who pursues wild +life for commercial purposes. The rhytina has been exterminated in the +far north, the elephant seals on Kerguelen are being exterminated in the +far south, and midway, in the desert mountains of Lower California a +fine species of mountain sheep is rapidly being shot into oblivion. + + * * * * * + +LARGE MAMMALS COMPLETELY EXTERMINATED + +THE ARIZONA ELK, (_Cervus merriami_).--Right at our very door, under our +very noses and as it were only yesterday, a well-defined species of +American elk has been totally exterminated. Until recently the mountains +of Arizona and New Mexico were inhabited by a light-colored elk of +smaller size than the Wyoming species, whose antlers possessed on each +side only one brow tine instead of two. The exact history of the +blotting out of that species has not yet been written, but it seems that +its final extinction occurred about 1901. Its extermination was only a +routine incident of the devilish general slaughter of American big game +that by 1900 had wiped out nearly everything killable over a large +portion of the Rocky Mountain region and the Great Plains. + +The Arizona elk was exterminated before the separate standing of the +species had been discovered by naturalists, and before even _one_ skin +had been preserved in a museum! In 1902 Mr. E.W. Nelson described the +species from two male skulls, all the material of which he knew. Since +that time, a third male skull, bearing an excellent pair of antlers, has +been discovered by Mr. Ferdinand Kaegebehn, a member of the New York +Zoological Society, and presented to our National Collection of Heads +and Horns. It came from the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, in 1884. +The species was first exterminated in the central and northern mountains +of Arizona, probably twenty years ago, and made its last stand in +northwestern New Mexico. Precisely when it became extinct there, its +last abiding place, we do not know, but in time the facts may appear. + +THE QUAGGA, (_Equus quagga_).--Before the days of Livingstone, +Gordon-Cumming and Anderson, the grassy plains and half-forested hills +of South Africa were inhabited by great herds of a wild equine species +that in its markings was a sort of connecting link between the striped +zebras and the stripeless wild asses. The quagga resembled a wild ass +with a few zebra stripes around its neck, and no stripes elsewhere. + +There is no good reason why a mammal that is not in any one of the +families regularly eaten by man should be classed as a game animal. +White men, outside of the western border of the continent of Europe, do +not eat horses; and by this token there is no reason why a zebra should +be shot as a "game" animal, any more than a baboon. A big male baboon is +dangerous; a male zebra is not. + +Nevertheless, white men have elected to shoot zebras as game; and under +this curse the unfortunate quagga fell to rise no more. The species was +shot to a speedy death by sportsmen, and by the British and Dutch +farmers of South Africa. It became extinct about 1875, and to-day there +are only 18 specimens in all the museums of the world. + +THE BLAUBOK, (_Hippotragus leucophaeus_).--The first of the African +antelopes to become extinct in modern times was a species of large size, +closely related to the roan antelope of to-day, and named by the early +Dutch settlers of Cape Colony the blaubok, which means "blue-buck." It +was snuffed out of existence in the year 1800, so quickly and so +thoroughly that, like the Arizona elk, it very nearly escaped the annals +of natural history. According to the careful investigations of Mr. +Graham Renshaw, there are only eight specimens in existence in all the +museums of Europe. In general terms it may be stated that this species +has been extinct for about a century. + +DAVID'S DEER, (_Elaphurus davidianus_).--We enter this species with +those that are totally extinct, because this is true of it so far as its +wild state is concerned. It is a deer nearly as large as the red deer of +Europe, with 3-tined antlers about equal in total length to those of the +red deer. Its most striking differential character is its _long tail_, a +feature that among the deer of the world is quite unique. + +Originally this species inhabited "northern Mongolia" (China), but in a +wild state it became extinct before its zoological standing became known +to the scientific world. The species was called to the attention of +zoologists by a Roman Catholic missionary, called Father David, and when +finally described it was named in his honor. + +At the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, in 1900, there were about 200 +specimens living in the imperial park of China, a short distance south +of Pekin; but during the rebellion, all of them were killed and eaten, +thus totally exterminating the species from Asia. + +Fortunately, previous to that calamity (in 1894), the Duke of Bedford +had by considerable effort and expenditure procured and established in +his matchless park surrounding Woburn Abbey, England, a herd of eighteen +specimens of this rarest of all deer. That nucleus has thriven and +increased, until in 1910 it contained thirty-four head. Owing to the +fact that all the living female specimens of this remarkable species are +concentrated in one spot, and perfectly liable to be wiped out in one +year by riot, war or disease, there is some cause for anxiety. The +writer has gone so far as to suggest the desirability of starting a new +herd of David's deer, at some point far distant from England, as an +insurance measure against the possibility of calamity at Woburn. +Excepting two or three specimens in European zoological gardens that +have been favored by the Duke of Bedford, there are no living specimens +outside of Woburn Park. + +[Illustration: SKELETON OF A RHYTINA, OR ARCTIC SEA-COW +In the United States National Museum] + +THE RHYTINA, (_Rhytina gigas_).--The most northerly Sirenian that (so +far as we know) ever inhabited the earth, lived on the Commander Islands +in the northern end of Behring Sea, and was exterminated by man, for its +oil and its flesh, about 1768. It was first made known to the world by +Steller, in 1741, and must have become extinct near the beginning of the +nineteenth century. + +The rhytina belonged to the same mammalian Order as the manatee of +Florida and South America, and the dugong of Australia. The largest +manatee that Florida has produced, so far as we know, was thirteen feet +long. The rhytina attained a length of between thirty and thirty-five +feet, and a weight of 6,000 pounds or over. The flesh of this animal, +like that of the manatee and dugong, must have been edible, and surely +was prized by the hungry sailors and natives of its time. It is not +strange that such a species was quickly exterminated by man, in the +arctic regions. The wonder is that it ever existed at a latitude so +outrageous for a Sirenian, an animal which by all precedents should +prefer life in temperate or warm waters. + +[Illustration: BURCHELL'S ZEBRA, IN THE U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM +Now Believed to be Totally Extinct] + +BURCHELL'S ZEBRA (_Equus burchelli typicus_).--The foundation type of +what now is the Burchell group of zebras, consisting of four or five +sub-species of the original species of _burchelli_, is an animal +abundantly striped as to its body, neck and head, but with legs that are +almost white and free from stripes. The sub-species have legs that are +striped about half as much as the mountain zebra and the Grevy species. + +While there are Chapman zebras and Grant zebras in plenty, and of +Crawshay's not a few, all these are forms that have developed northward +of the range of the parent species, the original _Equus burchelli_. For +half a century in South Africa the latter had been harried and driven +and shot, and now it is gone, forever. Now, the museum people of the +world are hungrily enumerating their mounted specimens, and live ones +cannot be procured with money, because there are none! Already it is +common talk that "the true Burchell zebra is extinct;" and unfortunately +there is no good reason to doubt it. Even if there are a few now living +in some remote nook of the Transvaal, or Zululand, or Portuguese East +Africa, the chances are as 100 to 1 that they will not be suffered to +bring back the species; and so, to Burchell's zebra, the world is to-day +saying "Farewell!" + +[Illustration: THYLACINE OR TASMANIAN WOLF +Now Being Exterminated by the Sheep Owners of Tasmania] + + * * * * * + +SPECIES OF LARGE MAMMALS ALMOST EXTINCT + +THE THYLACINE or TASMANIAN WOLF, (_Thylacinus cynocephalus_).--Four +years ago, when Mr. W.H.D. Le Souef, Director of the Melbourne +Zoological Garden (Australia), stood before the cage of the living +thylacine in the New York Zoological Park, he first expressed surprise +at the sight of the animal, then said: + +"I advise you to take excellent care of that specimen; for when it is +gone, you never will get another. The species soon will be extinct." + +This opinion has been supported, quite independently, by a lady who is +the highest authority on the present status of that species, Mrs. Mary +G. Roberts, of Hobart, Tasmania. For nearly ten years Mrs. Roberts has +been procuring all the living specimens of the thylacine that money +could buy, and attempting to breed them at her private zoo. She states +that the mountain home of this animal is now occupied by flocks of +sheep, and because of the fact that the "Tasmanian wolves" raid the +flocks and kill lambs, the sheep-owners and herders are systematically +poisoning the thylacines as fast as possible. Inasmuch as the species is +limited to Tasmania, Mrs. Roberts and others fear that the sheepmen +will totally exterminate the remnant at an early date. This animal is +the largest and also the most interesting carnivorous marsupial of +Australia, and its untimely end will be a cause for sincere regret. + +[Illustration: WEST INDIAN SEAL +In the New York Aquarium] + +THE WEST INDIAN SEAL, (_Monachus tropicalis_).--For at least fifty +years, all the zoologists who ever had heard of this species believed +that the oil-hunters had completely exterminated it. In 1885, when the +National Museum came into possession of one poorly-mounted skin, from +Professor Poey, of Havana, it was regarded as a great _prize_. + +Most unexpectedly, in 1886 American zoologists were startled by the +discovery of a small herd on the Triangle Islands, in the Caribbean Sea, +near Yucatan, by Mr. Henry L. Ward, now director of the Milwaukee Public +Museum, and Professor Ferrari, of the National Museum of Mexico. They +found about twenty specimens, and collected only a sufficient number to +establish the true character of the species. + +Since that time, four living specimens have been captured, and sent to +the New York Aquarium, where they lived for satisfactory periods. The +indoor life and atmosphere did not seem to injure the natural vitality +of the animals. In fact, I think they were far more lively in the +Aquarium than were the sluggish creatures that Mr. Ward saw on the +Triangle reefs, and described in his report of the expedition. + +It is quite possible that there are yet alive a few specimens of this +odd species; but the Damocletian sword of destruction hangs over them +suspended by a fine hair, and it is to be expected that in the future +some roving sea adventurer will pounce upon the Remnant, and wipe it +out of existence for whatever reason may to him seem good. + +[Illustration: CALIFORNIA ELEPHANT SEAL +Photographed on Guadalupe Island by C.H. Townsend.] + +THE CALIFORNIA ELEPHANT SEAL, (_Mirounga angustirostris_).--This +remarkable long-snouted species of seal was reluctantly stricken from +the fauna of the United States several years ago, and for at least +fifteen years it has been regarded as totally extinct. Last year, +however (1911), the _Albatross_ scientific expedition, under the control +of Director C.H. Townsend of the New York Aquarium, visited Guadalupe +Island, 175 miles off the Pacific coast of Lower California and there +found about 150 living elephant seals. They took six living specimens, +all of which died after a few months in captivity. Ever since that time, +first one person and then another comes to the front with a cheerful +proposition to go to those islands and "clean up" all the remainder of +those wonderful seals. One hunting party could land on Guadalupe, and in +one week totally destroy the last remnant of this almost extinct +species. To-day the only question is, Who will be mean enough to do it? + +Fortunately, those seals have no commercial value whatsoever. The little +oil they would yield would not pay the wages of cook's mate. The proven +impossibility of keeping specimens alive in captivity, even for one +year, and the absence of cash value in the skins, even for museum +purposes, has left nothing of value in the animals to justify an +expedition to kill or to capture them. No zoological garden or park +desires any of them, at any price. Adult males attain a length of +sixteen feet, and females eleven feet. Formerly this species was +abundant in San Christobal Bay, Lower California. + +At present, Mexico is in no frame of mind to provide real protection to +a small colony of seals of no commercial value, 175 miles from her +mainland, on an uninhabited island. It is wildly improbable that those +seals will be permitted to live. It is a safe prediction that our next +news of the elephant seals of Guadalupe will tell of the total +extinction of those last 140 survivors of the species. + +THE CALIFORNIA GRIZZLY BEAR, (_Ursus horribilis californicus_).--No one +protects grizzly bears, except in the Yellowstone Park and other game +preserves. For obvious reasons, it is impossible to say whether any +individuals of this huge species now remain alive, or how long it will +be until the last one falls before a .405 Winchester engine of +extermination. We know that a living specimen can not be procured with +money, and we believe that "Old Monarch" now in Golden Gate Park, San +Francisco, is the last specimen of his species that ever will be +exhibited alive. + +I can think of no reason, save general Californian apathy, why the +extinction of this huge and remarkable animal was not prevented by law. +The sunset grizzly (on a railroad track) is the advertising emblem of +the Golden State, and surely the state should take sufficient interest +in the species to prevent its total extermination. + +But it will not. California is hell-bent on exterminating a long list of +her wild-life species, and it is very doubtful whether the masses can be +reached and aroused in time to stop it. Name some of the species? +Certainly; with all the pleasure in life: The band-tailed pigeon, the +white-tailed kite, the sharp-tailed grouse, the sage grouse, the +mountain sheep, prong-horned antelope, California mule deer, and ducks +and geese too numerous to mention. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER V + +THE EXTERMINATION OF SPECIES, STATE BY STATE + + +Early in 1912 I addressed to about 250 persons throughout the United +States, three questions, as follows: + +1. What species of birds have become totally extinct in your state? + +2. What species of birds and mammals are threatened with early +extinction? + +3. What species of mammals have been exterminated throughout your state? + +These queries were addressed to persons whose tastes and observations +rendered them especially qualified to furnish the information desired. +The interest shown in the inquiry was highly gratifying. The best of the +information given is summarized below; but this tabulation also includes +much information acquired from other sources. The general summary of the +subject will, I am sure, convince all thoughtful persons that the +present condition of the best wild life of the nation is indeed very +grave. This list is not submitted as representing prolonged research or +absolute perfection, but it is sufficient to point forty-eight morals. + + * * * * * + +BIRDS AND MAMMALS THAT HAVE BEEN TOTALLY EXTERMINATED IN VARIOUS STATES +AND PROVINCES + + +ALABAMA: + +Passenger pigeon, Carolina parrakeet; puma, elk, gray wolf, beaver. + +ARIZONA: + +Ridgway's quail (_Colinus ridgwayi_); Arizona elk (_Cervus merriami_), +bison. + +ARKANSAS: + +Passenger pigeon, Carolina parrakeet, whooping crane; bison, elk, +beaver. + +CALIFORNIA: + +No birds totally extinct, but several nearly so; grizzly bear (?), +elephant seal. + +COLORADO: + +Carolina parrakeet, whooping crane; bison. + +CONNECTICUT: + +Passenger pigeon, Eskimo curlew, great auk, Labrador duck, upland +plover, heath hen, wild turkey; puma, gray wolf, Canada lynx, black +bear, elk. + +DELAWARE: + +Wild turkey, ruffed grouse, passenger pigeon, heath hen, dickcissel, +whooping crane, Carolina parrakeet; white-tailed deer, black bear, gray +wolf, beaver, Canada lynx, puma. + +FLORIDA: + +Flamingo, roseate spoonbill, scarlet ibis, Carolina parrakeet, passenger +pigeon. + +GEORGIA: + +Passenger pigeon, Carolina parrakeet, whooping crane, trumpeter swan; +bison, elk, beaver, gray wolf, puma.--(Last 3, Craig D. Arnold.) + +IDAHO: + +Wood duck, long-billed curlew, whooping crane; bison.--(Dr. C.S. Moody.) + +ILLINOIS: + +Passenger pigeon, whooping crane, Carolina parrakeet, trumpeter swan, +snowy egret, Eskimo curlew; bison, elk, white-tailed deer, black bear, +puma, Canada lynx. + +INDIANA: + +Passenger pigeon, whooping crane, northern raven, wild turkey, +ivory-billed woodpecker, Carolina parrakeet, trumpeter swan, snowy +egret, Eskimo curlew; bison, elk, white-tailed deer, black bear, Canada +lynx, beaver, porcupine.--(Amos W. Butler.) + +IOWA: + +Wild turkey, Eskimo curlew, whooping crane, trumpeter swan, white +pelican, passenger pigeon; bison, elk, antelope, white-tailed deer, +black bear, puma, Canada lynx, gray wolf, beaver, porcupine. + +KANSAS: + +American scaup duck, woodcock, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, pileated +woodpecker, parrakeet, white-necked raven, American raven (all Prof. +L.L. Dyche); golden plover, Eskimo curlew, Hudsonian curlew, wood-duck +(C.H. Smyth and James Howard, Wichita). Bison, elk, mule deer, +white-tailed deer, gray wolf, beaver (?), otter, lynx (?) (L.L.D.) + +(Reports as complete and thorough as these for other localities no doubt +would show lists equally long for several other states.--(W.T.H.)) + +KENTUCKY: + +Passenger pigeon, parrakeet; bison, elk, puma, beaver, gray wolf. + +LOUISIANA: + +Passenger pigeon, Carolina parrakeet, Eskimo curlew, flamingo, scarlet +ibis, roseate spoonbill; bison, ocelot. + +MAINE: + +Great auk, Labrador duck, Eskimo curlew, oystercatcher, wild turkey, +heath hen, passenger pigeon; puma, gray wolf, wolverine, caribou.--(All +Arthur H. Norton, Portland.) + +MARYLAND: + +Sandhill crane, parrakeet, passenger pigeon; bison, elk, beaver, gray +wolf, puma, porcupine. + +MASSACHUSETTS: + +Wild turkey, passenger pigeon, Labrador duck, whooping crane, sandhill +crane, black-throated bunting, great auk, Eskimo curlew.--(William +Brewster, W.P. Wharton); Canada lynx, gray wolf, black bear, moose, elk. + +MICHIGAN: + +Passenger pigeon, wild turkey, sandhill crane, whooping crane, bison, +elk, wolverine. + +MINNESOTA: + +Whooping crane, white pelican, trumpeter swan, passenger pigeon, bison, +elk, mule deer, antelope. + +A strange condition exists in Minnesota, as will be seen by reference to +the next list of states. A great many species are on the road to speedy +extermination; but as yet the number of those that have become totally +extinct up to date is small. + +MISSISSIPPI: + +Parrakeet, passenger pigeon; bison. (Data incomplete.) + +MISSOURI: + +Parrakeet, ivory-billed woodpecker, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, +pinnated grouse; bison, elk, beaver. + +MONTANA: + +Although many Montana birds are on the verge of extinction, the only +species that we are sure have totally vanished are the passenger pigeon +and whooping crane. Mammals extinct, bison. + +NEBRASKA: + +Curlew, wild turkey, parrakeet, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, and no +doubt _all_ the other species that have disappeared from Kansas. +Mammals: bison, antelope, elk, and mule deer. + +NEVADA: + +By a rather odd combination of causes and effects, Nevada retains +representatives of nearly all her original outfit of bird and mammal +species except the bison and elk; but several of them will shortly +become extinct. + +NEW HAMPSHIRE: + +Wild turkey, heath hen, pigeon, whooping crane, Eskimo curlew, upland +plover, Labrador duck; woodland caribou, moose. + +NEW JERSEY: + +Heath hen, wild turkey, pigeon, parrakeet, Eskimo curlew, Labrador duck, +snowy egret, whooping crane, sandhill crane, trumpeter swan, pileated +woodpecker; gray wolf, black bear, beaver, elk, porcupine, puma. + +NEW MEXICO: + +Notwithstanding an enormous decrease in the general volume of wild life +in New Mexico, comparatively few species have been totally exterminated. +The most important are the bison and Arizona elk. + +NEW YORK: + +Heath hen, passenger pigeon, wild turkey, great auk, trumpeter swan, +Labrador duck, harlequin duck, Eskimo curlew, upland plover, golden +plover, whooping crane, sandhill crane, purple martin, pileated +woodpecker, moose, caribou, bison, elk, puma, gray wolf, wolverine, +marten, fisher, beaver, fox, squirrel, harbor seal. + +NORTH CAROLINA: + +Ivory-billed woodpecker, parrakeet, pigeon, roseate spoonbill, +long-billed curlew (_Numenius americanus_), Eskimo curlew; bison, elk, +gray wolf, puma, beaver.--(E.L. Ewbank, T. Gilbert Pearson, H.H. and +C.S. Brimley.) + +NORTH DAKOTA: + +Whooping crane, long-billed curlew, Hudsonian godwit, passenger pigeon; +bison, elk, mule deer, mountain sheep.--(W.B. Bell and Alfred Eastgate.) + +OHIO: + +Pigeon, wild turkey, pinnated grouse, northern pileated woodpecker, +parrakeet; white-tailed deer, bison, elk, black bear, puma, gray wolf, +beaver, otter, puma, lynx. + +OKLAHOMA: + +Records for birds insufficient. Mammals: bison, elk, antelope, mule +deer, puma, black bear. + +OREGON: + +The only species known to have been wholly exterminated during recent +times is the California condor and the bison, both of which were rare +stragglers into Oregon; but a number of species are now close to +extinction. + +PENNSYLVANIA: + +Heath hen, pigeon, parrakeet, Labrador duck; bison, elk, moose, puma, +gray wolf, Canada lynx, wolverine, beaver.--(Witmer Stone, Dr. C.B. +Penrose and Arthur Chapman.) + +RHODE ISLAND: + +Heath hen, passenger pigeon, wild turkey, least tern, eastern willet, +Eskimo curlew, marbled godwit, long-billed curlew.--(Harry S. Hathaway); +puma, black bear, gray wolf, beaver, otter, wolverine. + +SOUTH CAROLINA: + +Ivory-billed woodpecker, Carolina parrakeet; bison, elk, puma, gray +wolf.--(James H. Rice, Jr.) + +SOUTH DAKOTA: + +Whooping crane, trumpeter swan, pigeon, long-billed curlew; bison, elk, +mule deer, mountain sheep. + +TENNESSEE: + +Records insufficient. + +TEXAS: + +Wild turkey, passenger pigeon, ivory-billed woodpecker, flamingo, +roseate spoonbill, American egret, whooping crane, wood-duck; bison, +elk, mountain sheep, antelope, "a small, dark deer that lived 40 years +ago." (Capt. M.B. Davis.) + +UTAH: + +Records insufficient. + +VIRGINIA: + +Records insufficient. + +WASHINGTON: + +Very few species have become totally extinct, but a number are on the +verge, and will be named in the next state schedule. + +WEST VIRGINIA: + +Pigeon, parrakeet; bison, elk, beaver, puma, gray wolf. + +WISCONSIN: + +Whooping crane, passenger pigeon, American egret, wild turkey, Carolina +parrakeet; bison, moose, elk, woodland caribou, puma, wolverine. + +WYOMING: + +Whooping crane, trumpeter swan, wood-duck; mountain goat. + + + + +CANADA + + +ALBERTA: + +Passenger pigeon, whooping crane; bison. + +BRITISH COLUMBIA: + +A. Bryan Williams reports: "Do not know of any birds having become +extinct." + + +MANITOBA: + +Pigeon; bison, antelope, gray wolf. + +NEW BRUNSWICK: + +Pigeon. + +NOVA SCOTIA: + +Labrador duck, Eskimo curlew, passenger pigeon. + +ONTARIO: + +Wild turkey, pigeon, Eskimo curlew. + +PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: + +(Reported by E.T. Carbonell): Eskimo curlew, horned grebe, ring-billed +gull, Caspian tern, passenger pigeon, Wilson's petrel, wood-duck, +Barrow's golden-eye, whistling swan, American eider, white-fronted +goose, purple sandpiper, Canada grouse, long-eared owl, screech owl, +black-throated bunting, pine warbler, red-necked grebe, purple martin +and catbird; beaver, black fox, silver gray fox, marten and black bear. + +QUEBEC: + +Pigeon. + +SASKATCHEWAN: + +Pigeon; bison. + + * * * * * + +BIRDS AND MAMMALS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION + +The second question submitted in my inquiry produced results even more +startling than the first. None of the persons reporting can be regarded +as alarmists, but some of the lists of species approaching extinction +are appallingly long. To their observations I add other notes and +observations of interest at this time. + +ALABAMA: + +Wood-duck, snowy egret, woodcock. "The worst enemy of wild life is the +pot-hunter and game hog. These wholesale slaughterers of game resort to +any device and practice, it matters not how murderous, to accomplish the +pernicious ends of their nefarious campaign of relentless extermination +of fur and feather. They cannot be controlled by local laws, for these +after having been tried for several generations have proven consummate +failures, for the reason that local authorities will not enforce the +provisions of game and bird protective statutes. Experience has +demonstrated the fact that no one desires to inform voluntarily on his +neighbors, and since breaking the game law is not construed to involve +moral turpitude, even to an infinitesimal degree, by many of our +citizens, the plunderers of nature's storehouse thus go free, it matters +not how great the damage done to the people as a whole."--(John H. +Wallace, Jr., Game Commissioner of Alabama.) + +ALASKA: + +Thanks to geographic and climatic conditions, the Alaskan game laws and +$15,000 with which to enforce them, the status of the wild life of +Alaska is fairly satisfactory. I think that at present no species is in +danger of extinction in the near future. When it was pointed out to +Congress in 1902, by Madison Grant, T.S. Palmer and others that the wild +life of Alaska was seriously threatened, Congress immediately enacted +the law that was recommended, and now appropriates yearly a fair sum for +its enforcement. I regard the Alaskan situation as being, for so vast +and difficult a region, reasonably well in hand, even though open to +improvement. + +There is one fatal defect in our Alaskan game law, in the perpetual and +sweeping license to kill, that is bestowed upon "natives" and +"prospectors." Under cover of this law, the Indians can slaughter game +to any extent they choose; and they are great killers. For example: In +1911 at Sand Point, Kenai Peninsula, Frank E. Kleinchmidt saw 82 caribou +tongues in the boat of a native, that had been brought in for sale at 50 +cents, while the carcasses were left where they fell, to poison the air +of Alaska. Thanks to the game law, and five wardens, the number of big +game animals killed last year in Alaska by sportsmen was reasonably +small,--just as it should have been.--(W.T.H.) + +ARIZONA: + +During an overland trip made by Dr. MacDougal and others in 1907 from +Tucson to Sonoyta, on the international boundary, 150 miles and back +again, we saw not one antelope or deer.--(W.T.H.) + +CALIFORNIA: + +Swan, white heron, bronze ibis. California valley quail are getting very +scarce, and unless adequate protection is afforded them shortly, they +will be found hereafter only in remote districts. Ducks also are +decreasing rapidly.--(H.W. Keller, Los Angeles.) + +Sage grouse and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse are so nearly extinct that +it may practically be said that they _are_ extinct. Among species likely +to be exterminated in the near future are the wood-duck and band-tailed +pigeon.--(W.P. Taylor, Berkeley.) + +COLORADO: + +Sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse; nearly all the shore birds. + +CONNECTICUT: + +All the shore birds; quail, purple martin. + +DELAWARE: + +Wood duck, upland plover, least tern, Wilson tern, roseate tern, black +skimmer, oystercatcher, and numerous other littoral species. Pileated +woodpeckers, bald eagles and all the ducks are much more rare than +formerly. Swan are about gone, geese scarce. The list of ducks, geese +and shore-birds, as well as of terns and gulls that are nearing +extinction is appalling.--(C.J. Pennock, Wilmington.) + +Wood-duck, woodcock, turtle dove and bob-white.--(A.R. Spaid, +Wilmington.) + +FLORIDA: + +Limpkin, ivory-billed woodpecker, wild turkey (?). + +GEORGIA: + +Ruffed grouse, wild turkey. + +IDAHO: + +Harlequin duck, mountain plover, dusky grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed +grouse, sage grouse. Elk, goats and grizzly bears are becoming very +scarce. Of the smaller animals I have not seen a fisher for years, and +marten are hardly to be found. The same is true of other species.--(Dr. +Charles S. Moody, Sand Point.) + +ILLINOIS: + +Pinnated grouse, except where rigidly protected. In Vermillion County, +by long and persistent protection Harvey J. Sconce has bred back upon +his farm about 400 of these birds. + +INDIANA: + +Pileated woodpecker, woodcock, ruffed grouse, pigeon hawk, duck +hawk.--(Amos W. Butler, Indianapolis.) + +In northern and northwestern Indiana, a perpetual close season and rigid +protection have enabled the almost-extinct pinnated grouse to breed up +to a total number now estimated by Game Commissioner Miles and his +wardens at 10,000 birds. This is a gratifying illustration of what can +be done in bringing back an almost-vanished species. The good example of +Indiana should be followed by every state that still possesses a remnant +of prairie-chickens, or other grouse. + +IOWA: + +Pinnated grouse, wood-duck. Notwithstanding an invasion of Jasper +County, Iowa, in the winter of 1911-12 by hundreds of pinnated grouse, +such as had not been known in 20 years, this gives no ground to hope +that the future of the species is worth a moment's purchase. The winter +migration came from the Dakotas, and was believed to be due to the extra +severe winter, and the scarcity of food. Commenting on this +unprecedented occurrence, J.L. Sloanaker in the "Wilson Bulletin" No. +78, says: + +"In the opinion of many, the formerly abundant prairie chicken is doomed +to early extinction. Many will testify to their abundance in those years +[in South Dakota, 1902] when the great land movement was taking place. +The influx of hungry settlers, together with an occasional bad season, +decimated their ranks. They were eaten by the farmers, both in and out +of season. Driven from pillar to post, with no friends and insufficient +food,--what else then can be expected?" + +Mr. F.C. Pellett, of Atlantic, Iowa, says: "Unless ways can be devised +of rearing these birds in the domestic state, the prairie hen in my +opinion is doomed to early extinction." + +The older inhabitants here say that there is not one song-bird in summer +where there used to be ten.--(G.H. Nicol, in _Outdoor Life_ March, +1912.) + +KANSAS: + +To all of those named in my previous list that are not actually extinct, +I might add the prairie hen, the lesser prairie hen, as well as the +prairie sharp-tailed grouse and the wood-duck. Such water birds as the +avocets, godwits, greater yellow-legs, long-billed curlew and Eskimo +curlew are becoming very rare. All the water birds that are killed as +game birds have been greatly reduced in numbers during the past 25 +years. I have not seen a wood-duck in 5 years. _The prairie chicken_ has +entirely disappeared from this locality. A few are still seen in the +sand hills of western Kansas, and they are still comparatively abundant +along the extreme southwestern line, and in northern Oklahoma and the +Texas panhandle.--(C.H. Smyth, Wichita.) + +Yellow-legged plover, golden plover; Hudsonian and Eskimo curlew, +prairie chicken.--(James Howard, Wichita.) + +LOUISIANA: + +Ivory-billed woodpecker, butterball, bufflehead. The wood-duck is +greatly diminishing every year, and if not completely protected, ten +years hence no wood-duck will be found in Louisiana.--(Frank M. Miller, +and G.E. Beyer, New Orleans.) + +Ivory-billed woodpecker, sandhill crane, whooping crane, pinnated +grouse, American and snowy egret where unprotected.--(E.A. McIlhenny, +Avery Island.) + +MAINE: + +Wood-duck, upland plover, purple martin, house wren, pileated +woodpecker, bald eagle, yellow-legs, great blue heron, Canada goose, +redhead and canvasback duck.--(John F. Sprague, Dover.) + +Puffin, Leach's petrel, eider duck, laughing gull, great blue heron, +fish-hawk and bald eagle.--(Arthur H. Norton, Portland.) + +MARYLAND: + +Curlew, pileated woodpecker, summer duck, snowy heron. No record of +sandhill crane for the last 35 years. Greater yellow-leg is much scarcer +than formerly, also Bartramian sandpiper. The only two birds which show +an _increase_ in the past few years are the robin and lesser scaup. +General protection of the robin has caused its increase; stopping of +spring shooting in the North has probably caused the increase of the +latter. As a general proposition I think I can say that all birds are +becoming scarcer in this state, as we have laws that do not protect, +little enforcement of same, no revenue for bird protection and too +little public interest. We are working to change all this, but it comes +slowly. _The public fails to respond until the birds are 'most gone_, +and we have a pretty good lot of game still left. The members of the +Order Gallinae are only holding their own where privately protected. The +members of the Plover Family and what are known locally as shore birds +are still plentiful on the shores of Chincoteague and Assateague, and +although they do not breed there as formerly, so far as I know there are +no species exterminated.--(Talbott Denmead, Baltimore.) + +MASSACHUSETTS: + +Wood-duck, hooded merganser, blue-winged teal, upland plover; curlew +(perhaps already gone); red-tailed hawk (I have not seen one in +Middlesex County for several years); great horned owl (almost gone in my +county, Middlesex); house wren. The eave swallows and purple martins are +fast deserting eastern Massachusetts and the barn swallows steadily +diminishing in numbers. The bald eagle should perhaps be included here. +I seldom see or hear of it now.--(William Brewster, Cambridge.) + +Upland plover, woodcock, wood-duck (recent complete protection is +helping these somewhat), heath hen, piping plover, golden plover, a good +many song and insectivorous birds are apparently decreasing rather +rapidly; for instance, the eave swallow.--(William P. Wharton, Groton.) + +MICHIGAN: + +Wood-duck, limicolae, woodcock, sandhill crane. The great whooping crane +is not a wild bird, but I think it is now practically extinct. Many of +our warblers and song birds are now exceedingly rare. Ruffed grouse +greatly decreased during the past 10 years.--(W.B. Mershon, Saginaw.) + +MINNESOTA: + +The sandhill crane has been killed by sportsmen. I have not seen one in +three years. Where there were, a few years ago, thousands of blue +herons, egrets, wood ducks, redbirds, and Baltimore orioles, all those +birds are now almost extinct in this state. They are being killed by +Austrians and Italians, who slaughter everything that flies or moves. +Robins, too, will be a rarity if more severe penalties are not imposed. +I have seized 22 robins, 1 pigeon hawk, 1 crested log-cock, 4 +woodpeckers and 1 grosbeak in one camp, at the Lertonia mine, all being +prepared for eating. I have also caught them preparing and eating sea +gulls, terns, blue heron, egret and even the bittern. I have secured 128 +convictions since the first of last September.--(George E. Wood, Game +Warden, Hibbing, Minnesota.) + +From Robert Page Lincoln, Minneapolis.--Partridge are waning fast, quail +gradually becoming extinct, prairie chickens almost extinct. +Duck-shooting is rare. The gray squirrel is fast becoming extinct in +Minnesota. Mink are going fast, and fur-bearing animals generally are +becoming extinct. The game is passing so very rapidly that it will soon +be a thing of the forgotten past. The quail are suffering most. The +falling off is amazing, and inconceivable to one who has not looked it +up. Duck-shooting is rare, the clubs are idle for want of birds. What +ducks come down fly high, being harassed coming down from the north. I +consider the southern Minnesota country practically cleaned out. + +MISSOURI: + +The birds threatened with extermination are the American woodcock, +wood-duck, snowy egret, pinnated grouse, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, +golden eagle, bald eagle, pileated woodpecker. + +MONTANA: + +Blue grouse.--(Henry Avare, Helena.) + +Sage grouse, prairie and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, trumpeter swan, +Canada goose, in fact, most of the water-fowl. The sickle-billed curlew, +of which there were many a few years ago, is becoming scarce. There are +no more golden or black-bellied plover in these parts.--(Harry P. +Stanford, Kalispell.) + +Curlew, Franklin grouse (fool hen) and sage grouse.--W.R. Felton, Miles +City. + +Sage grouse.--(L.A. Huffman, Miles City.) + +Ptarmigan, wood-duck, sharp-tailed grouse, sage grouse, fool hen and +plover. All game birds are becoming scarce as the country becomes +settled and they are confined to uninhabited regions.--(Prof. M.J. +Elrod, Missoula.) + +NEBRASKA: + +Grouse, prairie chicken and quail.--(H.N. Miller, Lincoln.) + +Whistling swan.--(Dr. S.G. Towne, Omaha.) + +NEW HAMPSHIRE: + +Wood-duck and upland plover. + +NEW YORK: + +Quail, woodcock, upland plover, golden plover, black-bellied plover, +willet, dowitcher, red-breasted sandpiper, long-billed curlew, +wood-duck, purple martin, redheaded woodpecker, mourning dove; gray +squirrel, otter. + +NEW JERSEY: + +Ruffed grouse, teal, canvasback, red-head duck, widgeon, and all species +of shore birds, the most noticeable being black-bellied plover, +dowitcher, golden plover, killdeer, sickle-bill curlew, upland plover +and English snipe; also the mourning dove.--(James M. Stratton and +Ernest Napier, Trenton.) + +Upland plover, apparently killdeer, egret, wood-duck, woodcock, and +probably others.--(B.S. Bowdish, Demarest.) + +NORTH CAROLINA: + +Forster's tern, oystercatcher, egret and snowy egret.--(T. Gilbert +Pearson, Sec. Nat. Asso. Audubon Societies.) + +Ruffed grouse rapidly disappearing; bobwhite becoming scarce.--(E.L. +Ewbank, Hendersonville.) + +Perhaps American and snowy egret. If long-billed curlew is not extinct, +it seems due to become so. No definite, reliable record of it later than +1885.--(H.H. Brimley, Raleigh.) + +NORTH DAKOTA: + +Wood-duck, prairie hen, upland plover, sharp-tailed grouse, canvas-back, +pinnated and ruffed grouse, double-crested cormorant, blue heron, +long-billed curlew, whooping crane and white pelican.--(W.B. Bell, +Agricultural College.) + +Upland plover, marbled godwit, Baird's sparrow, chestnut-collared +longspur.--(Alfred Eastgate, Tolna.) + +OHIO: + +White heron, pileated woodpecker (if not already extinct). White heron +reported a number of times last year; occurrences in Sandusky, Huron, +Ashtabula and several other counties during 1911. These birds would +doubtless rapidly recruit under a proper federal law.--(Paul North, +Cleveland.) + +Turtle dove, quail, red-bird, wren, hummingbird, wild canary [goldfinch] +and blue bird.--(Walter C. Staley, Dayton.) + +OKLAHOMA: + +Pinnated grouse.--(J.C. Clark); otter, kit fox, black-footed +ferret.--(G.W. Stevens.) + +OREGON: + +American egret, snowy egret.--(W.L. Finley, Portland.) + +PENNSYLVANIA: + +Virginia partridge and woodcock.--(Arthur Chapman.) + +Wood-duck, least bittern, phalarope, woodcock, duck hawk and barn +swallow.--(Dr. Chas. B. Penrose.) + +Wild turkey; also various transient and straggling water birds.--(Witmer +Stone.) + +RHODE ISLAND: + +Wood-duck, knot, greater yellow-legs, upland plover, golden plover, +piping plover, great horned owl.--(Harry S. Hathaway, South Auburn.) + +SOUTH CAROLINA: + +Wood duck, abundant 6 years ago, now almost gone. Wild turkey (abundant +up to 1898); woodcock, upland plover, Hudsonian curlew, Carolina rail, +Virginia rail, clapper rail and coot. Black bear verging on extinction, +opossum dwindling rapidly.--(James H. Rice Jr., Summerville.) + +SOUTH DAKOTA: + +Prairie chicken and quail are most likely to become extinct in the near +future.--(W.F. Bancroft, Watertown.) + +TEXAS: + +Wild turkey and prairie chickens.--(J.D. Cox, Austin.) + +Plover, all species; curlew, cardinal, road-runner, woodcock, wood-duck, +canvas-back, cranes, all the herons; wild turkey; quail, all varieties; +prairie chicken and Texas guan.--(Capt. M.B. Davis, Waco.) + +Curlew, very rare; plover, very rare; antelope. (Answer applies to the +Panhandle of Texas.--Chas. Goodnight.) + +Everything [is threatened with extinction] save the dove, which is a +migrating bird. Antelope nearly all gone.--(Col. O.C. Guessaz, San +Antonio.) + +UTAH: + +Our wild birds are well protected, and there are none that are +threatened with extinction. They are increasing.--(Fred. W. Chambers, +State Game Warden, Salt Lake City.) + +VERMONT: + +If all states afforded as good protection as does Vermont, none; but +migrating birds like woodcock are now threatened.--(John W. Tilcomb, +State Game Warden, Lyndonville.) + +VIRGINIA: + +Pheasants (ruffed grouse), wild turkey and other game birds are nearly +extinct. A few bears remain, and deer in small numbers in remote +sections. In fact, all animals show great reduction in numbers, owing to +cutting down forests, and constant gunning.--(L.T. Christian, Richmond.) + +WEST VIRGINIA: + +Wood-duck, wild turkey, northern raven, dickcissel.--(Rev. Earle A. +Brooks, Weston.) + +Wild turkeys are very scarce, also ducks. Doves, once numerous, now +almost _nil_. Eagles, except a few in remote fastnesses. Many native +song-birds are retreating before the English sparrow.--(William Perry +Brown, Glenville.) + +Wood-duck and wild turkey.--(J.A. Viquesney, Belington.) + +WISCONSIN: + +Double-crested cormorant, upland plover, white pelican, long-billed +curlew, lesser snow goose, Hudsonian curlew, sandhill crane, golden +plover, woodcock, dowitcher and long-billed duck; spruce grouse, knot, +prairie sharp-tailed grouse, marbled godwit and bald eagle. All these, +formerly abundant, must now be called rare in Wisconsin.--(Prof. George +E. Wagner, Madison.) + +Common tern, knot, American white pelican, Hudsonian godwit, trumpeter +swan, long-billed curlew, snowy heron, Hudsonian curlew, American +avocet, prairie sharp-tailed grouse, dowitcher, passenger pigeon. +Long-billed dowitcher and northern hairy woodpecker.--(Henry L. Ward, +Milwaukee Public Museum.) + +Wood-duck, ruddy duck, black mallard, grebe or hell-diver, tern and +woodcock.--(Fred. Gerhardt, Madison.) + +WYOMING: + +Sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse are becoming extinct, both in +Wyoming and North Dakota. Sheridan and Johnson Counties (Wyoming) have +sage grouse protected until 1915. The miners (mostly foreigners) are out +after rabbits at all seasons. To them everything that flies, walks or +swims, large enough to be seen, is a "rabbit." They are even worse than +the average sheep-herder, as he will seldom kill a bird brooding her +young, but to one of those men, a wren or creeper looks like a turkey. +Antelope, mountain sheep and grizzly bears are _going_, fast! The moose +season opens in 1915, for a 30 days open season, then close season until +1920.--(Howard Eaton, Wolf.) + +Sage grouse, blue grouse, curlew, sandhill crane, porcupine practically +extinct; wolverine and pine marten nearly all gone.--(S.N. Leek, +Jackson's Hole.) + + + + +CANADA + + +ALBERTA: + +Swainson's buzzard and sandhill crane are now practically extinct. Elk +and antelope will soon be as extinct as the buffalo.--(Arthur G. +Wooley-Dod, Calgary.) + +BRITISH COLUMBIA: + +Wild fowl are in the greatest danger in the southern part of the +Province, especially the wood-duck. Otherwise birds are increasing +rather than otherwise, especially the small non-game birds. The sea +otter is almost extinct.--(A. Bryan Williams, Provincial Game Warden, +Vancouver.) + +MANITOBA: + +Whooping crane, wood-duck and golden plover. Other species begin to show +a marked increase, due to our stringent protective measures. For +example, the pinnated grouse and sharp-tailed grouse are more plentiful +than in 15 years. Prong-horned antelope and wolf are threatened with +extinction.--(J.P. Turner, Winnipeg.) + +The game birds indigenous to this Province are fairly plentiful. Though +the prairie chicken was very scarce some few years ago, these birds have +become very plentiful again, owing to the strict enforcement of our +present "Game Act." The elk are in danger of becoming extinct if they +are not stringently guarded. Beaver and otter were almost extinct some +few years ago, but are now on the increase, owing to a strict +enforcement of the "Game Act."--(Charles Barber, Winnipeg.) + +NEW BRUNSWICK: + +Partridge, plover and woodcock. Moose and deer are getting more +plentiful every year.--(W.W. Gerard, St. John.) + +NOVA SCOTIA: + +The Canada grouse may possibly become extinct in Nova Scotia, unless the +protection it now enjoys can save it. The American golden plover, which +formerly came in immense flocks, is now very rare. Snowflakes are very +much less common than formerly, but I think this is because our winters +are now usually much less severe. The caribou is almost extinct on the +mainland of Nova Scotia, but is still found in North Cape Breton Island. +The wolf has become excessively rare, but as it is found in New +Brunswick, it may occur here at any time again. The beaver had been +threatened with extinction; but since being protected, it has +multiplied, and is now on a fairly safe footing again.--(Curator of +Museum, Halifax.) + +ONTARIO: + +Quail are getting scarce.--(E. Tinsley, Toronto.) + +Wood-duck, bob white, woodcock, golden plover, Hudsonian curlew, knot +and dowitcher [are threatened with extinction.]--(C.W. Nash, Toronto.) + +PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: + +The species threatened with extinction are the golden plover, American +woodcock, pied-billed grebe, red-throated loon, sooty shearwater, +gadwall, ruddy duck, black-crowned night heron, Hudsonian godwit, +kildeer, northern pileated woodpecker, chimney swift, yellow-bellied +flycatcher, red-winged blackbird, pine finch, magnolia warbler, +ruby-crowned kinglet.--(E.T. Carbonell, Charlottetown.) + + + + +In closing the notes of this survey, I repeat my assurance that they are +not offered on a basis of infallibility. It would require years of work +to obtain answers from forty-eight states to the three questions that I +have asked that could be offered as absolutely exact. All these reports +are submitted on the well-recognized court-testimony basis,--"to the +best of our knowledge and belief." Gathered as they have been from +persons whose knowledge is good, these opinions are therefore valuable; +and they furnish excellent indices of wild-life conditions as they exist +in 1912 in the various states and provinces of North America north of +Mexico. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER VI + +THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION + + +In order to cure any disease, the surgeon must make of it a correct +diagnosis. It is useless to try to prescribe remedies without a thorough +understanding of the trouble. + +That the best and most interesting wild life of America is disappearing +at a rapid rate, we all know only too well. That proposition is entirely +beyond the domain of argument. The fact that a species or a group of +species has made a little gain here and there, or is stationary, does +not sensibly diminish the force of the descending blow. The wild-life +situation is full of surprises. For example, in 1902 I was astounded by +the extent to which bird life had decreased over the 130 miles between +Miles City, Montana, and the Missouri River since 1886; for there was no +reason to expect anything of the kind. Even the jack rabbits and coyotes +had almost totally disappeared. + +The duties of the present hour, that fairly thrust themselves into our +faces and will not be put aside, are these: + +_First_,--To save valuable species from extermination! + +_Second_,--To preserve a satisfactory representation of our once rich +fauna, to hand down to Posterity. + +_Third_,--To protect the farmer and fruit grower from the enormous +losses that the destruction of our insectivorous and rodent-eating birds +is now inflicting upon both the producer and consumer. + +_Fourth_,--To protect our forests, by protecting the birds that keep +down the myriads of insects that are destructive to trees and shrubs. + +_Fifth_,--To preserve to the future sportsmen of America enough game and +fish that they may have at least a taste of the legitimate pursuit of +game in the open that has made life so interesting to the sportsmen of +to-day. + +For any civilized nation to exterminate valuable and interesting species +of wild mammals, birds or fishes is more than a disgrace. It is a crime! +We have no right, legal, moral or commercial, to exterminate any +valuable or interesting species; because none of them belong to us, to +exterminate or not, as we please. + +For the people of any civilized nation to permit the slaughter of the +wild birds that protect its crops, its fruits and its forests from the +insect hordes, is worse than folly. It is sheer orneryness and idiocy. +People who are either so lazy or asinine as to permit the slaughter of +their best friends deserve to have their crops destroyed and their +forests ravaged. They deserve to pay twenty cents a pound for their +cotton when the boll weevil has cut down the normal supply. + +It is very desirable that we should now take an inventory of the forces +that have been, and to-day are, active in the destruction of our wild +birds, mammals, and game fishes. During the past ten years a sufficient +quantity of facts and figures has become available to enable us to +secure a reasonably full and accurate view of the whole situation. As we +pause on our hill-top, and survey the field of carnage, we find that we +are reviewing the _Army of Destruction_! + +It is indeed a motley array. We see true sportsmen beside ordinary +gunners, game-hogs and meat hunters; handsome setter dogs are mixed up +with coyotes, cats, foxes and skunks; and well-gowned women and ladies' +maids are jostled by half-naked "poor-white" and black-negro "plume +hunters." + +Verily, the destruction of wild life makes strange companions. + +Let us briefly review the several army corps that together make up the +army of the destroyers. Space in this volume forbids an extended notice +of each. Unfortunately it is impossible to segregate some of these +classes, and number each one, for they merge together too closely for +that; but we can at least describe the several classes that form the +great mass of destroyers. + +THE GENTLEMEN SPORTSMEN.--These men are the very bone and sinew of wild +life preservation. These are the men who have red blood in their veins, +who annually hear the red gods calling, who love the earth, the +mountains, the woods, the waters and the sky. These are the men to whom +"the bag" is a matter of small importance, and to whom "the bag-limit" +has only academic interest; because in nine cases out of ten they do not +care to kill all that the law allows. The tenth and exceptional time is +when the bag limit is "one." A gentleman sportsman is a man who protects +game, stops shooting when he has "enough"--without reference to the +legal bag-limit, and whenever a species is threatened with extinction, +he conscientiously refrains from shooting it. + +The true sportsmen of the world are the men who once were keen in the +stubble or on the trail, but who have been halted by the general +slaughter and the awful decrease of game. Many of them, long before a +hair has turned gray, have hung up their guns forever, and turned to the +camera. These are the men who are willing to hand out checks, or to +leave their mirth and their employment and go to the firing line at +their state capitols, to lock horns with the bull-headed killers of wild +life who recognize no check or limit save the law. + +These are the men who have done the most to put upon our statute books +the laws that thus far have saved some of our American game from total +annihilation, and who (so we firmly believe) will be chiefly +instrumental in tightening the lines of protection around the remnant. +These are the men who are making and stocking game preserves, public and +private, great and small. + +[Illustration: +THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION, WAITING FOR THE FIRST OF OCTOBER +Each Year 2,642,274 Well-Armed Men Take the Field Against the Remnant +of Wild Birds and Mammals In the United States. +Drawn by Dan Beard] + +If you wish to know some of these men, I will tell you where to find a +goodly number of them; and when you find them, you will also find that +they are men you would enjoy camping with! Look in the membership lists +of the Boone and Crockett Club, Camp-Fire Club of America, the Lewis and +Clark Club of Pittsburgh, the New York State League, the Shikar Club of +London, the Society for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the +British Empire, the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, +the Springfield (Mass.) Sportsmen's Association, the Camp-Fire Clubs of +Detroit and Chicago, and the North American Fish and Game Protective +Association. + +There are other bodies of sportsmen that I would like to name, were +space available, but to set down here a complete list is quite +impossible. + +The best and the most of the game-protective laws now in force in the +United States and Canada were brought into existence through the +initiative and efforts of the real sportsmen of those two nations. But +for their activity, exerted on the right side, the settled portion of +North America would to-day be an utterly gameless land! Even though the +sportsmen have taken their toll of the wilds, they have made the laws +that have saved a remnant of the game until 1912. + +For all that, however, every man who still shoots game is a soldier in +the Army of Destruction! There is no blinking that fact. Such men do not +stand on the summit with the men who now protect the game _and do not +shoot at all!_ The millions of men who do not shoot, and who also _do +nothing to protect or preserve wild life_, do not count! In this warfare +they are merely ciphers in front of the real figures. + +THE GUNNERS, WHO KILL TO THE LIMIT.--Out of the enormous mass of men who +annually take up arms against the remnant of wild life, _and are called +"sportsmen_," I believe that only one out of every 500 _conscientiously_ +stops shooting when game becomes scarce, and extinction is impending. +All of the others feel that it is right and proper to kill all the game +that they can kill _up to the legal bag limit_. It is the reasoning of +Shylock: + +"Justice demands it, and _the law_ doth give it!" + +Especially is this true of the men who pay their _one dollar_ per year +for a resident hunting license, and feel that in doing so they have done +a great Big Thing! + +This is a very deadly frame of mind. Ethically it is _entirely wrong_; +and at least two million men and boys who shoot American game must be +shown that it is wrong! This is the spirit of Extermination, clothed in +the robes of Law and Justice. + +Whenever and wherever game birds are so scarce that a good shot who +hunts hard during a day in the fields finds only three or four birds, he +should _stop shooting at once, and devote his mind and energies to the +problem of bringing back the game!_ It is strange that conditions do not +make this duty clear to every conscientious citizen. + +The Shylock spirit which prompts a man to kill all that "the law allows" +is a terrible scourge to the wild life of America, and to the world at +large. It is the spirit of extermination according to law. Even the +killing of game for the market is not so great a scourge as this; for +this spirit searches out the game in every nook and cranny of the world, +and spares not. In effect it says: "If the law is defective, it is right +for me to take every advantage of it! I do not need to have any +conscience in the matter outside _the letter of the law_." + +The extent to which this amazing spirit prevails is positively awful. +You will find it among pseudo game-protectors to a paralyzing extent! It +is the great gunner's paradox, and it pervades this country from corner +to corner. No: there is no use in trying to "educate" the mass of the +hunters of America out of it, as a means of saving the game; for +positively it can not be done! Do not waste time in trying it. If you +rely upon it, you will be doing a great wrong to wild life, and +promoting extermination. The only remedy is _sweeping laws, for long +close seasons, for a great many species_. Forget the paltry +dollar-a-year license money. The license fees never represent more than +a tenth part of the value of the game that is killed under licenses. + +The savage desire to kill "all that the law allows" often is manifested +in men in whom we naturally expect to find a very different spirit. By +way of illumination, I offer three cases out of the many that I could +state. + +Case No. 1. _The Duck Breeder_.--A gentleman of my acquaintance has +spent several years and much money in breeding wild ducks. From my +relations with him, I had acquired the belief that he was a great lover +of ducks, and at least wished all species well. One whizzing cold day in +winter he called upon me, and stated that he had been duck-hunting; +which surprised me. He added, "I have just spent two days on Great South +Bay, and I made a great killing. _In the two days I got ninety-four +ducks!"_ + +I said, "How _could_ you do it,--caring for wild ducks as you do?" + +"Well, I had hunted ducks twice before on Great South Bay and didn't +have very good luck; but this time the cold weather drove the ducks in, +and I got square with them!" + +Case No. 2. _The Ornithologist_.--A short time ago the news was +published in _Forest and Stream_, that a well-known ornithologist had +distinguished himself in one of the mid-western states by the skill he +had displayed in bagging thirty-four ducks in one day, greatly to the +envy of the natives; and if this shoe fits any American naturalist, he +is welcome to put it on and wear it. + +Case No. 3. _The Sportsman_.--A friend of mine in the South is the owner +of a game preserve in which wild ducks are at times very numerous. Once +upon a time he was visited by a northern sportsmen who takes a deep and +abiding interest in the preservation of game. The sportsman was invited +to go out duck-shooting; ducks being then in season there. He said: + +"Yes, I will go; and I want you to put me in a place where I can kill a +_hundred ducks in a day_! I never have done that yet, and I would like +to do it, once!" + +"All right," said my friend, "I can put you in such a place; and if you +can shoot well enough, you can kill a hundred ducks in a day." + +The effort was made in all earnestness. There was much shooting, but few +were the ducks that fell before it. In concluding this story my friend +remarked in a tone of disgust: + +"All the game-preserving sportsmen that come to me are just like that! +_They want to kill all they can kill_!" + +There is a blood-test by which to separate the conscientious sportsmen +from the mere gunners. Here it is: + +A _sportsman_ stops shooting when game becomes scarce; and he does not +object to long-close-season laws; but + +A _gunner_ believes in killing "all that the law allows;" and _he +objects to long close seasons_! + +I warrant that whenever and wherever this test is applied it will +separate the sheep from the goats. It applies in all America, all Asia +and Africa, and in Greenland, with equal force. + +[Illustration: G.O. SHIELDS +A Notable Defender of Wild Life] + +THE GAME-HOG.--This term was coined by G.O. Shields, in 1897, when he +was editor and owner of _Recreation Magazine_, and it has come into +general use. It has been recognized by a judge on the bench as being an +appropriate term to apply to all men who selfishly slaughter wild game +beyond the limits of decency. Although it is a harsh term, and was +mercilessly used by Mr. Shields in his fierce war on the men who +slaughtered game for "sport," it has jarred at least a hundred thousand +men into their first realization of the fact that to-day there is a +difference between decency and indecency in the pursuit of game. The use +of the term has done _very great good_; but, strange to say, it has made +for Mr. Shields a great many enemies _outside_ the ranks of the +game-hogs themselves! From this one might fairly suppose that there is +such a thing as a sympathetic game-hog! + +One thing at least is certain. During a period of about six years, while +his war with the game-hogs was on, from Maine to California, Mr. +Shields's name became a genuine terror to excessive killers of game; and +it is reasonably certain that his war saved a great number of game birds +from the slaughter that otherwise would have overtaken them! + +The number of armed men and boys who annually take the field in the +United States in the pursuit of birds and quadrupeds, is enormous. +People who do not shoot have no conception of it; and neither do they +comprehend the mechanical perfection and fearful deadliness of the +weapons used. This feature of the situation can hardly be realized until +some aspect of it is actually seen. + +I have been at some pains to collect the latest figures showing the +number of hunting licenses issued in 1911, but the total is incomplete. +In some states the figures are not obtainable, and in some states there +are no hunters' license laws. The figures of hunting licenses issued in +1911 that I have obtained from official sources are set forth below. + + +THE UNITED STATES ARMY OF DESTRUCTION + +_Hunting Licenses issued in_ 1911 + +Alabama 5,090 Montana 59,291 +California 138,689 Nebraska 39,402 +Colorado 41,058 New Hampshire 33,542 +Connecticut 19,635 New Jersey 61,920 +Idaho 50,342 New Mexico 7,000 +Illinois 192,244 New York 150,222 +Indiana 54,813 Rhode Island 6,541 +Iowa 91,000 South Dakota 31,054 +Kansas 44,069 Utah 27,800 +Louisiana 76,000 Vermont 31,762 +Maine 2,552 Washington, about 40,000 +Massachusetts 45,039 Wisconsin 138,457 +Michigan 22,323 Wyoming 9,721 +Missouri 66,662 + --------- + Total number of regularly licensed gunners 1,486,228 + +The average for the twenty-seven states that issued licenses as shown +above is 55,046 for each state. + +Now, the twenty-one states issuing no licenses, or not reporting, +produced in 1911 fully as many gunners per capita as did the other +twenty-seven states. Computed fairly on existing averages they must have +turned out a total of 1,155,966 gunners, making for all the United +States =2,642,194= armed men and boys warring upon the remnant of game +in 1911. We are not counting the large number of lawless hunters who +never take out licenses. Now, is Mr. Beard's picture a truthful +presentation, or not? + +_New York_ with only deer, ruffed grouse, shore-birds, ducks and a very +few woodcock to shoot annually puts into the field 150,222 armed men. In +1909 they killed about _9,000 deer!_ + +_New Jersey_, spending $30,000 in 1912 in efforts to restock her covers +with game, and with a population of 2,537,167, sent out in 1911 a total +army of 61,920 well-armed gunners. How can any of her game survive? + +_New Hampshire_, with only 430,572 population, has 33,542 licensed +hunters,--equal to _thirty-three regiments of full strength!_ + +_Vermont_, with 355,956 people, sends out annually an army of 31,762 men +who hunt according to law; and in 1910 they killed 3,649 deer. + +_Utah_, with only 373,351 population, had 27,800 men in the field after +her very small remnant of game! How can any wild thing of Utah escape? + +_Montana_, population 376,053, had in 1911 an army of 59,291 well-armed +men, warring chiefly upon the big game, and swiftly exterminating it. + +How long can any of the big game stand before the army of _two and +one-half million well-armed men_, eager and keen to kill, and out to get +an equivalent for their annual expenditure in guns, ammunition and other +expenses? + +In addition to the hunters themselves, they are assisted by thousands of +expert guides, thousands of horses, thousands of dogs, hundreds of +automobiles and hundreds of thousands of tents. Each big-game hunter has +an experienced guide who knows the haunts and habits of the game, the +best feeding grounds, the best trails, and everything else that will aid +the hunter in taking the game at a disadvantage and destroying it. The +big-game rifles are of the highest power, the longest range, the +greatest accuracy and the best repeating mechanism that modern inventive +genius can produce. It is said that in Wyoming the Maxim silencer is now +being used. England has produced a weapon of a new type, called "the +scatter rifle," which is intended for use on ducks. The best binoculars +are used in searching out the game, and horses carry the hunters and +guides as near as possible to the game. For bears, baits are freely +used, and in the pursuit of pumas, dogs are employed to the limit of the +available supply. + +The deadliness of the automobile in hunting already is so apparent that +North Dakota has wisely and justly forbidden their use by law, (1911). +The swift machine enables city gunmen to penetrate game regions they +could not reach with horses, and hunt through from four to six +localities per day, instead of one only, as formerly. The use of +automobiles in hunting should be everywhere prohibited. + +Every appliance and assistance that money can buy, the modern sportsman +secures to help him against the game. The game is beset during its +breeding season by various wild enemies,--foxes, cats, wolves, pumas, +lynxes, eagles, and many other predatory species. The only help that it +receives is in the form of an annual close season--_which thus far has +saved in America only a few local moose, white-tailed deer and a few +game birds, from steady and sure extermination_. + +_The bag limits on which vast reliance is placed to preserve the wild +game, are a fraud, a delusion and a snare_! The few local exceptions +only prove the generality of the rule. In every state, without one +single exception, the bag limits are far too high, and the laws are of +deadly liberality. In many states, the bag limit laws on birds are an +absolute dead letter. Fancy the 125 wardens of New York enforcing the +bag-limit laws on 150,000 gunners! It is this horrible condition that is +enabling the licensed army of destruction to get in its deadly work on +the game, all over the world. In America, the over-liberality of the +laws are to blame for two-thirds of the carnival of slaughter, and the +successful evasions of the law are responsible for the other third. + +[Illustration: TWO GUNNERS OF KANSAS CITY +Who Believe in Killing all That the Law Allows. They are not so Much to +Blame as the System That Permits Such Slaughter. (Note the Pump Guns)] + +[Illustration: WHY THE SANDHILL CRANE IS BECOMING EXTINCT +Nineteen of Them Killed as "Game" by Three Gunners. Note the Machine Gun.] + +The only remedy for the present extermination of game according to law +that so rapidly and so furiously is proceeding all over the United +States, Canada, Alaska, and Africa, is ten-year close seasons on all the +species threatened with extinction, and immensely reduced open seasons +and bag limits on all the others. + +Will the people who still have wild game take heed now, and clamp down +the brakes, hard and fast before it is too late, or will they have their +game exterminated? + +Shall we have five-year close seasons, or close seasons of 500 years? We +must take our choice. + +Shall we hand down to our children a gameless continent, with all the +shame that such a calamity will entail? + +We have _got_ to answer these questions like men, or they will soon be +answered for us by the extermination of the wild life. For twenty-five +years we have been smarting under the disgrace of the extermination of +our bison millions. Let us not repeat the dose through the destruction +of other species. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GUERRILLAS OF DESTRUCTION + + +We have now to deal with THE GUERRILLAS OF DESTRUCTION. + +In warfare, a _guerrilla, or bushwhacker_, is an armed man who +recognizes none of the rules of civilized warfare, and very often has no +commander. In France he is called a "franc-tireur," or free-shooter. The +guerrilla goes out to live on the country, to skulk, to war on the weak, +and never attack save from ambush, or when the odds clearly are on his +side. His military status is barely one remove from that of the spy. + +The meat-shooters who harry the game and other wild life in order to use +it as a staple food supply; the Italians, negroes and others who shoot +song-birds as food; the plume-hunters and the hide-and-tusk hunters all +over the world are the guerrillas of the Army of Destruction. Let us +consider some of these grand divisions in detail. + +Here is an inexorable law of Nature, to which there are no exceptions: + +_No wild species of bird, mammal, reptile or fish can withstand +exploitation for commercial purposes_. + +The men who pursue wild creatures for the money or other value there is +in them, never give up. They work at slaughter when other men are +enjoying life, or are asleep. If they are persistent, no species on +which they fix the Evil Eye escapes extermination at their hands. + +Does anyone question this statement? If so let him turn backward and +look at the lists of dead and dying species. + +THE DIVISION OF MEAT-SHOOTERS contains all men who sordidly shoot for +the frying-pan,--to save bacon and beef at the expense of the public, or +for the markets. There are a few wilderness regions so remote and so +difficult of access that the transportation of meat into them is a +matter of much difficulty and expense. There are a very few men in North +America who are justified in "living off the country," _for short +periods_. The genuine prospectors always have been counted in this +class; but all miners who are fully located, all lumbermen and +railway-builders certainly are not in the prospector's class. They are +abundantly able to maintain continuous lines of communication for the +transit of beef and mutton. + +Of all the meat-shooters, the market-gunners who prey on wild fowl and +ground game birds for the big-city markets are the most deadly to wild +life. Enough geese, ducks, brant, quail, ruffed grouse, prairie +chickens, heath hens and wild pigeons have been butchered by gunners and +netters for "the market" to have stocked the whole world. No section +containing a good supply of game has escaped. In the United States the +great slaughtering-grounds have been Cape Cod; Great South Bay, New +York; Currituck Sound, North Carolina; Marsh Island, Louisiana; the +southwest corner of Louisiana; the Sunk Lands of Arkansas; the lake +regions of Minnesota; the prairies of the whole middle West; Great Salt +Lake; the Klamath Lake region (Oregon) and southern California. + +[Illustration: A MARKET GUNNER AT WORK ON MARSH ISLAND +Killing Mallards for the New Orleans Market. The Purchase of This Island by +Mrs. Russell Sage has now Converted it Into a Bird Sanctuary] + +The output of this systematic bird slaughter has supplied the greedy +game markets of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, +Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, +Portland, and Seattle. The history of this industry, its methods, its +carnage, its profits and its losses would make a volume, but we can not +enter upon it here. Beyond reasonable doubt, this awful traffic in dead +game is responsible for at least three-fourths of the slaughter that has +reduced our game birds to a mere remnant of their former abundance. +There is no influence so deadly to wild life as that of the market +gunner who works six days a week, from sunrise until sunset, hunting +down and killing every game bird that he can reach with a choke-bore +gun. + +During the past five years, several of the once-great killing grounds +have been so thoroughly "shot out" that they have ceased to hold their +former rank. This is the case with the Minnesota Lakes, the Sunk Lands +of Arkansas, the Klamath Lakes of Oregon, and I think it is also true of +southern California. The Klamath Lakes have been taken over by the +Government as a bird refuge. Currituck Sound, at the northeastern corner +of North Carolina, has been so bottled up by the Bayne law of New York +State that Currituck's greatest market has been cut off. Last year only +one-half the usual number of ducks and geese were killed; and already +many "professional" duck and brant shooters have abandoned the business +because the commission merchants no longer will buy dead birds. + +[Illustration: RUFFED GROUSE +A Common Victim of Illegal Slaughter] + +Very many enormous bags of game have been made in a day by market +gunners: but rarely have they published any of their records. The +greatest kill of which I ever have heard occurred under the auspices of +the Glenn County Club, in southern California, on February 5, 1906. Two +men, armed with automatic shot-guns, fired five shots apiece, and got +ten geese out of one flock. In one hour they killed _two hundred and +eighteen geese_, and their bag for the day was _four hundred and fifty +geese!_ The shooter who wrote the story for publication (on February 12, +at Willows, Glenn County, California) said: "It being warm weather, the +birds had to be shipped at once in order to keep them from spoiling." A +photograph was made of the "one hour's slaughter" of two hundred and +eighteen geese, and it was published in a western magazine with +"C.H.B.'s" story, nearly all of which will be found in Chapter XV. + +The reasons why market shooting is so deadly destructive to wild life +are not obscure. + +The true sportsman hunts during a very few days only each year. The +market gunners shoot early and late, six days a week, month after month. +When game is abundant, the price is low, and a great quantity must be +killed in order to make it pay well. When game is scarce, the market +prices are high, and the shooter makes the utmost exertions to find the +last of the game in order to secure the "big money." + +When game is protected by law, thousands of people with money desire it +for their tables, just the same, and are willing to pay fabulous prices +for what they want, when they want it. Many a dealer is quite willing to +run the risk of fines, because fines don't really hurt; they are only +annoying. The dealer wishes to make the big profit, and _retain his +customers_; "and besides," he reasons, "if I don't supply him some one +else will; so what is the difference?" + +When game is scarce, prices high and the consumer's money ready, there +are a hundred tricks to which shooters and dealers willingly resort to +ship and receive unlawful game without detection. It takes the very +best kind of game wardens,--genuine detectives, in fact,--to ferret out +these cunning illegal practices, and catch lawbreakers "with the goods +on them," so that they can be punished. Mind you, convictions can not be +secured at _both_ ends of the line save by the most extraordinary good +fortune, and usually the shooter and shipper escape, even when the +dealer is apprehended and fined. + +[Illustration: A PERFECTLY LAWFUL BAG OF 58 RUFFED GROUSE FOR TWO MEN +From "Rod and Gun in Canada"] + +Here are some of the methods that have been practiced in the past in +getting illegal game into the New York market: + +Ruffed grouse and quail have both been shipped in butter firkins, marked +"butter"; and latterly, butter has actually been packed solidly on top +of the birds. + +Ruffed grouse and quail very often have been shipped in egg crates, +marked "eggs." They have been shipped in trunks and suit cases,--a very +common method for illegal game birds, all over the United States. In +Oklahoma when a man refuses to open his trunk for a game warden, the +warden joyously gets out his brace and bitt, and bores an inch hole into +the lower story of the trunk. If dead birds are there, the tell-tale +auger quickly reveals them. + +Three years ago, I was told that certain milk-wagons on Long Island made +daily collections of dead ducks intended for the New York market, and +the drivers kindly shipped them by express from the end of the route. + +Once upon a time, a New York man gave notice that on a certain date he +would be in a certain town in St. Lawrence County, New York, with a +palace horse-car, "to buy horses." Car and man appeared there as +advertised. Very ostentatiously, he bought one horse, and had it taken +aboard the car before the gaze of the admiring populace. At night, when +the A.P. had gone to bed, many men appeared, and into the horseless end +of that car, they loaded thousands of ruffed grouse. The game warden who +described the incident to me said: "That man pulled out for New York +with one horse and _half a car load of ruffed grouse_!" + +Whenever a good market exists for the sale of game, as sure as the world +that market will be supplied. Twenty-six states forbid by law the sale +of _their own_ "protected" game, but twenty of them do _not_ expressly +prohibit the sale of game stolen from neighboring states! That is _a +very, very weak point in the laws of all those states_. A child can see +how it works. Take Pittsburgh as a case in point. + +In the winter and spring of 1912 the State Game Commission of +Pennsylvania found that quail and ruffed grouse were being sold in +Pittsburgh, in large quantities. The state laws were well enforced, and +it was believed that the birds were not being killed in Pennsylvania. +Some other state was being _robbed_! + +The Game Commission went to work, and in a very short time certain +game-dealers of Pittsburgh were arrested. At first they tried to bluff +their way out of their difficulty, and even went as far as to bring +charges against the game-warden whom the Commission had instructed to +buy some of their illegal game, and pay for it. But the net of the law +tightened upon them so quickly and so tightly that they threw up their +hands and begged for mercy. + +It was found that those Pittsburgh game-dealers were selling quail and +grouse that had been stolen in thousands, from the state of Kentucky! +Between the state game laws, working in lovely harmony with the Lacey +federal law that prohibits the shipment of game illegally killed or +sold, the whole bad business was laid bare, and signed confessions were +promptly obtained from the shippers in Kentucky. + +At that very time, a good bill for the better protection of her game was +before the Kentucky legislature; and a certain member was vigorously +opposing it, as he had successfully done in previous years. He was told +that the state was being robbed, but refused to believe it. Then a +signed confession was laid before him, bearing the name of the man who +was instigating his opposition,--his friend,--who confessed that he had +illegally bought and shipped to Pittsburgh over 5,000 birds. The +objector literally threw up his hands, and said, "I have been _wrong!_ +Let the bill go through!" And it went. + +[Illustration: SNOW BUNTING +A Great "Game Bird"! Of These, 8,058 Were Found in 1902 +in one New York Cold-Storage Warehouse] + +Before the passage of the Bayne law, New York City was a "fence" for the +sale of grouse illegally killed in Massachusetts, Connecticut, +Pennsylvania, New Jersey and I know not how many other states. The Bayne +law stopped all that business, abruptly and forever; and if the ruffed +grouse, quail and ducks of the Eastern States are offered for sale in +Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore and Washington, the people of New York +and Massachusetts can at least be assured that they are not to blame. +Those two states now maintain no "fences" for the sale of game that has +been stolen from other states. They have both set their houses in order, +and set two examples for forty other states to follow. + +The remedy for all this miserable game-stealing, law-breaking business +is simple and easily obtained. Let each state of the United States and +each province and Canada _enact a Bayne law, absolutely prohibiting the +sale of all wild native game_, and the thing is done! But nothing short +of that will be really effective. It will not do at all to let state +laws rest with merely forbidding the sale of game "protected by the +State;" for that law is full of loop-holes. It does much good service, +yes; but what earthly _objection_ can there be in any state to the +enactment of a law that is sweepingly effective, and which can not be +evaded, save through the criminal connivance of officers of the law? + +By way of illustration, to show what the sale of wild game means to the +remnant of our game, and the wicked slaughter of non-game birds to which +it leads, consider these figures: + +DEAD BIRDS FOUND IN ONE COLD STORAGE HOUSE IN NEW YORK IN 1902. + +Snow Buntings 8,058 +Grouse 7,560 +Sandpipers 7,607 +Quail 4,385 +Plover 5,218 +Ducks 1,756 +Snipe 7,003 +Bobolinks 288 +Yellow-legs 788 +Woodcock 96 + +The fines for this lot, if imposed, would have amounted to $1,168,315. + +Shortly after that seizure American quail became so scarce that in +effect they totally disappeared from the banquet tables of New York. I +can not recall having been served with one since 1903, but the little +Egyptian quail can be legally imported and sold when officially tagged. + +Few persons away from the firing line realize the far-reaching effects +of the sale of wild game. Here are a few flashes from the searchlight: + +At Hangkow, China, Mr. C. William Beebe found that during his visit in +=1911=, over =46,000= pheasants of various species were shipped from +that port on one cold-storage steamer to the London market. And this +when English pheasants were selling in the Covent Garden market at from +two to three shillings each, for _fresh_ birds! + +In =1910=, =1,200= ptarmigan from Norway, bound for the Chicago market, +passed through the port of New York,--not by any means the first or the +last shipment of the kind. The epicures of Chicago are being permitted +to comb the game out of Norway. + +In =1910=, =70,000= _dozen_ Egyptian quail were shipped to Europe from +Alexandria, Egypt. Just why that species has not already been +exterminated, is a zoological mystery; but extermination surely will +come some day, and I think it will be in the near future. + +The coast of China has been raked and scraped for wild ducks to ship to +New York,--prior to the passage of the Bayne law! I have forgotten the +figures that once were given me, but they were an astonishing number of +thousands for the year. + +The Division of Negroes and Poor Whites who kill song and other birds +indiscriminately will be found in a separate chapter. + +THE DIVISION OF "RESIDENT" GAME-BUTCHERS.--This refers to the men who +live in the haunts of big game, where wardens are the most of the time +totally absent, and where bucks, does and fawns of hoofed big game may +be killed in season and out of season, with impunity. It includes +guides, ranchmen, sheep-herders, cowboys, miners, lumbermen and floaters +generally. In times past, certain taxidermists of Montana promoted the +slaughter of wild bison in the Yellowstone Park, and it was a pair of +rascally taxidermists who killed, or caused to be killed in Lost Park, +in 1897, the very last bison of Colorado. + +It seems to be natural for the minds of men who live in America in the +haunts of big game to drift into the idea that the wild game around them +is all theirs. Very few of them recognize the fact that every other man, +woman and child in a given state or province has vested rights in its +wild game. It is natural for a frontiersman to feel that because he is +in the wilds he has a God-given right to live off the country; but +to-day _that idea is totally wrong_! If some way can not be found to +curb that all-pervading propensity among our frontiersmen, then we may +as well bid all our open-field big game a long farewell; for the deadly +"residents" surely will exterminate it, outside the game preserves. The +"residents" are, in my opinion, about ten times more destructive than +the sportsmen. A sportsman in quest of large game is in the field only +from ten to thirty days; all his movements are known, and all his +trophies are seen and counted. His killing is limited by law, and upon +him the law is actually enforced. Often a resident hunts the whole +twelve months of the year,--for food, for amusement, and for trophies to +sell. Rarely does a game warden reach his cabin; because the wardens are +few, the distances great and the frontier cabins are widely scattered. + +Mr. Carl Pickhardt told me of a guide in Newfoundland who had a shed in +the woods hanging full of bodies of caribou, and who admitted to him +that while the law allowed him five caribou each year, he killed each +year about twenty-five. + +Mr. J.M. Phillips knows of a mountain in British Columbia, once well +stocked with goats, on which the goats have been completely exterminated +by one man who lives within easy striking distance of them, and who +finds goat meat to his liking. + +I have been reliably informed that in 1911, at Haha Lake, near Grande +Bay, Saguenay District, P.Q., one family of six persons killed +thirty-four woodland caribou and six moose. This meant the waste of +about 14,000 pounds of good meat, and the death of several female +animals. + +In 1886 I knew a man named Owens who lived on the head of Sunday Creek, +Montana, who told me that in 1884-5 he killed thirty-five mule deer for +himself and family. The family ate as much as possible, the dogs ate all +they could, and in the spring the remainder spoiled. Now there is not a +deer, an antelope, or a sage grouse within fifty miles of that lifeless +waste. + +Here is a Montana object lesson on the frame of mind of the "resident" +hunter, copied from _Outdoor Life_ Magazine (Denver) for February, 1912. +It is from a letter to the Editor, written by C.B. Davis. + + November 27, 28, 29, and 30, 1911, will remain a red letter day with + a half thousand men for years to come. These half thousand men + gathered along the border of the Yellowstone National Park, near + Gardiner, Montana, at a point known as Buffalo Flats, to exterminate + elk. The snow had driven the elk down to the foothills, and Buffalo + Flats is on the border of the park and outside the park. The elk + entered this little valley for food. Like hungry wolves, shooters, + not hunters, gathered along the border waiting to catch an elk off + the "reservation" and kill it. + + On November 27th about 1500 elk crossed the line, and the slaughter + began. I have not the data of the number killed this day, but it was + hundreds. + + On the 28th, twenty-two stepped over and were promptly executed. + Like Custer's band, not one escaped. On the evening of the 28th, 600 + were sighted just over the line, and the army of 125 brave men + entrenched themselves for the battle which was expected to open next + morning. Before daylight of the 29th the battle began. The elk were + over the line, feeding on Buffalo Flats. One hundred and twenty-five + men poured bullets into this band of 600 elk till the ground was red + with blood and strewn with carcasses, and in their madness they shot + each other. One man was shot through the ear,--a close call; another + received a bullet through his coat sleeve, and another was shot + through the bowels and can't live. + + My informer told me he participated in the slaughter, and while he + would not take fifty dollars for what he saw, and the experience he + went through, yet he would not go through it again for $1,000. When + my informer got back to Gardiner that day there were four sleigh + loads of elk, each load containing from twenty to thirty-five elk, + besides thirty-two mules and horses carrying one to two each. This + was only a part of the slaughter. Hundreds more were carried to + other points; and this was only one day's work. + + Hundreds of wounded elk wandered back into the park to die, and + others died outside the park. The station at Livingston, Montana, + for a week looked like a packing house. Carcasses were piled up on + the trucks and depot platform. The baggage cars were loaded with elk + going to points east and west of Livingston. + + Maybe this is all right. Maybe the government can't stop the elk + from crossing the line. Maybe the elk were helped over; but it + strikes me there is something wrong somewhere. + +THE DIVISION OF HIRED LABORERS.--The scourge of lumber-camps in big-game +territory, the mining camps and the railroad-builders is a long story, +and if told in detail it would make several chapters. Their awful +destructiveness is well known. It is a common thing for "the boss" to +hire a hunter to kill big game to supply the hungry outfit, and save +beef and pork. + +The abuses arising from this source easily could be checked, and finally +suppressed. A ten-line law would do the business,--forbidding any person +employed in any camp of sheep men, cattle men, lumbermen, miners, +railway laborers or excavators to own or use a rifle in hunting wild +game; and forbidding any employer of labor to feed those laborers, or +permit them to be fed, on the flesh of wild game mammals or birds. +"Camp" laborers are not "pioneers;" not by a long shot! They are +soldiers of Commerce, and makers of money. + +A MOUNTAIN SHEEP CASE IN COLORADO.--The state of Colorado sincerely +desires to protect and perpetuate its slender remnant of mountain sheep, +but as usual the Lawless Miscreant is abroad to thwart the efforts of +the guardians of the game. Every state that strives to protect its big +game has such doings as this to contend with: + +In the winter of 1911-12, a resident poacher brought into Grant, +Colorado, a lot of mountain sheep meat _for sale_; and he actually sold +it to residents of that town! The price was _six cents per pound_. A lot +of it was purchased by the railway station-agent. I have no doubt that +the same man who did that job, which was made possible only by the +co-operation of the citizens of Grant, will try the same +poaching-and-selling game next winter, unless the State Game +Commissioner is able to bring him to book. + +A WYOMING CASE IN POINT.--As a fair sample of what game wardens, and the +general public, are sometimes compelled to endure through the improper +decisions of judges, I will cite this case: + +In the Shoshone Mountains of northern Wyoming, about fifty miles or so +from the town of Cody, in the winter of 1911-12 a man was engaged in +trapping coyotes. It was currently reported that he had been "driven out +of Montana and Idaho." He had scores of traps. He baited his traps with +the flesh of deer, elk calves and grouse, all illegally killed and +illegally used for that purpose. A man of my acquaintance saw some of +this game meat actually used as described. + +The man was a notorious character, and cruel in the extreme. Finally a +game warden caught him red-handed, arrested him, and took him to Cody +for trial. It happened that the judge on the bench had once trapped with +him, and therefore "he set the game-killer free, while the game-warden +was roasted." + +That wolf-trapper once took into the mountains a horse, to kill and use +as bear-bait. The animal was blind in one eye, and because it would not +graze precisely where the wolfer desired it to remain, he deliberately +destroyed the sight of its good eye, and left it for days, without the +ability to find water. + +Think of the fate of any wild animal that unkind Fate places at the +mercy of such a man! + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER VIII + +UNSEEN FOES OF WILD LIFE + + +Quite unintentionally on his part, Man, the arch destroyer and the most +predatory and merciless of all animal species except the wolves, has +rendered a great service to all the birds that live or nest upon the +ground. His relentless pursuit and destruction of the savage-tempered, +strong-jawed fur-bearing animals is in part the salvation of the ground +birds of to-day and yesterday. If the teeth and claws had been permitted +to multiply unchecked down to the present time, with man's warfare on +the upland game proceeding as it has done, scores upon scores of species +long ere this would have been exterminated. + +But the slaughter of the millions of North American foxes, wolves, +weasels, skunks, and mink has so overwhelmingly reduced the four-footed +enemies of the birds that the balance of wild Nature has been preserved. +As a rule, the few predatory wild animals that remain are not +slaughtering the birds to a serious extent; and for this we may well be +thankful. + +THE DOMESTIC CAT.--In such thickly settled communities as our northern +states, from the Atlantic coast to the sandhills of Kansas and Nebraska, +the domestic cat is probably the greatest four-footed scourge of bird +life. Thousands of persons who never have seen a hunting cat in action +will doubt this statement, but the proof of its truthfulness is only too +painfully abundant. + +Unhappily it is the way of the hunting cat to stalk unseen, and to kill +the very birds that are most friendly with man, and most helpful to him +in his farming and fruit-growing business. The quail is about the only +game bird that the cat affects seriously, and to it the cat is very +destructive. It is the robin, catbird, thrush, bluebird, dove, +woodpecker, chickadee, phoebe, tanager and other birds of the lawn, the +garden and orchard that afford good hunting for sly and savage old +Thomas. + +When I was a boy in my 'teens, I had a lasting series of object lessons +on the cat as a predatory animal. Our "Betty" was the most ambitious and +successful domestic-cat hunter of wild mammals of which I ever have +heard. To her, rats and mice were mere child's-play, and after a time +their pursuit offered such tame sport that she sought fresh fields for +her prowess. Then she brought in young rabbits, chipmunks and +thirteen-lined spermophiles, and once she came in, quite exhausted, half +dragging and half carrying a big, fat pocket gopher. With her it seemed +to be a point of honor that she should bring in her game and display it. +Little did we realize then that in course of time the wild birds would +become so scarce that their slaughter by house cats would demand +legislative action in the states. + +In considering the hunting cat, let us call in a credible witness of the +effects of domestic cats on the bob white. The following is an +eye-witness report, by Ernest B. Beardsley, in _Outdoor Life_ for April, +1912. The locality was Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas. + + In the meantime, old Queen was having a high old time up ahead, some + hundred feet by then, running up the bank and back down in the draw. + We had hardly caught up when up goes Mr. Savage's gun and he gives + both barrels. I had seen nothing up to date, but I didn't have long + to wait, for by the time I got up to him and the dog, they were both + in the high grass and had a great, big, common gray maltese + house-cat; and Queen had a half-eaten quail that Mr. Cat was busy + with when disturbed. + + Well, we followed the draw across the field and got nine of a covey + of sixteen that had been ahead of Mr. Cat; and about four o'clock + that evening we killed another white-and-gray cat. While driving + home that night, Mr. Savage told me that he had killed fifty or more + in three or four years. They will get in a draw full of + tumble-grass, on a cold day when quail don't like to fly, and stay + right with them; and even after feeding on two or three, they will + lie and watch, and when the covey moves, they move. When eating time + comes around they are at it again, and to a covey of young birds + they are sure death to the whole covey. + + Well, Will told me never to overlook a house-cat that I found as far + as a quarter of a mile from a farm or ranch, for if they have not + already turned wild, they are learning how easy it is to hunt and + live on game, and are almost as bad. We found Mr. Black-and-White + Hunter had eaten two quail just before we killed him that evening. I + would rather not write what Mr. Savage said when we found the + remains of a partly-eaten bird. + + My advice is, don't let tame cats get away when found out hunting; + for the chances are they have not seen a home in months, and maybe + years,--and say! but they do get big and bad. When you meet one, + give it to him good, and don't let your dog run up to him until he + is out for keeps. I learned afterwards that was how Will knew it was + a cat. Queen had learned to back off and call for help on cats some + years before. + +In the New York Zoological Park, we have had troubles of our own with +marauding cats. They establish themselves in a day, and quickly learn +where to seek easy game and good cover. In the daytime they lie close in +the thick brush, exactly as tigers do in India, but if not molested for +a period of days, they become bold and attack game in open view. One +bird-killing cat was so shy of man that it was only after two weeks of +hard hunting (mornings and evenings) that it was killed. + +We have seen cats catch and kill gray squirrels, chipmunks, robins and +thrushes, and have found the feathers of slaughtered quail. Once we had +gray rabbits breeding in the park, and their number reached between +eighty and ninety. For a time they fearlessly hopped about in sight from +our windows, and they were of great interest to visitors and to all of +us. Then the cats began upon them; and in one year there was not a +rabbit to be seen, save at rare intervals. At the same time the +chipmunks of the park were almost exterminated. + +That was the last straw, and we began a vigorous war upon those wild and +predatory cats. The cats came off second best. We killed every cat that +was found hunting in the park, and we certainly got some that were big +and bad. We eliminated that pest, and we are keeping it eliminated. And +with what result? + +In 1911 a covey of eleven quail came and settled in our grounds, and +have remained there. Twenty times at least during the past eight months +(winter and spring) I have seen the flock on the granite ledge not more +than forty feet from the rear window of my office. Last spring when I +left the Administration Building at six o'clock, after the visitors had +gone, I found two half-grown rabbits calmly roosting on the door-mat. +The rabbits are slowly coming back, and the chipmunks are visibly +increasing in number. The gray squirrels now chase over the walks +without fear of any living thing, and our ducklings and young guineas +and peacocks are safe once more. + +That cats destroy annually in the United States several _millions_ of +very valuable birds, seems fairly beyond question. I believe that in +settled regions they are worse than weasels, foxes, skunks and mink +_combined_; because there are about one hundred times as many of them, +and those that hunt are not afraid to hunt in the daytime. Of course I +am not saying that _all_ cats hunt wild game; but in the country I +believe that fully one-half of them do. + +I am personally acquainted with a cat in Indiana, on the farm of +relatives, which is notorious for its hunting propensities, and its +remarkable ability in capturing game. Even the lady who is joint owner +of the cat feels very badly about its destructiveness, and has said, +over and over again, that it ought to be killed; but the cat is such a +family pet that no one in the family has the heart to destroy it, and as +yet no stranger has come forward to play the part of executioner. The +lady in question assured me that to her certain knowledge that +particular cat would watch a nestful of young robins week after week +until they had grown up to such a size that they were almost ready to +fly; then he would kill them and devour them. Old "Tommy" was too wise +to kill the robins when they were unduly small. + +In a great book entitled _Useful Birds and Their Protection_, by E.H. +Forbush, State Ornithologist of Massachusetts, and published by the +Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture in 1905, there appears, on page +362, many interesting facts on this subject. For example: + + Mr. William Brewster tells of an acquaintance in Maine, who said + that his cat killed about fifty birds a year. Mr. A.C. Dike wrote + [to Mr. Forbush] of a cat owned by a family, and well cared for. + They watched it through one season, and found that it killed + fifty-eight birds, including the young in five nests. + + Nearly a hundred correspondents, scattered through all the counties + of the state, report the cat as one of the greatest enemies of + birds. The reports that have come in of the torturing and killing of + birds by cats are absolutely sickening. The number of birds killed + by them in this state is appalling. + + Some cat lovers believe that each cat kills on the average not more + than ten birds a year; but I have learned of two instances where + more than that number were killed in a single day, and another where + seven were killed. If we assume, however, that the average cat on + the farm kills but ten birds per year, and that there is one cat to + each farm in Massachusetts, we have, in round numbers, seventy + thousand cats, killing seven hundred thousand birds annually. + +[Illustration: A HUNTING CAT AND ITS VICTIM +This Cat had fed so bountifully on the Rabbits and Squirrels of the +Zoological Park, that it ate only the Brain of this Gray Rabbit] + +In Mr. Forbush's book there is an illustration of the cat which killed +fifty-eight birds in one year, and the animal was photographed with a +dead robin in its mouth. The portrait is reproduced in this chapter. + +Last year, a strong effort was made in Massachusetts to enact a law +requiring cats to be licensed. On account of the amount of work +necessary in passing the no-sale-of-game bill, that measure was not +pressed, and so it did not become a law; but another year it will +undoubtedly be passed, for it is a good bill, and extremely necessary at +this time. _Such a law is needed in every state_! + +There is a mark by which you may instantly and infallibly know the worst +of the wild cats--by their presence _away from home, hunting in the +open_. Kill all such, wherever found. The harmless cats are domestic in +their tastes, and stay close to the family fireside and the kitchen. +Being properly fed, they have no temptation to become hunters. There are +cats and cats, just as there are men and men: some tolerable, many +utterly intolerable. No sweeping sentiment for _all_ cats should be +allowed to stand in the way of the abatement of the hunting-cat +nuisances. + +_Of all men, the farmer cannot afford the luxury of their existence_! It +is too expensive. With him it is a matter of dollars, and cash out of +pocket for every hunting cat that he tolerates in his neighborhood. +There are two places in which to strike the hunting cats: in the open, +and in the state legislature. + +While this chapter was in the hands of the compositors, the hunting cat +and gray rabbit shown in the accompanying illustration were brought in +by a keeper. + +DOGS AS DESTROYERS OF BIRDS.--I have received many letters from +protectors of wild life informing me that the destruction of +ground-nesting birds, and especially of upland game birds, by roaming +dogs, has in some localities become a great curse to bird life. +Complaints of this kind have come from New York, Massachusetts, +Connecticut, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. Usually the culprits are +_hunting dogs_--setters, pointers and hounds. + +Now, surely it is not necessary to set forth here any argument on this +subject. It is not open to argument, or academic treatment of any kind. +The cold fact is: + +In the breeding season of birds, and while the young birds are incapable +of quick and strong flight, all dogs, of every description, should be +restrained from free hunting; and all dogs found hunting in the woods +during the season referred to should be arrested, and their owners +should be fined twenty dollars for each offense. Incidentally, one-half +the fine should go to the citizen who arrests the dog. The method of +restraining hunting dogs should devolve upon dog owners; and the law +need only prohibit or punish the act. + +Beyond a doubt, in states that still possess quail and ruffed grouse, +free hunting by hunting dogs leads to great destruction of nests and +broods during the breeding season. + +TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE WIRES.--Mr. Daniel C. Beard has strongly called +my attention to the slaughter of birds by telegraph wires that has come +under his personal observation. His country home, at Redding, +Connecticut, is near the main line of the New York, New Haven and +Hartford Railway, along which a line of very large poles carries a great +number of wires. The wires are so numerous that they form a barrier +through which it is difficult for any bird to fly and come out alive and +unhurt. + +Mr. Beard says that among the birds killed or crippled by flying against +those wires near Redding he has seen the following species: olive-backed +thrush, white-throated sparrow and other sparrows, oriole, blue jay, +rail, ruffed grouse, and woodcock. It is a common practice for employees +of the railway, and others living along the line, to follow the line and +pick up on one excursion enough birds for a pot-pie. + +Beyond question, the telegraph and telephone wires of the United States +annually exact a heavy toll in bird life, and claim countless thousands +of victims. They may well be set down as one of the unseen forces +destructive to birds. + +Naturally, we ask, what can be done about it? + +I am told that in Scotland such slaughter is prevented by the attachment +of small tags or discs to the telephone wires, at intervals of a few +rods, sufficiently near that they attract the attention of flying birds, +and reveal the line of an obstruction. This system should be adopted in +all regions where the conditions are such that birds kill themselves +against telegraph wires, and an excellent place to begin would be along +the line of the N.Y., N.H. & H. Railway. + +WILD ANIMALS.--Beyond question, it is both desirable and necessary that +any excess of wild animals that prey upon our grouse, quail, pheasants, +woodcock, snipe, mallard duck, shore birds and other species that nest +on the ground, should be killed. Since we must choose between the two, +the birds have it! Weasels and foxes and skunks are interesting, and +they do much to promote the hilarity of life in rural districts, but +they do not destroy insects, and are of comparatively little value as +destroyers of the noxious rodents that prey upon farm crops. While a few +persons may dispute the second half of this proposition, the burden of +proof that my view is wrong will rest upon them; and having spent +eighteen years "on the farm," I think I am right. If there is any +positive evidence tending to prove that the small carnivores that we +class as "vermin" are industrious and persistent destroyers of noxious +rodents--pocket gophers, moles, field-mice and rats--or that they do not +kill wild birds numerously, now is the time to produce it, because the +tide of public sentiment is strongly setting against the weasels, mink, +foxes and skunks. (Once upon a time, a shrewd young man in the +Zoological Park discovered a weasel hiding behind a stone while +devouring a sparrow that it had just caught and killed. He stalked it +successfully, seized it in his bare hand, and, even though bitten, made +good the capture.) + +The State of Pennsylvania is extensively wooded, with forests and with +brush which affords excellent home quarters and breeding grounds for +mammalian "vermin." The small predatory mammals are so seriously +destructive to ruffed grouse and other ground birds that the State Game +Commission is greatly concerned. When the hunter's license law is +enacted, as it very surely will be at the next session of the +legislature (1913), a portion of the $70,000 that it will produce each +year will be used by the commission in paying bounties on the +destruction of the surplus of vermin. Through the pursuit of vermin, any +farmer can easily win enough bounties to more than pay the cost of his +annual hunting license (one dollar), and the farmers' boys will find a +new interest in life. + +In some portions of the Rocky Mountain region, the assaults of the large +predatory mammals and birds on the young of the big-game species +occasionally demand special treatment. In the Yellowstone Park the pumas +multiplied to such an extent and killed so many young elk that their +number had to be systematically reduced. To that end "Buffalo" Jones was +sent out by the Government to find and destroy the intolerable surplus +of pumas. In the course of his campaign he killed about forty, much to +the benefit of the elk herds. Around the entrance to the den of a big +old male puma, Mr. Jones found the skulls and other remains of nine elk +calves that "the old Tom" had killed and carried there. + +Pumas and lynxes attack and kill mountain sheep; and the golden eagle is +very partial to mountain sheep lambs and mountain goat kids. It will not +answer to permit birds of that bold and predatory species to become too +numerous in mountains inhabited by goats and sheep; and the fewer the +mountain lions the better, for they, like the lynx and eagle, have +nothing to live upon save the game. + +The wolves and coyotes have learned to seek the ranges of cattle, +horses and sheep, where they still do immense damage, chiefly in +killing young stock. In spite of the great sums that have been paid out +by western states in bounties for the destruction of wolves, in many, +many places the gray wolf still persists, and can not be exterminated. +To the stockmen of the west the wolf question is a serious matter. The +stockmen of Montana say that a government expert once told them how to +get rid of the gray wolves. His instructions were: "Locate the dens, and +kill the young in the dens, soon after they are born!" "All very easy to +_say_, but a trifle difficult to _do_!" said my informant; and the +ranchman seem to think they are yet a long way from a solution of the +wolf question. + +During the past year the destruction of noxious predatory animals in the +national forest reserves has seriously occupied the attention of the +United States Bureau of Forestry. By the foresters of that bureau the +following animals were destroyed in fifteen western states: + +6,487 Coyotes + 870 Wild-Cats + 72 Lynxes + 213 Bears + 88 Mountain Lions + 172 Gray Wolves + 69 Wolf Pups +----- +7,971 + +In 1910 the total was 9,103. + +[Illustration: THE EASTERN RED SQUIRREL +A Great Destroyer of Birds] + +THE RED SQUIRREL.--Once in a great while, conditions change in subtle +ways, wild creatures unexpectedly increase in number, and a community +awakens to the fact that some wild species has become a public nuisance. +In a small city park, even gray squirrels may breed and become so +fearfully numerous that, in their restless quest for food, they may +ravage the nests of the wild birds, kill and devour the young, and +become a pest. In the Zoological Park, in 1903, we found that the red +squirrels had increased to such a horde that they were driving out all +our nesting wild birds, driving out the gray squirrels, and making +themselves intolerably obnoxious. We shot sixty of them, and brought the +total down to a reasonable number. Wherever he is or whatever his +numerical strength, the red squirrel is a bad citizen, and, while we do +not by any means favor his extermination, he should resolutely be kept +within bounds by the rifle. + +When a crow nested in our woods, near the Beaver Pond, we were greatly +pleased; but with the feeding of the first brood, the crows began to +carry off ducklings from the wild-fowl pond. After one crow had been +seen to seize and carry away _five_ young ducks in one forenoon, we +decided that the constitutional limit had been reached, for we did not +propose that all our young mallards should be swept into the awful +vortex of that crow nest. We took those young crows and reared them by +hand; but the old one had acquired a bad habit, and she persisted in +carrying off young ducks until we had to end her existence with a gun. +It was a painful operation, but there was no other way. + +[Illustration: COOPER'S HAWK +A Species to be Destroyed] + +BIRD-DESTROYING BIRDS.--There are several species of birds that may at +once be put under sentence of death for their destructiveness of useful +birds, without any extenuating circumstances worth mentioning. Four of +these are _Cooper's Hawk_, the _Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Pigeon Hawk_ and +_Duck Hawk_. Fortunately these species are not so numerous that we need +lose any sleep over them. Indeed, I think that today it would be a +mighty good collector who could find one specimen in seven days' +hunting. Like all other species, these, too, are being shot out of our +bird fauna. + +Several species of bird-eating birds are trembling in the balance, and +under grave suspicion. Some of them are the _Great Horned Owl, Screech +Owl, Butcher Bird_ or _Great Northern Shrike_. The only circumstance +that saves these birds from instant condemnation is the delightful +amount of rats, mice, moles, gophers and noxious insects that they +annually consume. In view of the awful destructiveness of the accursed +bubonic-plague-carrying rat, we are impelled to think long before +placing in our killing list even the great horned owl, who really does +levy a heavy tax on our upland game birds. As to the butcher bird, we +feel that we ought to kill him, but in view of his record on wild mice +and rats, we hesitate, and finally decline. + +[Illustration: SHARP-SHINNED HAWK +A Species to be Destroyed] + +SNAKES.--Mr. Thomas M. Upp, a close and long observer of wild things +wishes it distinctly understood that while the common black-snakes and +racers are practically harmless to birds, the _Pilot Black-Snake_, +--long, thick and truculent,--is a great scourge to nesting birds. It +seems to be deserving of death. Mr. Upp speaks from personal knowledge, +and his condemnation of the species referred to is quite sweeping. At +the same time Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars points out the fact that this +serpent feeds during 6 months of the year on mice, and in doing so +renders good service. In the South it is called the "Mouse Snake." + +[Illustration: THE CAT THAT KILLED 58 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR +From Mr. Forbush's Book +Photo by A.C. Dyke] + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER IX + +THE DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE BY DISEASES + + +Every cause that has the effect of reducing the total of wild-life +population is now a matter of importance to mankind. The violent and +universal disturbance of the balance of Nature that already has taken +place throughout the temperate and frigid zone offers not only food for +thought, but it calls for vigorous action. + +There are vast sections in the populous centres of western civilization +where the destruction of species, even to the point of extermination, is +fairly inevitable. It is the way of Christian man to destroy all wild +life that comes within the sphere of influence of his iron heel. With +the exception of the big game, this destruction is largely a +temperamental result, peculiar to the highest civilization. In India +where the same fields have been plowed for wheat and dahl and raggi for +at least 2,000 years, the Indian antelope, or "black buck," the saras +crane and the adjutant stalk through the crops, and the nilgai and +gazelle inhabit the eroded ravines in an agricultural land that averages +1,200 people to the square mile! + +We have seen that even in farming country, where mud villages are as +thick as farm houses in Nebraska, wild animals and even hoofed game can +live and hold their own through hundreds of years of close association +with man. The explanation is that the Hindus regard wild animals as +creatures entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and +they are not anxious to shoot every wild animal that shows its head. In +the United States, nearly every game-inhabited community is animated by +a feeling that every wild animal must necessarily be killed as soon as +seen; and this sentiment often leads to disgraceful things. For +instance, in some parts of New England a deer straying into a town is at +once beset by the hue and cry, and it is chased and assaulted until it +is dead, by violent and disgraceful means. New York State, however, +seems to have outgrown that spirit. During the past ten years, at least +a dozen deer in distress have been rescued from the Hudson River, or in +inland towns, or in barnyards in the suburbs of Yonkers and New York, +and carefully cared for until "the zoo people" could be communicated +with. Last winter about 13 exhausted grebes and one loon were picked up, +cared for and finally shipped with tender care to the Zoological Park. +One distressed dovekie was picked up, but failed to survive. + +The sentiment for the conservation of wild life has changed the mental +attitude of very many people. The old Chinese-Malay spirit which cries +"Kill! Kill!" and at once runs amuck among suddenly discovered wild +animals, is slowly being replaced by a more humane and intelligent +sentiment. This is one of the hopeful and encouraging signs of the +times. + +The destruction of wild animals by natural causes is an interesting +subject, even though painful. We need to know how much destruction is +wrought by influences wholly beyond the control of man, and a few cases +must be cited. + +RINDERPEST IN AFRICA.--Probably the greatest slaughter ever wrought upon +wild animals by diseases during historic times, was by rinderpest, a +cattle plague which afflicted Africa in the last decade of the previous +century. Originally, the disease reached Africa by way of Egypt, and +came as an importation from Europe. From Egypt it steadily traveled +southward, reaching Somaliland in 1889. In 1896 it reached the Zambesi +River and entered Rhodesia. From thence it went on southward almost to +the Cape. Not only did it sweep away ninety percent of the native cattle +but it also destroyed more than seventy-five per cent of the buffalos, +antelopes and other hoofed game of Rhodesia. It was feared that many +species would be completely exterminated, but happily that fear was not +realized. The buffalo and antelope herds were fifteen years in breeding +up again to a reasonable number, but thanks to the respite from hunters +which they enjoyed for several years, finally they did recover. +Throughout British East Africa the supply of big game in 1905 was very +great, but since that time it has been very greatly diminished by +shooting. + +CARIBOU DISEASE.--From time to time reports have come from the Province +of Quebec, and I think from Maine and New Brunswick also, of many +caribou having died of disease. The nature of that disease has remained +a mystery, because it seems that no pathologist ever has had an +opportunity to investigate it. Fortunately, however, the alleged disease +never has been sufficiently wide-spread or continuous to make +appreciable inroads on the total number of caribou, and apparently the +trouble has been local. + +SCAB IN MOUNTAIN SHEEP.--"Scab" is a contagious and persistent skin +disease that affects sheep, and is destructive when not controlled. +Fifteen years ago it prevailed in some portions of the west. In Colorado +it has several times been reported that many bighorn mountain sheep were +killed by "scab," which was contracted on wild mountain pastures that +had been gone over by domestic sheep carrying that disease. From the +reports current at that time, we inferred that about 200 mountain sheep +had been affected. It was feared that the disease would spread through +the wild flocks and become general, but this did not occur. It seems +that the remnant flocks had become so isolated from one another that the +isolation of the affected flocks saved the others. + +LUMPY-JAW IN ANTELOPE AND SHEEP.--It is a lamentable fact that some, at +least, of the United States herds of prong-horned antelope are afflicted +with a very deadly chronic infective disease known as actinomycosis, or +lumpy-jaw. It has been brought into the Zoological Park five times, by +specimens shipped from Colorado, Texas, Wyoming and Montana. I think our +first cases came to us in 1902. + +In its early stage this disease is so subtle and slow that it is months +in developing; and this feature renders it all the more deadly, through +the spread of infection long before the ailment can be discovered. + +One of our antelope arrivals, apparently in perfect health when +received, was on general principles kept isolated in rigid quarantine +for two months. At the expiration of that period, no disease of any kind +having become manifest, the animal was placed on exhibition, with two +others that had been in the Park for more than a year, in perfect +health. + +In one more week the late arrival developed a swelling on its jaw, +drooled at the corner of the mouth, and became feverish,--sure symptoms +of the dread disease. At once it was removed and isolated, but in about +10 days it died. The other two antelopes were promptly attacked, and +eventually died. + +The course of the disease is very intense, and thus far it has proven +incurable in our wild animals. We have lost about 10 antelopes from it, +and one deer, usually, in each case, within ten days or two weeks from +the discovery of the first outward sign,--the well known swelling on the +jaw. One case that was detected immediately upon arrival was very +persistently treated by Dr. Blair, and the animal actually survived for +four months, but finally it succumbed. From first to last not a single +case was cured. + +In 1912, the future of the prong-horned antelope in real captivity seems +hopeless. We have decided not to bring any more specimens to our +institution, partly because all available candidates seem reasonably +certain to be affected with lumpy-jaw, and partly because we are +unwilling to run further risks of having other hoofed animals inoculated +by them. Today we are anxiously wondering whether the jaw disease of the +prong-horn is destined to exterminate the species. Such a catastrophe is +much to be feared. This is probably one of the reasons why the antelope +is steadily disappearing, despite protection. + +In 1906 we discovered the existence of actinomycosis among the black +mountain sheep of northern British Columbia. Two specimens out of six +were badly affected, the bones of the jaws being greatly enlarged, and +perforated by deep pits. The black sheep of the Stickine and Iskoot +regions are so seldom seen by white men, save when a sportsman kills his +allotment of three specimens, we really do not know anything about the +extent to which actinomycosis prevails in those herds, or how deadly are +its effects. One thing seems quite certain, from the appearance of the +diseased skulls found by the writer in the taxidermic laboratory of +Frederick Sauter, in New York. The enormous swelling of the diseased jaw +bones clearly indicates a disease that in some cases affects its victim +throughout many months. Such a condition as we found in those sheep +could not have been reached in a few days after the disease became +apparent. Now, in our antelopes, the collapse and death of the victim +usually occurred in about 10 days from the time that the first swelling +was observed: which means a very virulent disease, and rapid progress at +the climax. The jaw of one of our antelopes, which was figured in Dr. +Blair's paper in the Eleventh Annual Report of the New York Zoological +Society (1906) shows only a very slight lesion, in comparison with those +of the mountain sheep. + +The conclusion is that among the sheep, this disease does not carry off +its victims in any short period like 10 days. The animal must survive +for some months after it becomes apparent. At least two parties of +American sportsmen have shot rams afflicted with this disease, but I +have no reports of any sheep having been found dead from this cause. + +This disease is well known among domestic cattle, but so far as we are +aware it never before has been found among wild animals. The black sheep +herds wherein it was found in British Columbia are absolutely isolated +from domestic cattle and all their influences, and therefore it seems +quite certain that the disease developed among the sheep +spontaneously,--a remarkable episode, to say the least. Whether it will +exterminate the black mountain sheep species, and in time spread to the +white sheep of the northwest, is of course a matter of conjecture; but +there is nothing in the world to prevent a calamity of that kind. The +white sheep of Yukon Territory range southward until in the Sheslay +Mountains they touch the sphere of influence of the black sheep, where +the disease could easily be transmitted. It would be a good thing if +there existed between the two species a sheepless zone about 200 miles +wide. + +I greatly fear that actinomycosis is destined to play an important part +in the final extinction that seems to be the impending fate of the +beautiful and valuable prong-horned antelope. In view of our hard +experiences, extending through ten years (1902-1912), I think this fear +is justified. All persons who live in country still inhabited by +antelope are urged to watch for this disease. If any antelopes are found +dead, see if the lower jaw is badly swollen and discharging pus. If it +is, bury the body quickly, burn the ground over, and advise the writer +regarding the case. + +THE RABBIT PLAGUE.--One of the strangest freaks of Nature of which we +know as effecting the wholesale destruction of wild animals by disease +is the rabbit plague. In the northern wilderness, and particularly +central Canada, where rabbits exist in great numbers and supply the +wants of a large carnivorous population, this plague is well known, and +among trappers and woodsmen is a common topic of conversation. The best +treatment of the subject is to be found in Ernest T. Seton's "Life +Histories of Northern Animals", Vol. I, p. 640 et seq. From this I +quote: + +"Invariably the year of greatest numbers [of rabbits] is followed by a +year of plague, which sweeps them away, leaving few or no rabbits in the +land. The denser the rabbit population, the more drastically is it +ravaged by the plague. They are wiped out in a single spring by +epidemic diseases usually characterized by swellings of the throat, +sores under the armpits and groins, and by diarrhea." + +"The year 1885 was for the country around Carberry 'a rabbit year,' the +greatest ever known in that country. The number of rabbits was +incredible. W.R. Hine killed 75 in two hours, and estimated that he +could have killed 500 in a day. The farmers were stricken with fear that +the rabbit pest of Australia was to be repeated in Manitoba. But the +years 1886-7 changed all that. The rabbits died until their bodies +dotted the country in thousands. The plague seemed to kill all the +members of the vast host of 1885." + +The strangest item of Mr. Seton's story is yet to be told. In 1890 Mr. +Seton stocked his park at Cos Cob, Conn., with hares and rabbits from +several widely separated localities. In 1903, the plague came and swept +them all away. Mr. Seton sent specimens to the Zoological Park for +examination by the Park veterinary surgeon, Dr. W. Reid Blair. They were +found to be infested by great numbers of a dangerous bloodsucking +parasite known as _Strongylus strigosus_, which produces death by anemia +and emaciation. There were hundreds of those parasites in each animal. I +assisted in the examination, and was shown by Dr. Blair, under the +microscope, that _Strongylus_ puts forth eggs literally by hundreds of +thousands! + +The life history of that parasite is not well known, but it may easily +develop that the cycle of its maximum destructiveness is seven years, +and therefore it may be accountable for the seven-year plague among the +hares and rabbits of the northern United States and Canada. + +Possibly _Strongylus strigosus_ is all that stands between Canada and a +pest of rabbits like that of Australia. Just why this parasite is +inoperative in Australia, or why it has not been introduced there to +lessen the rabbit evil, we do not know. Mr. Seton declares that the +rabbits of his park were "subject to all the ills of the flesh, except +possibly writer's paralysis and housemaid's knee." + +PARASITIC INFECTION OF WILD DUCKS.--The diseases of wild game, +especially waterfowl, grouse and quail, have caused heavy losses in +America as well as in European countries, and scientists have been +carefully investigating the cause and the general nature of the +maladies, as well as probable methods of prevention and cure. Mr. Geo. +Atkinson, a well-known practical naturalist of Portage la Prairie, +Manitoba, writes as follows to a local paper on this subject, which I +find quoted in the _National Sportsman_: + + The question which has developed these important proportions during + the past year is that of the extent of the parasitic infection of + our wild ducks and other game, and the possibilities of the extended + transmission of these parasites to domestic stock, or even humanity, + by eating. + + The parasites in question are contained in small elliptical cases + found underlying the surface muscles of the breast, and in advanced + cases extending deeper into the flesh and the muscular tissues of + the legs and wings. They are not noticeable in the ordinary process + of plucking the bird for the table, and are not found internally, so + that the only method of discovering their presence is by slitting + the skin of the breast and paring it back a few inches when the + worm-like sacs will be seen buried in the flesh. + + These parasites have come to my notice periodically during the + process of skinning birds for mounting during the past number of + years, but it was only when they appeared in unusual numbers last + fall that I made inquiries of the biological bureaus of Washington + and Ottawa for information of their life history and the + possibilities of their transmission to other hosts. + + Replies from these sources surprised me with the information that + very little was known of the life history of any of the + Sarcosporidia, of which group this was a species. Nothing was known + of the method of infection or the transference from host to host or + species to species, and both departments asked for specimens for + examination. + + Authorities are a unit in opinion that the question is one of great + importance to game conservation, and although opinions of the + dangers from eating differ somewhat, a record is given of a hog fed + upon affected flesh developing parasites in the muscles in six + weeks' time, while a case of a man's death from dropsy was found to + be the result of development of these parasites in the valves of the + heart. + + The ability of these low forms of life to withstand extremes of heat + makes it necessary for more than ordinary cooking to be assured of + killing them, and since their presence is unnoted in the ordinary + course of dressing the birds for the table, there is little doubt + that very considerable numbers of these parasites are consumed at + our tables every season, with results at present unknown to us. + + The species I have found most particularly infected have been + mallards, shovellers, teal, gadwall and pintails, and the birds, + outwardly in the best condition, have frequently been found loaded + with sacs of these parasites and only the turning back of the breast + skin can disclose their presence. + +The greatest slaughter of wild ducks by disease occurred on Great Salt +Lake, Utah. Until the "duck disease" (intestinal coccidiosis) broke out +there, in the summer of 1910, the annual market slaughter of ducks at +the mouth of Bear River had been enormous. When at Salt Lake City in +1888 I made an effort to arouse the sportsmen whom I met to the +necessity of a reform, but my exhortations fell on deaf ears. Naturally, +the sweeping away of the remaining ducks by disease would suggest a +heaven-sent judgment upon the slaughterers were it not for the fact that +the last state of the unfortunate ducks is if anything worse than the +first. + +On Oct. 17, 1911, the annual report of the chief of the Biological +Survey contained the following information on this subject: + + _Epidemic Among Wild Ducks on Great Salt Lake_.--Following a long + dry season, which favored the rearing of a large number of wild + ducks, but materially reduced the area of the feeding ponds, + resulting in great overcrowding, a severe epidemic broke out about + August 1, 1910, among the wild ducks about Great Salt Lake, Utah. + Dead ducks could be counted by thousands along the shores and the + disease raged unabated until late fall. Shooting clubs found it + necessary to declare a closed season. Some of the dead ducks were + forwarded to the Biological Survey and were turned over for + examination to the Bureau of Animal Industry, by the experts of + which the disease was diagnosed as intestinal coccidiosis. + + Various plans of relieving the situation were tried. The irrigation + ditches were closed, thus providing the sloughs and ponds with fresh + water, and lime was sprinkled on the mud flats and duck trails. + Great improvement followed this treatment, and experiments proved + that ducks provided with abundant fresh water and clean food began + to recover immediately. These methods promised success, but later it + was proposed that the marshes be drained and exposed to the sun's + rays--a course which cannot be recommended. That coccidia are not + always killed by exposure to the sun is shown by their survival on + the sites of old chicken yards. An added disadvantage of the plan is + that draining and drying the marshes would have a bad effect on the + natural duck food, and upon the birds themselves. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER X + +DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE BY THE ELEMENTS + + +It is a fixed condition of Nature that whenever and wherever a wild +species exists in a state of nature, free from the trammels and +limitations that contact with man always imposes, the species is fitted +to survive all ordinary climatic influences. Freedom of action, and the +exercise of several options in the line of individual maintenance under +stress, is essential to the welfare of every wild species. + +A prong-horned antelope herd that is free can drift before a blizzard, +can keep from freezing by the exercise, and eventually come to shelter. +Let that same herd drift against a barbed-wire fence five miles long, +and its whole scheme of self-preservation is upset. The herd perishes +then and there. + +Cut out the undergrowth of a given section, drain the swamps and mow +down all the weeds and tall grass, and the next particularly hard winter +starves and freezes the quail. + +Naturally the cutting of forests, clearing of brush and drainage of +marshes is more or less calamitous to all the species of birds that +inhabit such places and find there winter food and shelter. Red-winged +blackbirds and real estate booms can not inhabit the same swamps +contemporaneously. Before the relentless march of civilization, the wild +Indian, the bison and many of the wild birds must inevitably disappear. +We cannot change conditions that are as inexorable as death itself. The +wild life must either adjust itself to the conditions that civilized man +imposes upon it, or perish. I say "civilized man," for the reason that +the primitive races of man are not deadly exterminators of species, as +we are. I know of not one species of wild life that has been +exterminated by savage man without the aid of his civilized peers. + +As civilization marches ever onward, over the prairies, into the bad +lands and the forests, over the mountains and even into the farthest +corner of Death Valley, the desert of deserts, the struggle of the wild +birds, mammals and fishes is daily and hourly intensified. Man must help +them to maintain themselves, or accept a lifeless continent. The best +help consists in letting the wild creatures throughly alone, so that +they can help themselves; but quail often need to be fed in critical +periods. The best food is wheat screenings placed under little tents of +straw, bringing food and shelter together. + +In the well settled portions of the United States, such species as +quail, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, pinnated grouse and sage grouse hang +to life by slender threads. A winter of exceptionally deep snows, much +sleet, and a late spring always causes grave anxiety among the state +game wardens. In Pennsylvania a very earnest movement is in progress to +educate and persuade farmers to feed the quail in winter, and much good +is being done in that direction. + +Mr. Erasmus Wilson, of the _Pittsburgh Gazette-Times_ is the apostle of +that movement. + +_Quail should be fed every winter, in every northern state_. The methods +to be pursued will be mentioned elsewhere. + +By way of illustration, here is a sample game report, from Las Animas, +Colorado, Feb. 22, 1912: + +"After the most severe winter weather experienced for twenty years we +are able to compute approximately our loss of feathered life. It is +seventy-five per cent of the quail throughout the irrigated district, +and about twenty per cent of meadow-larks. In the rough cedar-covered +sections south of the Arkansas River, the loss among the quail was much +lighter. The ground sparrows suffered severely, while the English +sparrow seems to have come through in good shape. Many cotton-tail +rabbits starved to death, while the deep, light snow of January made +them easy prey for hawks and coyotes." (F.T. Webber). + +It would be possible to record many instances similar to the above, but +why multiply them? And now behold the cruel corollary: + +At least twenty-five times during the past two years I have heard and +read arguments by sportsmen against my proposal for a 5-year close +season for quail, taking the ground that "The sportsmen are not wholly +to blame for the scarcity of quail. It is the cold winters that kill +them off!" + +So then, _because the fierce winters murder the bob white, wholesale, +they should not have a chance to recover themselves_! Could human beings +possibly assume a more absurd attitude? + +Yes, it is coldly and incontestably true, that even after such winter +slaughter as Mr. Webber has reported above, the very next season will +find the quail hunter joyously taking the field, his face beaming with +health and good living, to hunt down and shoot to death as many as +possible of the pitiful 25 per cent remnant that managed to survive the +pitiless winter. How many quail hunters, think you, ever stayed their +hands because of "a hard winter on the quail?" I warrant not one out of +every hundred! How many states in this Union ever put on a close season +because of a hard winter? I'll warrant that not one ever did; and I +think there is only one state whose game commissioners have the power to +act in that way without recourse to the legislature. This situation is +intolerable. + +Thanks to the splendid codified game laws enacted in New York state in +1912, our Conservation Commission can declare a close season in any +locality, for any length of time, when the state of the game demands an +emergency measure. This act is as follows; and it is a model law, which +every other state should speedily enact: + + * * * * * + + THE NEW YORK CLOSE-SEASON LAW. + + _152. Petition for additional protection; notice of hearings; power + to grant additional protection; notice of prohibition or regulation; + penalties_. + + _1. Petition for additional protection_. Any citizen of the state + may file with the commission a petition in writing requesting it to + give any species of fish, other than migratory food fish of the sea, + or game protected by law, additional or other protection than that + afforded by the provisions of this article. Such petition shall + state the grounds upon which such protection is considered + necessary, and shall be signed by the petitioner with his address. + + _2. Notice of hearings_. The commission shall hold a public hearing + in the locality or county to be affected upon the allegations of + such petition within twenty days from the filing thereof. At least + ten days prior to such hearing notice thereof, stating the time and + place at which such hearing shall be held, shall be advertised in a + newspaper published in the county to be affected by such additional + or other protection. Such notice shall state the name and the + address of the petitioner, together with a brief statement of the + grounds upon which such application is made, and a copy thereof + shall be mailed to the petitioner at the address given in such + petition at least ten days before such hearing. + + _3. Power to grant additional protection_. If upon such hearing the + commission shall determine that such species of fish or game, by + reason of disease, danger of extermination, or from any other cause + or reason, requires such additional or other protection, in any + locality or throughout the state, the commission shall have power to + prohibit or regulate, during the open season therefor, the taking of + such species of fish or game. Such prohibition or regulation may be + made general throughout the state or confined to a particular part + or district thereof. + + _4. Notice of prohibition or regulation_. Any order made by the + commission under the provisions of this section shall be signed by + it, and entered in its minute book. At least thirty days before such + prohibition or regulation shall take effect, copies of the same + shall be filed in the office of the clerk issuing hunting and + trapping licenses for the district to which the prohibition or + regulation applies. It shall be the duty of said clerks to issue a + copy of said prohibition or regulation to each person to whom a + hunting or trapping license is issued by them; to mail a copy of + such prohibition or regulation to each holder of a hunting and + trapping license theretofore issued by them and at that time in + effect, and to post a copy thereof in a conspicuous place in their + office. At least thirty days before such prohibition or regulation + shall take effect the commission shall cause a notice thereof to be + advertised in a newspaper published in the county wherein such + prohibition or regulation shall take effect. + + _5. Penalties_. Any person violating the provisions of such + prohibition, rule or regulation shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and + shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not to exceed one + hundred dollars, or shall be imprisoned for not more than thirty + days, or both, for each offense, in addition to the penalties + hereinafter provided for taking fish, birds or quadrupeds in the + close season. + + * * * * * + +I want all sensible, honest sportsmen to stop citing the killing of game +birds by severe winters _as a reason_ why long close seasons are not +necessary, and why automatic guns "don't matter." And I want sportsmen +to consider their duty, and not go out hunting any game species that has +been slaughtered by a hard winter, until it has had at least five years +in which to recover. Any other course is cruel, selfish, and +shortsighted; and a word to the humane should be sufficient. + +The worst exhibitions ever made of the wolfish instinct to slay that +springs eternal in some human (!) breasts are those brought about +through the distress or errors of wild animals. By way of illustration, +consider the slaughter of half-starved elk that took place in the edge +of Idaho in the winter of 1909 and 1910, when about seven hundred elk +that were driven out of the Yellowstone Park at its northwestern corner +by the deep snow, fled into Idaho in the hope of finding food. The +inhabitants met the starving herds with repeating rifles, and as the +unfortunate animals struggled westward through the snow and storm, they +were slaughtered without mercy. Bulls and cows, old and young, all of +the seven hundred, went down; and Stoney Indians could not have acted +any worse than did those "settlers." + +On another occasion, it is recorded that the prong-horned antelope herd +of the Mammoth Hot Springs wandered across the line into Gardiner, and +quickly met a savage attack of gunners with rifles. A number of those +rare and valuable animals were killed, and others fled back into the +Park with broken legs dangling in the air. + +In the interest of public decency, and for the protection of the +reputation of American citizenship, one of two things should be done. +The northern boundary of the Park should be extended northward beyond +Gardiner, or else the deathtrap should be moved elsewhere. The case of +the town of Gardiner is referred to the legislature of Montana for +treatment. + +Beyond question, the highest sentiments of humanity are those that are +stirred by the misfortunes of killable game. During the past thirty +years, I have noticed some interesting manifestations of the increased +sympathy for wild creatures that steadily is growing in a large section +of the public mind. Thirty years ago, the appearance of a deer or moose +in the streets of any eastern village nearly always was in itself a +signal for a grand chase of the unfortunate creature, and its speedy +slaughter. Today, in the eastern states, the general feeling is quite +different. The appearance of a deer in the Hudson River itself, or a +moose in a Maine village is a signal, not for a wild chase and cruel +slaughter, but for a general effort to save the animal from being hurt, +or killed. I know this through ocular proof, at least half a dozen lost +and bewildered deer having been carefully driven into yards, or barns, +and humanely kept and cared for until they could be shipped to us. +Several have been caught while swimming in the Hudson, bewildered and +panic-stricken. The latest capture occurred in New York City itself. + +A puma that escaped (about 1902) from the Zoological Park, instead of +being shot was captured by sensible people in the hamlet of Bronxdale, +alive and unhurt, and safely returned to us. + +In some portions of the east, though not all, the day of the hue and cry +over "a wild animal in town" seems to be about over. On Long Island some +humane persons found an injured turkey vulture, and took it in and cared +for it,--only to be persecuted by ill-advised game wardens, because they +had a forbidden wild bird "in their possession!" There are times when it +is the highest (moral) duty of a game warden to follow the advice of +Private Mulvaney to the "orficer boy," and "Shut yer oye to the +rigulations, sorr!" + +Such occurrences as these are becoming more and more common. _The desire +of "the great silent majority" is to SAVE the wild creatures_; and it +is in response to that sentiment that thousands of people are today in +the field against the Army of Destruction. + +It is the duty of every sportsman to assist in promoting the passage of +a law like our New York law which empowers the State Game Commission to +throw extra protection around any species that has been slaughtered too +much by snow or by firearms, by closing the open season as long as may +be necessary. Can there be in all America even one thinking, reasoning +being who can not see the justice and also the imperative necessity of +this measure? It seems impossible. + +Give the game the benefit of every doubt! If it becomes too thick, your +gun can quickly thin it out; but if it is once exterminated, it will be +impossible to bring it back. Be wise; and take thought for the morrow. +Remember the heath hen. + +SLAUGHTER OF BLUEBIRDS.--In the late winter and early spring of 1896 the +wave of bluebirds was caught on its northward migration by a period of +unseasonably cold and fearfully tempestuous weather, involving much +icy-cold rain and sleet. Now, there is no other climatic condition that +is so hard for a wild bird or mammal to withstand as rain at the +freezing point, and a mantle of ice or frozen snow over all supplies of +food. + +The bluebirds perished by thousands. The loss occurred practically all +along their east-and-west line of migration, from Arkansas to the +Atlantic Coast. In places the species seemed almost exterminated; and it +was several years ere it recovered to a point even faintly approximating +its original population. I am quite certain that the species never has +recovered more than 50 per cent of the number that existed previous to +the calamity. + +DUCK CHOLERA IN THE BRONX RIVER.--In 1911, some unknown but new and +particularly deadly element, probably introduced in sewage, contaminated +the waters of Bronx River where it flows through New York City, with +results very fatal in the Zoological Park. The large flock of mallard +ducks, Canada geese, and snow geese on Lake Agassiz was completely wiped +out. In all about 125 waterfowl died in rapid succession, from causes +commonly classed under the popular name of "duck cholera." The disease +was carried to other bodies of water in the Park that were fed from +other sources, but made no headway elsewhere than on lakes fed by the +polluted Bronx River. + +Fortunately the work of the Bronx River Parkway Commission soon will +terminate the present very unsanitary condition of that stream. + +WILD DUCKS IN DISTRESS.--In the winter of 1911-12, many flocks of wild +ducks decided to winter in the North. Many persons believe that this was +largely due to the prevention of late winter and spring shooting; which +seems reasonable. Unfortunately the winter referred to proved +exceptionally severe and formed vast sheets of thick ice over the +feeding-grounds where the ducks had expected to obtain their food. On +Cayuga, Seneca and other lakes in central New York, and on the island of +Martha's Vineyard, the flocks of ducks suffered very severely, and many +perished of hunger and cold. _But for the laws prohibiting late winter +shooting undoubtedly all of them would have been shot and eaten, +regardless of their distress_. + +Game wardens and humane citizens made numerous efforts to feed the +starving flocks, and many ducks were saved in that way. An illustrated +article on the distressed ducks of Keuka Lake, by C. William Beebe and +Verdi Burtch, appeared in the _Zoological Society Bulletin_ for May, +1912. Fortunately there is every reason to believe that such occurrences +will be rare. + +WILD SWANS SWEPT OVER NIAGARA FALLS.--During the past ten years, several +winter tragedies to birds have occurred on a large scale at Niagara +Falls. Whole flocks of whistling swans of from 20 up to 70 individuals +alighting in the Niagara River above the rapids have permitted +themselves to float down into the rapids, and be swept over the Falls, +en masse. On each occasion, the great majority of the birds were +drowned, or killed on the rocks. Of the very few that survived, few if +any were able to rise and fly out of the gorge below the Falls to +safety. It is my impression that about 200 swans recently have perished +in this strange way. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XI + +SLAUGHTER OF SONG-BIRDS BY ITALIANS + + +In these days of wild-life slaughter, we hear much of death and +destruction. Before our eyes there continually arise photographs of +hanging masses of waterfowl, grouse, pheasants, deer and fish, usually +supported in true heraldic fashion by the men who slew them and the +implements of slaughter. The world has become somewhat hardened to these +things, because the victims are classed as game; and in the destruction +of game, one game-bag more or less "Will not count in the news of the +battle." + +The slaughter of song, insectivorous and all other birds by Italians and +other aliens from southern Europe has become a scourge to the bird life +of this country. The devilish work of the negroes and poor whites of the +South will be considered in the next chapter. In Italy, linnets and +sparrows are "game"; and so is everything else that wears feathers! +Italy is a continuous slaughtering-ground for the migratory birds of +Europe, and as such it is an international nuisance and a pest. The way +passerine birds are killed and eaten in that country is a disgrace to +the government of Italy, and a standing reproach to the throne. Even +kings and parliaments have no right in moral or international law to +permit year after year the wholesale slaughter of birds of passage of +species that no civilized man has a right to kill. + +There are some tales of slaughter from which every properly-balanced +Christian mind is bound to recoil with horror. One such tale has +recently been given to us in the pages of the _Avicultural Magazine_, of +London, for January, 1912, by Mr. Hubert D. Astley, F.Z.S., whose word +no man will dispute. In condensing it, let us call it + + * * * * * + +THE ITALIAN SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS + +This story does not concern game birds of any kind. Quite the contrary. +That it should be published in America, a land now rapidly filling up +with Italians, is a painful necessity in order that the people of +America may be enabled accurately to measure the fatherland traditions +and the fixed mental attitude of Italians generally toward our song +birds. I shall now hold a mirror up to Italian nature. If the image is +either hideous or grotesque, the fault will not be mine. I specially +commend the picture to the notice of American game wardens and judges on +the bench. + +The American reader must be reminded that the Italian peninsula reaches +out a long arm of land into the Mediterranean Sea for several hundred +miles toward the sunny Barbary coast of North Africa. This great +southward highway has been chosen by the birds of central Europe as +their favorite migration route. Especially is this true of the small +song-birds with weak wings and a minimum of power for long-sustained +flight. Naturally, they follow the peninsula down to the Italian Land's +End before they launch forth to dare the passage of the Mediterranean. + +[Illustration: AN ITALIAN ROCCOLO, ON LAKE COMO +A Death-Trap for Song-Birds. From the Avicultural Magazine] + +Italy is the narrow end of a great continental funnel, into the wide +northern end of which Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland annually +pour their volume of migratory bird life. And what is the result? For +answer let us take the testimony of two reliable witnesses, and file it +for use on the day when Tony Macchewin, gun in hand and pockets bulging +with cartridges, goes afield in our country and opens fire on our birds. + +The linnet is one of the sweet singers of Europe. It is a small, +delicately formed, weak-winged little bird, about the size of our +phoebe-bird. It weighs only a trifle more than a girl's love-letter. +Where it breeds and rears its young, in Germany for example, a true +sportsman would no more think of shooting a linnet than he would of +killing and eating his daughter's dearest canary. + +To the migrating bird, the approach to northern Italy, either going or +returning, is not through a land of plenty. The sheltering forests have +mostly been swept away, and safe shelters for small birds are very rare. +In the open, there are owls and hawks; and the only refuge from either +is the thick-leafed grove, into which linnets and pipits can dive at the +approach of danger and quickly hide. + +A linnet from the North after days of dangerous travel finally reached +Lake Como, southward bound. The country was much too open for safety, +and its first impulse was to look about for safe shelter. The low bushes +that sparsely covered the steep hillsides were too thin for refuge in +times of sudden danger. + +Ah! Upon a hilltop is a little grove of trees, green and inviting. In +the grove a bird is calling, calling, insistently. The trees are very +small; but they seem to stand thickly together, and their foliage should +afford a haven from both hawk and gunner. To it joyously flits the tired +linnet. As it perches aloft upon a convenient whip-like wand, it notices +for the first time a queer, square brick tower of small dimensions, +rising in the center of a court-yard surrounded by trees. The tower is +like an old and dingy turret that has been shorn from a castle, and set +on the hilltop without apparent reason. It is two stories in height, +with one window, dingy and uninviting. A door opens into its base. + +Several birds that seem very near, but are invisible, frequently call +and chirp, as if seeking answering calls and companionship. Surely the +grove must be a safe place for birds, or they would not be here. + +Hark! A whirring, whistling sound fills the air, like the air tone of a +flying hawk's wings. A hawk! A hawk! + +Down plunges the scared linnet, blindly, frantically, into the space +sheltered by the grove! + +Horrors! What is this? + +Threads! Invisible, interlacing threads; tangled and full of pockets, +treacherously spanning the open space. It is a fowler's net! The linnet +is entangled. It flutters frantically but helplessly, and hangs there, +caught. Its alarm cry is frantically answered by the two strange, +invisible bird voices that come from the top of the tower! + +The grove and the tower are A ROCCOLO! A huge, permanent, merciless, +deadly _trap_, for the wholesale capture of songbirds! The tower is the +hiding place of the fowler, and the calling birds are decoy birds whose +eyes have been totally blinded by red-hot wires in order that they will +call more frantically than birds with eyes would do. The whistling wings +that seemed a hawk were a sham, made by a racquet thrown through the air +by the fowler, through a slot in his tower. He keeps by him many such +racquets. + +The door of the tower opens, and out comes the fowler. He is lowbrowed, +swarthy, ill kept, and wears rings in his ears. A soiled hand seizes the +struggling linnet, and drags it violently from the threads that +entangled it. A sharp-pointed twig is thrust straight through the head +of the helpless victim _at the eyes_, and after one wild, fluttering +agony--it is dead. + +The fowler sighs contentedly, re-enters his dirty and foul-smelling +tower, tosses the feathered atom upon the pile of dead birds that lies +upon the dirty floor in a dirty corner,--and is ready for the next one. + +Ask him, as did Mr. Astley, and he will tell you frankly that there are +about 150 dead birds in the pile,--starlings, sparrows, linnets, +greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches, hawfinches, redstarts, +blackcaps, robins, song thrushes, blackbirds, blue and coal tits, +fieldfares and redwings. He will tell you also, that there are _seven +other roccolos within sight and twelve within easy walking distance_. He +will tell you, as he did Mr. Astley, that during that week he had taken +about 500 birds, and that that number was a fair average for each of the +12 other roccolos. + +This means the destruction of about 5,000 songbirds per week _in that +neighborhood alone!_ Another keeper of a roccolo told Mr. Astley that +during the previous autumn he took about 10,000 birds at his small and +comparatively insignificant roccolo. + +And above that awful roccolo of slaughtered innocents rose _a wooden +cross_, in memory of Christ, the Merciful, the Compassionate! + +Around the interior of the entwined sapling tops that formed the fatal +bower of death there hung a semicircle of tiny cages containing live +decoys,--chaffinches, hawfinches, titmice and several other species. +"The older and staider ones call repeatedly," says Mr. Astley, "and the +chaffinches break into song. It is the only song to be heard in Italy at +the time of the autum migration." + +And the King of Italy, the Queen of Italy, the Parliament of Italy and +His Holiness the Pope permit these things, year in and year out. It is +now said, however, that through the efforts of a recently organized +bird-lovers' society in Italy, the blinding of decoy birds for roccolos +is to be stopped. + +In Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, the protection of these birds +during their breeding season must be very effective, for otherwise the +supply for the Italian slaughter of the Innocents would long ago have +fallen to nothing. + +The Germans love birds, and all wild life. I wonder how they like the +Italian roccolo. I wonder how France regards it; and whether the nations +of Europe north of Italy will endure this situation forever. + +To the American and English reader, comment on the practices recorded +above is quite unnecessary, except the observation that they betoken a +callousness of feeling and a depth of cruelty and destructiveness to +which, so far as known, no savages ever yet have sunk. As an exhibit of +the groveling pusillanimity of the human soul, the roccolo of northern +Italy reveals minus qualities which can not be expressed either in words +or in figures. + +And what is the final exhibit of the gallant knight of the roccolo, the +feudal lord of the modern castle and its retainers? + +The answer is given by Dr. Louis B. Bishop, in an article on "Birds in +the Markets of Southern Europe." + +In Venice, which was visited in October and November, during the fall +migration, he found on sale in the markets, as food, thousands of +songbirds. + +"Birds were there in profusion, from ducks to kites, in the early +morning, hung in great bunches above the stalls, but by 9 A.M. most of +them had been sold. Ducks and shorebirds occurred in some numbers, but +the vast majority were small sparrows, larks and thrushes. These were +there during my visit by the thousands, if not ten thousands. To the +market they were brought in large sacks, strung in fours on twigs which +had been passed through the eyes and then tied. Most of these small +birds had been trapped, and on skinning them I often could find no +injury except at their eyes.[C] One of these sacks which I examined on +November 3, contained hundreds of birds, largely siskins, skylarks and +bramblings. As a rule the small birds that were not sold in the early +morning were skinned or picked, and their tiny bodies packed in regular +order, breasts up, in shadow tin boxes, and exposed for sale." + +[Footnote C: It is probable that these birds were killed by piercing the +head through the eyes.] + +"During these visits to the Venetian markets, I identified 60 species, +and procured specimens of most. As nearly as I can remember, small birds +cost from two to five cents apiece. For example I paid $2.15 on Nov. 8, +for + +1 Woodcock, 1 Skylark, +1 Jay, 1 Greenfinch, +2 Starlings, 1 Bullfinch, +2 Spotted Crakes, 1 Redpoll. +1 Song Thrush, 3 Linnets, +1 Gold-Crest, 2 Goldfinches, +1 Long-Tailed Titmouse, 6 Siskins, +1 Great Titmouse, 3 Reed Buntings, +1 Pipit, 3 Bramblings, +1 Redstart, --and 5 Chaffinches. + +"On November 10, I paid $3.25 for + +2 Coots, 1 European Curlew, +1 Water Rail, 2 Kingfishers, +1 Spotted Crake, 2 Greenfinches, +1 Sparrow Hawk, 2 Wrens, +2 Woodcock, 2 Great Titmouse, +1 Common Redshank, 2 Blue Titmouse, +1 Dusky Redshank, 1 Redbreast, and + 2 Dunlins." + +Of course there were various species of upland game birds, shore-birds +and waterfowl,--everything, in fact, that could be found and killed. In +addition to the passerine birds listed above. Dr. Bishop noted the +following, all in Venice alone: + +Skylark ("in great numbers"), +Crested Lark, Crossbill, +Calandra, House Sparrow, +Tree Sparrow, Stonechat, +Hawfinch, Coal, +Yellow-Hammer, Goldcrest, +Blackbird, Rock Pipit, +Fieldfare, White Wagtail, +Song Thrush, Redwing. + +"In Florence," says Dr. Bishop, "I visited the central market on +November 26, 28, 29, 30, December 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, and found +birds even more plentiful than in Venice." Besides a variety of game +birds, he found quantities of the species mentioned above, seen in +Venice, and also the following: + +Green Sandpiper, Brown Creeper, +Dotterel, Nuthatch, +Magpie, Black-Cap Warbler, +Corn Bunting, Black-Headed Warbler, +Migratory Quail, Fantail Warbler, +Green Woodpecker, Missel Thrush, +Spotted Woodpecker, Ring Ouzel, +Wood Lark, Rock Sparrow, and + Gray Wagtail. + +"Here, too [at Florence] we saw often, bunches and baskets of small +birds, chiefly redbreasts, hawked through the streets.... Every Sunday +that we went into the country we met numbers of Italians out shooting, +and their bags seemed to consist wholly of small birds. + +"At Genoa, San Remo, Monte Carlo and Nice, between December 13 and 29, I +did not visit the central markets, if such exist, but saw frequently +bunches of small birds hanging outside stores.... A gentleman who spent +the fall on an automobile trip through the west of FRANCE _from Brittany +to the Pyrenees, tells me he noticed these bunches of small birds on +sale in every town he visited_. + +"That killing song-birds for food," continues Dr. Bishop, "is not +confined to the poor Italians I learned on October 27, when one of the +most prominent and wealthy Italian _ornithologists_--a delightful +man--told me he had shot 180 skylarks and pipits the day before, and +that his family liked them far better than other game. Our prejudice +against selling game does not exist in Europe, and this same +ornithologist told me he often shot 200 ducks in a day at his +shooting-box, sending to the market what he could not use himself. On +November 1, 1910, he shot 82 ducks, and on November 8, 103, chiefly +widgeon and teal." + +An "ornithologist" indeed! A "sportsman" also, is he not? He belongs +with his brother "ornithologists" of the roccolos, who net their "game" +with the aid of _blind_ birds! Brave men, gallant "sportsmen," are these +men of Italy,--and western France also if the tale is true! + +If the people of Europe can stand the wholesale, systematic slaughter of +their song and insectivorous birds, _we can_! If they are too +mean-spirited to rise up, make a row about it, and stop it, then let +them pay the price; but, by the Eternal, Antonio shall not come to this +country with the song-bird tastes of the roccolo and indulge them here! + +The above facts have been cited, not at all for the benefit of Europe, +but for our own good. The American People are now confronted by the +Italian and Austrian and Hungarian laborer and saloon-keeper and +mechanic, and all Americans should have an exact measure of the +sentiments of southern Europe toward our wild life generally, especially +the birds that we do not shoot at all, _and therefore are easy to kill_. + +When a warden or a citizen arrests an alien for killing any of our +non-game birds, show the judge these records of how they do things in +Italy, and ask for the extreme penalty. + +I have taken pains to publish the above facts from eye-witnesses in +order that every game commissioner, game warden and state legislator who +reads these pages may know exactly what he is "up against" in the alien +population of our country from southern Europe. For unnumbered +generations, the people of Italy have been taught to believe that it is +_perfectly right_ to shoot and devour every song-bird that flies. The +Venetian is no respecter of species; and when an Italian "ornithologist" +(!) can go out and murder 180 linnets and pipits in one day for the pot, +it is time for Americans to think hard. + +We sincerely hope that it will not require blows and kicks and fines to +remove from Antonio's head the idea that America is not Italy, and that +the slaughter of song birds "don't go" in this country. I strongly +recommend to every state the enactment of a law that will do these +things: + +1.--Prohibit the owning, carrying or use of firearms by aliens, and + +2.--Prohibit the use of firearms in hunting by any naturalized alien +from southern Europe until after a 10-years' residence in America. + +From reports that have come to me at first hand regarding Italians in +the East, Hungarians in Pennsylvania and Austrians in Minnesota, it +seems absolutely certain that all members of the lower classes of +southern Europe are a dangerous menace to our wild life. + +On account of the now-accursed land-of-liberty idea, every foreigner +who sails past the statue on Bedloe's Island and lands on our +liberty-ridden shore, is firmly convinced that _now, at last_, he can do +as he pleases! And as one of his first ways in which to show his +newly-acquired personal liberty and independence in the Land of Easy +Marks, he buys a gun and goes out to shoot "free game!" + +If we, as a people, are so indolent and so somnolent that Antonio gets +away with all our wild birds, then do we deserve to be robbed. + +Italians are pouring into America in a steady stream. They are strong, +prolific, persistent and of tireless energy. New York City now contains +340,000 of them. They work while the native Americans sleep. Wherever +they settle, their tendency is to root out the native American and take +his place and his income. Toward wild life the Italian laborer is a +human mongoose. Give him power to act, and he will quickly exterminate +every wild thing that wears feathers or hair. To our songbirds he is +literally a "pestilence that walketh at noonday". + +As we have shown, the Italian is a born pot-hunter, and he has grown up +in the fixed belief that killing song-birds for food is right! To him +all is game that goes into the bag. The moment he sets foot in the open, +he provides himself with a shot-gun, and he looks about for things to +kill. It is "a free country;" therefore, he may kill anything he can +find, cook it and eat it. If anybody attempts to check him,--sapristi! +beware his gun! He cheerfully invades your fields, and even your lawn; +and he shoots robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, grosbeaks, +tanagers, orioles, woodpeckers, quail, snipe, ducks, crows, and herons. + +Down in Virginia, near Charlottesville, an Italian who was working on a +new railroad once killed a turkey buzzard; and he selfishly cooked it +and ate it, all alone. A pot-hunting compatriot of his heard of it, and +reproached him for having-dined on game in camera. In the quarrel that +ensued, one of the "sportsmen" stabbed the other to death. + +When the New York Zoological Society began work on its Park in 1899, the +northern half of the Borough of the Bronx was a regular daily +hunting-ground for the slaughter of song-birds, and all other birds that +could be found. Every Sunday it was "bangetty!" "bang!" from Pelham Bay +to Van Cortlandt. The police force paid not the slightest attention to +these open, flagrant, shameless violations of the city ordinances and +the state bird laws. In those days I never but once heard of a policeman +_on his own initiative_ arresting a birdshooter, even on Sunday; but +whenever meddlesome special wardens from the Zoological Park have +pointedly called upon the local police force for help, it has always +been given with cheerful alacrity. In the fall of 1912 an appeal to the +Police Commissioner resulted in a general order to stop all hunting and +shooting in the Borough of the Bronx, and a reform is now on. + +The war on the bird-killers in New York City began in 1900. It seemed +that if the Zoological Society did not take up the matter, the slaughter +would continue indefinitely. The white man's burden was taken up; and +the story of the war is rather illuminating. Mr. G.O. Shields, +President of the League of American Sportsmen, quickly became interested +in the matter, and entered actively into the campaign. For months +unnumbered, he spent every Sunday patroling the woods and thickets of +northern New York and Westchester county, usually accompanied by John J. +Rose and Rudolph Bell of the Zoological Park force, for whom +appointments as deputy game wardens had been secured from the State. + +The adventures of that redoubtable trio of man-hunters would make an +interesting chapter. They were shot at by poachers, but more frequently +they shot at the other fellows. Just why it was that no one was killed, +no one seems to know. Many Italians and several Americans were arrested +while hunting, haled to court, prosecuted and fined. Finally, a reign of +terror set in; and that was the beginning of the end. It became known +that those three men could not be stopped by threats, and that they +always got their man--unless he got into a human rabbit-warren of the +Italian boarding-house species. That was the only escape that was +possible. + +The largest haul of dead birds was 43 robins, orioles, thrushes and +woodpeckers, captured along with the five Italians who committed the +indiscretion of sitting down in the woods to divide their dead birds. We +saved all the birds in alcohol, and showed them in court. The judge +fined two of the Italians $50 each, and the other three were sent to the +penitentiary for two months each. + +Even yet, however, at long intervals an occasional son of sunny Italy +tries his luck at Sunday bird shooting; but if anyone yells at him to +"Halt!" he throws away his gun and stampedes through the brush like a +frightened deer. The birds of upper New York are now fairly secure; but +it has taken ten years of fighting to bring it about. + +Throughout New York State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, +Massachusetts, and even Minnesota, wherever there are large settlements +of Italians and Hungarians, the reports are the same. They swarm through +the country every Sunday, and shoot every wild thing they see. Wherever +there are large construction works,--railroads, canals or +aqueducts,--look for bird slaughter, and you are sure to find it. The +exception to this rule, so far as I know, is along the line of the new +Catskill aqueduct, coming to New York City. The contractors have elected +not to permit bird slaughter, and the rule has been made that any man +who goes out hunting will instantly be discharged. That is the best rule +that ever was made for the protection of birds and game against +gang-working aliens. + +Let every state and province in America look out sharply for the +bird-killing foreigner; for sooner or later, he will surely attack your +wild life. The Italians are spreading, spreading, spreading. If you are +without them to-day, to-morrow they will be around you. Meet them at the +threshold with drastic laws, throughly enforced; for no half way +measures will answer. + +Pennsylvania has had the worst experience of alien slaughterers of any +state, thus far. _Six_ of her game wardens have been _killed_, and eight +or ten have been wounded, by shooting! Finally her legislature arose in +wrath, and passed a law prohibiting the ownership or possession of guns +of any kind by aliens. The law gives the right of domiciliary search, +and it surely is enforced. Of course the foreign population "kicked" +against the law, but the People's steam roller went over them just the +same. In New York, we require from an alien a license costing $20, and +it has saved a million (perhaps) of our birds; but the Pennsylvania law +is the best. It may be taken as a model for every state and province in +America. Its text is as follows: + + Section I. Be it enacted, &c., That from and after the passage of + this act, it shall be unlawful for any unnaturalized foreign-born + resident to hunt for or capture or kill, in this Commonwealth, any + wild bird or animal, either game or otherwise, of any description, + excepting in defense of person or property; and to that end it shall + be unlawful for any unnaturalized foreign-born resident, within this + Commonwealth, to either own or be possessed of a shotgun or rifle of + any make. Each and every person violating any provision of this + section shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a + penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offense, or undergo + imprisonment in the common jail of the county for the period of one + day for each dollar of penalty imposed. Provided, That in addition + to the before-named penalty, all guns of the before-mentioned kinds + found in possession or under control of an unnaturalized + foreign-born resident shall, upon conviction of such person, or upon + his signing a declaration of guilt as prescribed by this act, be + declared forfeited to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and shall be + sold by the Board of Game Commissioners as hereinafter directed. + + Section 2. For the purpose of this act, any unnaturalized + foreign-born person who shall reside or live within the boundaries + of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for ten consecutive days shall + be considered a resident and shall be liable to the penalties + imposed for violation of the provisions of this act. + + Section 3. That the possession of a shotgun or rifle at any place + outside of a building, within this Commonwealth, by an unnaturalized + foreign-born resident, shall be conclusive proof of a violation of + the provisions of section one of this act, and shall render any + person convicted thereof liable to the penalty as fixed by said + section. + + Section 4. That the presence of a shotgun or rifle in a room or + house, or building or tent, or camp of any description, within this + Commonwealth, occupied by or controlled by an unnaturalized + foreign-born resident shall be prima facie evidence that such gun is + owned or controlled by the person occupying or controlling the + property in which such gun is found, and shall render such person + liable to the penalty imposed by section one of this act. + +Other sections provide for the full enforcement of this law. + +It is now high time, and an imperative public necessity, that every +state should act in this matter, before its bird life is suddenly +attacked, and serious inroads made upon it. Do it NOW! The enemy is +headed your way. Don't wait for him to strike the first blow! + +_Duty of the Italian Press and Clergy_.--Now what is the best remedy for +the troubles that will arise for Italians in America because of wrong +principles established in Italy? It is not in the law, the police, the +court and the punishment. It is in _educating the Italian into a +knowledge of the duties of the good citizen_! The Italian press and +clergy can do this; and _no one else can do it so easily, so quickly and +so well_! + +Those two powerful forces should enter seriously upon this task. In +every other respect, the naturalized Italian tries to become a good +citizen, and adjust himself to the laws and the customs of his new +country. Why should he not do this in regard to bird life? It is not too +much to ask, nor is it too much to _exact_. Does the Italian workman, or +store-keeper who makes his living by honest toil _enjoy_ breaking our +bird laws, _enjoy_ irritating and injuring those with whom he has come +to live? Does he _enjoy_ being watched, and searched, and chased, and +arrested,--all for a few small birds that he _does not need_ for food? +He earns good wages; he has plenty of good food; and he must be +_educated_ into protecting our birds instead of destroying them. The +Italian newspapers and clergy have a serious duty to perform in this +matter, and we hope they will diligently discharge it. + +[Illustration: DEAD SONG-BIRDS +These jars contain the dead bodies of 43 valuable insectivorous birds +that were taken from two Italians in October, 1905, in the suburbs of +New York City, by game wardens of the New York Zoological Society.] + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XII + + +DESTRUCTION OF SONG BIRDS BY SOUTHERN NEGROES AND POOR WHITES + +Before going farther, there is one point that I wish to make quite +clear. + +Whenever the people of a particular race make a specialty of some +particular type of wrong-doing, anyone who pointedly rebukes the faulty +members of that race is immediately accused of "race prejudice." On +account of the facts I am now setting forth about the doings of Italian +and negro bird-killers, I expect to be accused along that line. If I am, +I shall strenuously deny the charge. The facts speak for themselves. +Zoologically, however, I am strongly prejudiced against the people of +any race, creed, club, state or nation who make a specialty of any +particularly offensive type of bird or wild animal slaughter; and I do +not care who knows it. + +The time was, and I remember it very well, when even the poorest gunner +scorned to kill birds that were not considered "game." In days lang +syne, many a zoological collector has been jeered because the specimens +he had killed for preservation were not "game." + +But times have changed. In the wearing of furs, we have bumped down +steps both high and steep. In 1880 American women wore sealskin, marten, +otter, beaver and mink. To-day nothing that wears hair is too humble to +be skinned and worn. To-day "they are wearing" skins of muskrats, foxes, +rabbits, skunks, domestic cats, squirrels, and even rats. And see how +the taste for game,--of some sections of our population,--also has gone +down. + +In the North, the Italians are fighting for the privilege of eating +everything that wears feathers; but we allow no birds to be shot for +food save game birds and cranes. In the South, the negroes and poor +whites are killing song-birds, woodpeckers and doves for food; and in +several states some of it is done under the authority of the laws. Look +at these awful lists: + + * * * * * + +IN THESE STATES, ROBINS ARE LEGALLY SHOT AND EATEN: + +Louisiana North Carolina Tennessee Texas +Mississippi South Carolina Maryland Florida + +IN THESE STATES, BLACKBIRDS ARE LEGALLY SHOT AND EATEN: + +Louisiana Pennsylvania Tennessee +District of Columbia South Carolina + +CRANES ARE SHOT AND EATEN IN THESE STATES: + +Colorado North Dakota Nevada Oklahoma Nebraska + +In Mississippi, the _cedar bird_ is legally shot and eaten! In North +Carolina, the meadow lark is shot and eaten. + +IN THE FOLLOWING STATES, DOVES ARE CONSIDERED "GAME," AND ARE SHOT IN AN +"OPEN SEASON:" + +Alabama Georgia Minnesota Ohio +Arkansas Idaho Mississippi Oregon +California Illinois Missouri Pennsylvania +Connecticut Kentucky Nebraska South Carolina +Delaware Louisiana New Mexico Tennessee +Dist. of Columbia Maryland North Carolina Texas + Utah Virginia + + * * * * * + +The killing of doves represents a great and widespread decline in the +ethics of sportsmanship. In the twenty-six States named, a great many +men who _call_ themselves sportsmen indulge in the cheap and ignoble +pastime of potting weak and confiding doves. It is on a par with the +"sport" of hunting English sparrows in a city street. Of course this is, +to a certain extent, a matter of taste; but there is at least one club +of sportsmen into which no dove-killer can enter, provided his standard +of ethics is known in advance. + +With the killing of robins, larks, blackbirds and cedar birds for food, +the case is quite different. No white man calling himself a sportsman +ever indulges in such low pastimes as the killing of such birds for +food. That burden of disgrace rests upon the negroes and poor whites of +the South; but at the same time, it is a shame that respectable white +men sitting in state legislatures should deliberately enact laws +_permitting_ such disgraceful practices, or permit such disgraceful and +ungentlemanly laws to remain in force! + +Here is a case by way of illustration, copied very recently from the +Atlanta _Journal_: + + Editor _Journal_:--I located a robin roost up the Trinity River, six + miles from Dallas, and prevailed on six Dallas sportsmen to go with + me on a torch-light bird hunt. This style of hunting was, of course, + new to the Texans, but they finally consented to go, and I had the + pleasure of showing them how it was done. + + Equipped with torch lights and shot guns, we proceeded. After + reaching the hunting grounds the sport began in reality, and + continued for two hours and ten minutes, with a total slaughter of + 10,157 birds, an average of 1,451 birds killed by each man. + + But the Texans give me credit for killing at least 2,000 of the + entire number. I was called 'the king of bird hunters' by the + sportsmen of Dallas, Texas, and have been invited to + command-in-chief the next party of hunters which go from Dallas to + the Indian Territory in search of large game.--F.L. CROW, Dallas, + Texas, former Atlantan. + +Dallas, Texas, papers and Oklahoma papers, please copy! + +As a further illustration of the spirit manifested in the South toward +robins, I quote the following story from Dr. P.P. Claxton, of the +University of Tennessee, as related in Audubon Educational Leaflet No. +46, by Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson:-- + +"The roost to which I refer," says Professor Claxton, "was situated in +what is locally known as a 'cedar glade,' near Porestville, Bedford Co., +Tennessee. This is a great cedar country, and robins used to come in +immense numbers during the winter months, to feed on the berries. + +[Illustration: THE ROBIN OF THE NORTH +Our best-beloved Song Bird, now being legally shot as "game" in the +South. In the North there is now only one robin for every ten formerly +there.] + +"The spot which the roost occupied was not unlike numerous others that +might have been selected. The trees grew to a height of from five to +thirty feet, and for a mile square were literally loaded at night with +robins. Hunting them while they roosted was a favorite sport. A man +would climb a cedar tree with a torch, while his companions with poles +and clubs would disturb the sleeping birds on the adjacent trees. +Blinded by the light, the suddenly awakened birds flew to the +torch-bearer; who, _as he seized each bird would quickly pull off its +head_, and drop it into a sack suspended from his shoulders. + +[Illustration: THE MOCKING-BIRD OF THE SOUTH +This sweet singer of the South is NOT being shot in the North +for food! No northern lawmaker ever will permit such barbarity.] + +"The capture of three of four hundred birds was an ordinary night's +work. Men and boys would come in wagons from all the adjoining counties +and camp near the roost for the purpose of killing robins. Many times, +100 or more hunters with torches and clubs would be at work in a single +night. _For three years_ this tremendous slaughter continued in +winter,--and then the survivors deserted the roost." + +[Illustration: NORTHERN ROBINS READY FOR SOUTHERN SLAUGHTER +195 Birds at Avery Island, La. in January 1912, Photographed Daring the +Annual Slaughter, by E.A. McIlhenny] + +No: these people were not Apache Indians, led by a Geronimo who knew no +mercy, no compassion. We imagine that they were mostly poor white trash, +of Tennessee. One small hamlet sent to market annually enough dead +robins to return $500 at _five cents per dozen_; which means _120,000 +birds_! + +Last winter Mr. Edward A. McIlhenny of Avery Island, La. (south of New +Iberia) informed me that every winter, during the two weeks that the +holly berries are ripe thousands of robins come to his vicinity to feed +upon them. "Then every negro man and boy who can raise a gun is after +them. About 10,000 robins are slaughtered each day while they remain. +Their dead bodies are sold in New Iberia at 10 cents each." The +accompanying illustrations taken by Mr. McIlhenny shows 195 robins on +one tree, and explains how such great slaughter is possible. + +An officer of the Louisiana Audubon Society states that a conservative +estimate of the number of robins annually killed in Louisiana for food +purposes when they are usually plentiful, is a _quarter of a million_! + +The food of the robin is as follows: + +Insects, 40 per cent; wild fruit, 43 per cent; cultivated fruit, 8 per +cent, miscellaneous vegetable food, 5 per cent. + +SPECIAL WORK OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES.--In 1912 a female colored servant +who recently had arrived from country life in Virginia chanced to remark +to me at our country home in the middle of August: "I wish I could find +some birds' nests!" + +"What for?" I asked, rather puzzled. + +"Why, to get the aigs and _eat 'em!_" she responded with a bright smile +and flashing teeth. + +"Do you eat the eggs of _wild_ birds?" + +"Yes indeed! It's _fine_ to get a pattridge nest! From them we nearly +always git a whole dozen of aigs at once,--back where I live, in +Virginia." + +"Do the colored people of Virginia make a _practice_ of hunting for the +eggs of wild birds, and eating them?" + +"Yes, indeed we do. In the spring and summer, when the birds are around, +we used to get out every Sunday, and hunt all day. Some days we'd come +back with a whole bucket full of aigs; and then we'd set up half the +night, cookin' and eatin' 'em. They was _awful_ good!" + +Her face fairly beamed at the memory of it. + +A few days later, this story of the doings of Virginia negroes was fully +corroborated by a colored man who came from another section of that +state. Three months later, after special inquiries made at my request, a +gentleman of Richmond obtained further corroboration, from negroes. He +was himself much surprised by the state of fact that was revealed to +him. + +In the North, the economic value of our song birds and other destroyers +of insects and weed seeds is understood by a majority of the people, and +as far as possible those birds are protected from all human enemies. But +in the South, a new division of the Army of Destruction has risen into +deadly prominence. + +In _Recreation_ Magazine for May, 1909, Mr. Charles Askins published a +most startling and illuminating article, entitled "The South's Problem +in Game Protection." It brought together in concrete form and with +eye-witness reliability the impressions that for months previous had +been gaining ground in the North. In order to give the testimony of a +man who has seen what he describes, I shall now give numerous quotations +from Mr. Askins' article, which certainly bears the stamp of +truthfulness, without any "race prejudice" whatever. It is a calm, +judicial, unemotional analysis of a very bad situation: and I +particularly commend it alike to the farmers of the North and all the +true sportsmen of the South. + +In his opening paragraphs Mr. Askins describes game and hunting +conditions in the South as they were down to twenty years ago, when the +negroes were too poor to own guns, and shooting was not for them. + + * * * * * + +SPECIAL WORK OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES. + + It is all different now, says Mr. Askins, and the old days will only + come back with the water that has gone down the stream. The master + is with his fathers or he is whiling away his last days on the + courthouse steps of the town. Perhaps a chimney or two remain of + what was once the "big house" on the hill; possibly it is still + standing, but as forlorn and lifeless as a dead tree. The muscadine + grapes still grow in the swale and the persimmons in the pasture + field, but neither 'possum nor 'coon is left to eat them. The last + deer vanished years ago, the rabbits died in their baby coats and + the quail were killed in June. Old "Uncle Ike" has gone across the + "Great River" with his master, and his grandson glances at you + askance, nods sullenly, whistles to his half breed bird dog, + shoulders his three dollar gun and leaves you. He is typical of the + change and has caused it, this grandson of dear old Uncle Ike. + + In the same way the white man is telling the black to abide upon the + plantation raising cotton and corn, and further than this nothing + will be required of him. He can cheat a white man or a black, steal + in a petty way anything that comes handy, live in marriage or out of + it to please himself, kill another negro if he likes, and lastly + shoot every wild thing that can be eaten, if only he raises the + cotton and the corn. But the white sportsmen of the South have never + willingly granted the shooting privilege in its entirety, and hence + this story. They have told him to trap the rabbits, pot the robins, + slaughter the doves, kill the song birds, but to spare the white + sportsman's game, the aristocratic little bobwhite quail. + + In the beginning not so much damage to southern game interests could + be accomplished by our colored man and brother, however decided his + inclinations. He had no money, no ammunition and no gun. His weapons + were an ax, a club, a trap, and a hound dog; possibly he might own + an old war musket bored out for shot. Such an outfit was not adapted + to quail shooting and especially to wing shooting, with which + knowledge Dixie's sportsmen were content. Let the negro ramble about + with his hound dog and his war musket; he couldn't possibly kill the + quail. And so Uncle Ike's grandson loafed and pottered about in the + fields with his ax and his hound dogs, not doing so much harm to the + quail but acquiring knowledge of the habits of the birds and skill + as a still-hunting pot-hunter that would serve him well later on. + The negro belongs to a primitive race of people and all such races + have keener eyes than white men whose fathers have pored over lines + of black and white. He learned to see the rabbit in its form, the + squirrels in the leafy trees, and the quails huddled in the grass. + The least shade of gray in the shadow of the creek bank he + distinguished at once as a rabbit, a glinting flash from a tree top + he knew instantly as being caused by the slight movement of a hidden + squirrel, and the quiver of a single stem of sedge grass told him of + a bevy of birds hiding in the depths. The pot-hunting negro has all + the skill of the Indian, has more industry in his loafing, and kills + without pity and without restraint. This grandson of Uncle Ike was + growing sulky, too, with the knowledge that the white man was + bribing him with half a loaf to raise cotton and corn when he might + as well exact it all. And this he shortly did, as we shall see. + + The time came when cotton went up to sixteen cents a pound and + single breech-loading guns went down to five dollars apiece. The + negro had money now, and the merchants--these men who had said let + the nigger alone so long as he raises cotton and corn--sold him the + guns, a gun for every black idler, man and boy, in all the South. + Then shortly a wail went up from the sportsmen, "The niggers are + killing our quail." They not only were killing them, but most of the + birds were already dead. On the grounds of the Southern Field Club + where sixty bevies were raised by the dogs in one day, within two + years but three bevies could be found in a day by the hardest kind + of hunting; and this story was repeated all over the South. Now the + negro began to raise bird dogs in place of hounds, and he carried + his new gun to church if services happened to be held on a week day. + Finally the negro had grown up and had compassed his ambition: he + could shoot partridges flying just the same as a white man, was a + white man except for a trifling difference in color; and he could + kill more birds, too, three times as many. It was merely a change + from the old order to the new in which a dark-skinned "sportsman" + had taken the place in plantation life of the dear old "Colonel" of + loved memory. The negro had exacted his price for raising cotton and + corn. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTHERN-NEGRO METHOD OF COMBING OUT THE WILD LIFE +"Our colored sportsman is gregarious at all times, but especially so in +the matter of recreation. He may slouch about alone, and pot a bevy or +two of quail when in actual need of something to eat, or when he has a +sale for the birds, but when it comes to shooting for fun he wants to be +with the 'gang'."--Charles Askins. +Reproduced from Recreation Magazine. By permission of the Outdoor World.] + + Our colored sportsman is gregarious at all times, but especially so + in the matter of recreation. He may slouch about alone and pot a + bevy or two of quail when in actual need of something to eat, or + when he has a sale for the birds, but when it comes to shooting for + fun he wants to be with the "gang." I have seen the darkies at + Christmas time collect fifty in a drove with every man his dog, and + spread out over the fields. Such a glorious time as he has then! A + single cottontail will draw a half-dozen shots and perhaps a couple + of young bucks will pour loads into a bunny after he is dead out of + pure deviltry and high spirits. I once witnessed the accidental + killing of a young negro on this kind of a foray. His companions + loaded him into a wagon, stuck a cigar in his mouth, and tried to + pour whiskey down him every time they took a drink themselves as + they rode back to town. This army of black hunters and their dogs + cross field after field, combing the country with fine teeth that + leave neither wild animal nor bird life behind. + + There comes a time toward the spring of the year after the quail + season is over when the average rural darky is "between hay and + grass." The merchants on whom he has depended for supplies make it a + practice to refuse credit between January first and crop time. The + black has spent his cotton money, his sweet potato pile has + vanished, the sorghum barrel is empty, he has eaten the last of his + winter's pork, and all that remains is a bit of meal and the meat + his gun can secure. He is hunting in grim earnest now, using all the + cunning and skill acquired by years of practice. He eats + woodpeckers, jaybirds, hawks and skunks, drawing the line only at + crows and buzzards. At this season of the year I have carried + chicken hawks up to the cabins for the sake of watching the delight + of the piccaninnies who with glowing eyes would declare, "Them's + mos' as good as chicken." What happens to the robins, doves, larks, + red birds, mocking birds and all songsters in this hungry season + needs hardly to be stated. + + It is also a time between hay and grass for the rabbits and the + quail. The corn fields are bare and the weed seeds are exhausted. A + spring cold spell pinches, they lose their vitality, become thin and + quite lack their ordinary wariness. Then the figure-four trap + springs up in the hedgerow and the sedge while the work of + decimation goes more rapidly along. The rabbits can no longer escape + the half-starved dogs, the thinning cover fails to hide the quail + and the song birds betray themselves by singing of the coming + spring. + + With the growing scarcity of the game now comes the season of sedge + and field burning. This is done ostensibly to prepare the land for + spring plowing, but really to destroy the last refuge of the quail + and rabbits so that they can be bagged with certainty. All the + negroes of a neighborhood collect for one of these burnings, all + their dogs, and of course all the boys from six years old up. They + surround the field and set it on fire in many places, leaving small + openings for the game to dash out among the motley assembly. I have + seen quail fly out of the burning grass with flaming particles still + attached to them. They alight on the burnt ground too bewildered to + fly again and the boys and dogs pick them up. Crazed rabbits try the + gauntlet amidst the barking curs, shouting negroes and popping guns, + but death is sure and quick. The few quail that may escape have no + refuge from the hawks and nothing to eat, so every battue of this + kind marks the absolute end of the birds in one vicinity; and the + next day the darkies repeat the performance elsewhere. + + At this season of the year, the first of May, the blacks are putting + in some of their one hundred working days while the single + breech-loader rusts in the chimney corner. Surely the few birds that + have escaped the foray of the "gang," lived through the hungry days, + and survived their burned homes can now call "Bob White" and mate in + peace. But school is out and the summer sun is putting new life into + the bare feet of the half-grown boys, and the halfbreed bird dogs + are busier than they were even in winter. The young rabbits are + killed before they get out of the nest, and the quail eggs must be + hidden rarely well that escape both the eyes of the boys and the + noses of the dogs. After all it is not surprising that but three + bevies remained of the sixty. Doubtless they would not, except that + nature is very kind to her own in the sunny South. + + Not every white man in the South is a sportsman or even a shooter; + many are purely business men who have said let the "nigger" do as he + likes so long as he raises cotton and buys our goods. But Dixie has + her full share of true men of the out-of-doors and they have sworn + in downright Southern fashion that this thing has got to end. + Nevertheless their problem is deep and puzzling. In Alabama they + made an effort and a beginning. They asked for a law requiring every + man to obtain written permission before entering the lands of + another to hunt and shoot; they asked for a resident license law + taxing every gun not less than five dollars a year; for a shortened + season, a bag limit, and a complete system of State wardens. + Unfortunately, a lot of white farmers were in the same range as the + blacks, and being hit, too, they raised a great outcry. The result + was that the Alabama sportsmen got everything they asked for except + the foundation of the structure they were trying to build, the high + resident license or gun tax which alone could have shut out three + dollar guns and saved the remnant of the game. Under the new law the + sale of game was forbidden, neither could it be shipped out of the + State alive or dead; the ever popular non-resident license was + provided for; the season was shortened and the bag limited; the + office of State game warden was created with deputies to be paid + from fines; hunting upon the lands of another without written + permission became a misdemeanor; and then the whole thing was + nullified by reducing the resident license to nothing where a man + shot upon his own land, one dollar in his own county, and two + dollars outside of it. In its practical workings the new law amounts + to this: A few northern gunners have paid the non-resident license + fee, and enough resident licenses have been taken out by the city + sportsmen to make up the handsome salary of the State warden. The + negro still hunts upon his own land _or upon the land of the man who + wants corn and cotton raised_, with perfect indifference to the + whole thing. Who was to enforce the law against him? Not the one + disgusted deputy with three big counties to patrol who depended for + his salary upon the fines collected from the negroes. It would take + one man to every three miles square to protect the game in the + South. + + The one effective way of dealing with the situation in Alabama was + to have legislated three dollar guns out of existence with a five + dollar tax, adding to this nearly a like amount on dogs. Hardly a + sportsman in the South will disagree with this conclusion. But + sportsmen never had a majority vote either in the South or in the + North, and the South's grave problem is yet unsolved. + + I do not favor depriving the black man of his natural human right to + hunt and shoot. If he is the owner of land, or if he leases or rents + it, or if he does not, he should have exactly the same privilege of + hunting that the white man has. That is not the question now, + however, but how to restrict him to legal shooting, to make him + amenable to the law that governs the white man, to deprive him of + the absolute license he now enjoys to kill throughout the year + without mercy, without discrimination, without restraint. If only + for selfish reasons, we of the North should reach to southern + sportsmen a helping hand, for by and by the last of our migratory + song birds will go down into Dixie and never return. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Askins has fairly stated a profoundly disturbing case. The remedy +must contain at least three ingredients. The sportsmen of the South must +stop the unjustifiable slaughter of their non-migratory game birds. As a +matter of comity between states, the gentlemen of the South must pass +laws to stop the killing of northern song-birds and all crop-protecting +birds, for food. Finally, all men, North and South, East and West, must +unite in the work that is necessary to secure the immediate enactment by +Congress of a law for the federal protection of all migratory birds. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XIII + +EXTERMINATION OF BIRDS FOR WOMEN'S HATS[D] + + +[Footnote D: In the preparation of this chapter and its illustrations, I +have had much valuable assistance from Mr. C. William Beebe, who +recently has probed the London feather trade almost to the bottom.] + +It is high time for the whole civilized world to know that many of the +most beautiful and remarkable birds of the world are now being +_exterminated_ to furnish millinery ornaments for women's wear. The mass +of new information that we have recently secured on this traffic from +the headquarters of the feather trade is appalling. Previously, I had +not dreamed that conditions are half as bad as they are. + +It is entirely fitting that on this subject New York should send a +message to London. New York is almost a Spotless Town in plume-free +millinery, and London and Paris are the worst places in the world. We +have cleaned house. With but extremely slight exceptions, the blood of +the slaughtered innocents is no longer upon our skirts, and on the +subject of plumage millinery we have a right to be just as Pharisaical +as we choose. + +Here in New York (and also in New Jersey) no man may sell, own for sale +or offer for sale the plumage of any wild American bird other than a +game bird. More than that, the plumage of no foreign bird belonging to +any bird family represented in the fauna of North America can be sold +here! There are only a few kinds of improper "millinery" feathers that +it is possible to sell here under the law. Thanks to the long and +arduous campaign of the National Association of Audubon Societies, +founded and for ten years directed by gallant William Dutcher, you now +see on the streets of New York very, very little wild-bird plumage save +that from game birds. + +It is true that a few servant girls are now wearing the cast-off +aigrettes of their mistresses; but they are only as one in a thousand. +At Atlantic City there is said to be a fine display of servant-girl and +ladies-maid aigrettes. In New York and New Jersey, in Pennsylvania for +everything save the sale of heron and egret plumes (a privilege obtained +by a bunko game), in Massachusetts, and in many other of our States, the +wild-birds'-plumage millinery business is dead. Two years ago, when the +New York legislature refused to repeal the Dutcher law, the Millinery +Association asserted, and brought a cloud of witnesses to Albany to +prove, that the enforcement of the law would throw thousands of +operatives out of employment. + + +[Illustration: BEAUTIFUL AND CURIOUS BIRDS NOW BEING DESTROYED +FOR THE FEATHER TRADE--(I) +Belted Kingfisher +Victoria Crowned Pigeon +Superb Calliste +Greater Bird of Paradise +Common Tern +Cock of the Rock] + +The law is in effect; and the aigrette business is dead in this state. +Have any operatives starved, or been thrown out of employment? We have +heard of none. They are now at work making very pretty hat ornaments of +silk and ribbons, and gauze and lace; and "_They_ are wearing them." + +[Illustration: 1600 HUMMINGBIRD SKINS AT 2 CENTS EACH! +Part of Lot Purchased by the Zoological Society at the Regular Quarterly +London Millinery Feather Sale, August, 1912.] + +But even while these words are being written, there is one large fly in +the ointment. The store-window of E. &. S. Meyers, 688 Broadway, New +York, contains about _six hundred plumes and skins of birds of paradise +for sale for millinery purposes_. No wonder the great bird of paradise +is now almost extinct! Their sale here is possible because the Dutcher +law protects from the feather dealers only the birds that belong to +avian families represented in the United States. With fiendish cunning +and enterprise, the shameless feather dealers are ferreting out the +birds whose skins and plumes may legally be imported into this country +and sold; but we will meet that with a law that will protect all +foreign birds, so far as we are concerned. Now it is time for the +universal enactment of a law which will prohibit the sale and use as +ornaments of the plumage, feathers or skins of _any_ wild bird that is +not a legitimate game bird. + +London is now the head of the giant octopus of the "feather trade" that +has reached out its deadly tentacles into the most remote wildernesses +of the earth, and steadily is drawing in the "skins" and "plumes" and +"quills" of the most beautiful and most interesting _unprotected_ birds +of the world. The extent of this cold-blooded industry, supported by +vain and hard-hearted women, will presently be shown in detail. Paris is +the great manufacturing center of feather trimming and ornaments, and +the French people obstinately refuse to protect the birds from +extermination, because their slaughter affords employment to a certain +numbers of French factory operatives. + +All over the world where they have real estate possessions, the men of +England know how to protect game from extermination. The English are +good at protecting game--when they decide to set about it. + +Why should London be the Mecca of the feather-killers of the world? + +It is easily explained: + +(1) London has the greatest feather market in the world; (2) the feather +industry "wants the money"; and (3) the London feather industry is +willing to spend money in fighting to retain its strangle-hold on the +unprotected birds of the world. + +Let us run through a small portion of the mass of fresh evidence before +us. It will be easier for the friends of birds to read these details +here than to procure them at first hand, as we have done. + +The first thing that strikes one is the fact that the feather-hunters +are scattered _all over the world where bird life is plentiful_ and +there are no laws to hinder their work. I commend to every friend of +birds this list of the species whose plumage is to-day being bought and +sold in large quantities every year in London. To the birds of the world +this list is of deadly import, for it spells extermination. + +The reader will notice that it is the way of the millinery octopus to +reach out to the uttermost ends of the earth, and take everything that +it can use. From the trackless jungles of New Guinea, round the world +both ways to the snow-capped peaks of the Andes, no unprotected bird is +safe. The humming-birds of Brazil, the egrets of the world at large, the +rare birds of paradise, the toucan, the eagle, the condor and the emu, +all are being _exterminated_ to swell the annual profits of the +millinery trade. The case is _far_ more serious than the world at large +knows, or even suspects. But for the profits, the birds would be safe; +and no unprotected wild species can long escape the hounds of Commerce. + +But behold the list of rare, curious and beautiful birds that are today +in grave peril: + +[Illustration: BEAUTIFUL AND CURIOUS BIRDS NOW BEING DESTROYED +FOR THE FEATHER TRADE--(II) +Lyre Bird +White Ibis +Golden Eagle +Resplendent Trogan +Silver Pheasant +Toco Toucan] + + * * * * * + +LIST OF BIRDS NOW BEING EXTERMINATED FOR THE LONDON AND CONTINENTAL +FEATHER MARKETS: + +_Species_. _Locality._ +American Egret Venezuela, S. America, Mexico, etc. +Snowy Egret Venezuela, S. America, Mexico, etc. +Scarlet Ibis Tropical South America. +"Green" Ibis Species not recognizable by its trade name. +Herons, generally All unprotected regions. +Marabou Stork Africa. +Pelicans, all species All unprotected regions. +Bustard Southern Asia, Africa. +Greater Bird of Paradise New Guinea; Aru Islands. +Lesser Bird of Paradise New Guinea. +Red Bird of Paradise Islands of Waigiou and Batanta. +Twelve-Wired Bird of Paradise New Guinea, Salwatti. +Black Bird of Paradise Northern New Guinea. +Rifle Bird of Paradise New Guinea generally. +Jobi Bird of Paradise Island of Jobi. +King Bird of Paradise New Guinea. +Magnificent Bird of Paradise New Guinea. +Impeyan Pheasant Nepal and India. +Tragopan Pheasant Nepal and India. +Argus Pheasant Malay Peninsula, Borneo. +Silver Pheasant Burma and China. +Golden Pheasant China. +Jungle Cock East Indies and Burma. +Peacock East Indies and India. +Condor South America. +Vultures, generally Where not protected. +Eagles, generally All unprotected regions. +Hawks, generally All unprotected regions. +Crowned Pigeon, two species New Guinea. +"Choncas" Locality unknown. +Pitta East Indies. +Magpie Europe. +Touracou, or Plantain-Eater Africa. +Velvet Birds Locality uncertain. +"Grives" Locality uncertain. +Mannikin South America. +Green Parrot (now protected) India. +"Dominos" (Sooty Tern) Tropical Coasts and Islands. +Garnet Tanager South America. +Grebe All unprotected regions. +Green Merle Locality uncertain. +"Horphang" Locality uncertain. +Rhea South America. +"Sixplet" Locality uncertain. +Starling Europe. +Tetras Locality not determined. +Emerald-Breasted Hummingbird West Indies, Cent, and S. America. +Blue-Throated Hummingbird West Indies, Cent, and S. America. +Amethyst Hummingbird West Indies, Cent, and S. America. +Resplendent Trogon, several species Central America. +Cock-of-the-Rock South America. +Macaw South America. +Toucan South America. +Emu Australia. +Sun-Bird East Indies. +Owl All unprotected regions. +Kingfisher All unprotected regions. +Jabiru Stork South America. +Albatross All unprotected regions. +Tern, all species All unprotected regions. +Gull, all species All unprotected regions. + + * * * * * + +In order to throw a spot-light on the most recent transactions in the +London wild-birds'-plumage market, and to furnish a clear idea of what +is to-day going on in London, Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam, I will set +out in some detail the report of an agent whom I engaged to ascertain +the London dealings in the plumage of wild birds that were killed +especially to furnish that plumage. As one item, let us take the sales +in London in February, May and October, 1911, because they bring the +subject well down to date. My agent's explanatory note is as follows: + +"These three sales represent six months. Very nearly double this +quantity is sold by these four firms in a year. We must also take into +consideration that all the feathers are not brought to the London +market, and that _very large shipments are also made direct to the +raw-feather dealers and manufacturers of Paris and Berlin, and that +Amsterdam also gets large quantities from the West Indies_. For your +purpose, I report upon three sales, at different periods of the year +1911, and as those sales do not vary much, you will be able to judge the +consumption of birds in a year." + +The "aigrettes" of the feather trade come from egrets, and, being very +light, it requires the death of several birds to yield one ounce. In +many catalogues, the word "albatross" stands for the jabiru, a +nearly-exterminated species of giant stork, inhabiting South America. +"Rhea" often stands for vulture plumage. + +If the feather dealers had deliberately attempted to form an educational +list of the most beautiful and the most interesting birds of the world, +they could hardly have done better than they have done in the above +list. If it were in my power to show the reader a colored plate of each +species now being exterminated by the feather trade, he would be +startled by the exhibit. That the very choicest birds of the whole avian +world should be thus blotted out at the behest of vain and heartless +women is a shame, a disgrace and world-wide loss. + + * * * * * + +LONDON FEATHER SALE OF FEBRUARY, 1911 + +_Sold by Hale & Sons Sold by Dalton & Young_ +Aigrettes 3,069 ounces Aigrettes 1,606 ounces +Herons 960 " Herons 250 " +Birds of Paradise 1,920 skins Paradise 4,330 bodies + +_Sold by Figgis & Co. Sold by Lewis & Peat_ +Aigrettes 421 ounces Aigrettes 1,250 ounces +Herons 103 " Paradise 362 skins +Paradise 414 skins Eagles 384 " +Eagles 2,600 " Trogons 206 " +Condors 1,580 " Hummingbirds 24,800 " +Bustards 2,400 " + +LONDON FEATHER SALE OF MAY, 1911 + +_Sold by Hale & Sons Sold by Dalton & Young_ +Aigrettes 1,390 ounces Aigrettes 2,921 ounces +Herons 178 " Herons 254 " +Paradise 1,686 skins Paradise 5,303 skins +Red Ibis 868 " Golden Pheasants 1,000 " +Junglecocks 1,550 " +Parrots 1,700 " +Herons 500 " + +_Sold by Figgis & Co. Sold by Lewis & Peat_ +Aigrettes 201 ounces Aigrettes 590 ounces +Herons 248 " Herons 190 " +Paradise 546 skins Paradise 60 skins +Falcons, Hawks 1,500 " Trogons 348 " + Hummingbirds 6,250 " + +LONDON FEATHER SALE OF OCTOBER, 1911 + +_Sold by Hale & Sons Sold by Dalton & Young_ +Aigrettes 1,020 ounces Aigrettes 5,879 ounces +Paradise 2,209 skins Heron 1,608 " +Hummingbirds 10,040 " Paradise 2,850 skins +Bustard 28,000 quills Condors 1,500 " + Eagles 1,900 " + +_Sold by Figgis & Co. Sold by Lewis & Peat_ +Aigrettes 1,501 ounces Aigrettes 1,680 ounces +Herons 140 " Herons 400 " +Paradise 318 skins Birds of Paradise 700 skins + +If I am correctly informed, the London feather trade admits that it +requires six egrets to yield one "ounce" of aigrette plumes. This being +the case, the 21,528 ounces sold as above stand for 129,168 egrets +killed for nine months' supply of egret plumes, for London alone. + +The total number of bird corpses auctioned during these three sales is +as follows: + +Aigrettes, 21,528 ounces = 129,168 Egrets. +Herons, 2,683 " = 13,598 Herons. + 20,698 Birds of Paradise. + 41,090 Hummingbirds. + 9,464 Eagles, Condors, etc. + 9,472 Other Birds. + ------- + Total number of birds 223,490 + + * * * * * + +It is to be remembered that the sales listed above cover the +transactions of four firms only, and do not in any manner take into +account the direct importations from Paris, Berlin and Amsterdam of +manufacturers and other dealers. The defenders of the feather trade are +at great pains to assure the world that in the monthly, bi-monthly and +quarterly sales, feathers often appear in the market twice in the same +year; and this statement is made for them in order to be absolutely +fair. Recent examinations of the plume catalogues for an entire year, +marked with the price _paid_ for each item, reveals very few which are +blank, indicating no sale! The subtractions of the duplicated items +would alter the result only very slightly. + +The full extent of England's annual consumption of the plumage of wild +birds slaughtered especially for the trade never has been determined. I +doubt whether it is possible to ascertain it. The information that we +have is so fragmentary that in all probability it reflects only a small +portion of the whole truth, but for all that, it is sufficient to prove +the case of the Defenders of the Birds _vs_. the London Chamber of +Commerce. + +IMPORTS OF FEATHERS AND DOWN (ORNAMENTAL) FOR THE YEAR 1910 + + _Pounds_ _Value_ +Venezuela 8,398 $191,058 +Brazil 787 5,999 +Japan 2,284 3,830 +China 6,329 16,308 +Tripoli 345 900 +Egypt 21,047 89,486 +Java, Sumatra, and Borneo 15,703 186,504 +Cape of Good Hope 709,406[E] 9,747,146 +British India 18,359 22,137 +Hong-Kong 310 3,090 +British West Indies 30 97 +Other British Colonies 10,438 21,938 + +[Footnote E: Chiefly Ostrich feathers.] + +The above does not take into account the feathers from game birds +received in England from France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium and +the Netherlands. + +As a final side-light on the quantity of egret and heron plumes offered +and sold in London during the twelve months ending in April, 1912, we +offer the following exhibit: + +"OSPREY" FEATHERS (EGRET AND HERON PLUMES) SOLD IN LONDON DURING THE +YEAR ENDING APRIL. 1912 + + _Offered_ _Sold_ +Venezuelan, long and medium 11,617 ounces 7,072 ounces +Venezuelan, mixed Heron 4,043 " 2,539 " +Brazilian 3,335 " 1,810 " +Chinese 641 " 576 " + + 19,636 ounces 11,997 ounces + +Birds of Paradise, plumes (2 plumes = 1 bird) + 29,385 24,579 + +[Illustration: BEAUTIFUL AND CURIOUS BIRDS NOW BEING DESTROYED +FOR THE FEATHER TRADE--(III) +Griffon Vulture +Herring Gull +Jabiru +Condor +Emeu +Indian Adjutant] + +Under the head of "Hummingbirds Not Wanted," Mr. Downham is at great +pains to convey[F] the distinct impression that to-day hummingbirds are +scorned by the feather trade, and the demand for them is dead. _I +believed him_--until my agent turned in the following statement: + +Hummingbirds sold by Lewis & Peat, London, February, 1911 24,800 +Hummingbirds sold by Lewis & Peat, London, May, 1911 6,250 +Hummingbirds sold by Hale & Sons, London, October, 1911 10,040 + ------ + Total 41,090 + +It is useless for anyone to assert that these birds were merely +"offered," and not actually sold, as Mr. Downham so laboriously explains +is the regular course with hummingbird skins; for that will deceive no +intelligent person. The statement published above comes to me direct, +from an absolutely competent and reliable source. + +[Footnote F: "The Feather Trade," by C.F. Downham, p. 63-4.] + +Undoubtedly the friends of birds, and likewise their enemies, will be +interested in the prices at which the skins of the most beautiful birds +of the world are sold in London, prior to their annihilation by the +feather industry. I submit the following exhibit, copied from the +circular of Messrs. Lewis & Peat. It is at least of academic interest. + + * * * * * + +PRICES OF RARE AND BEAUTIFUL BIRD SKINS IN LONDON + +Condor skins $3.50 to $5.75 +Condor wing feathers, each .05 +Impeyan Pheasant .66 " 2.50 +Argus Pheasant 3.60 " 3.85 +Tragopan Pheasant 2.70 +Silver Pheasant 3.50 +Golden Pheasant .34 " .46 +Greater Bird of Paradise: + Light Plumes: Medium to giants 10.32 " 21.00 + Medium to long, worn 7.20 " 13.80 + Slight def. and plucked 2.40 " 6.72 + Dark Plumes: Medium to good long 7.20 " 24.60 +12-Wired Bird of Paradise 1.44 " 1.80 +Rubra Bird of Paradise 2.50 +Rifle Bird of Paradise 1.14 " 1.38 +King Bird of Paradise 2.40 +"Green" Bird of Paradise .38 " .44 +East Indian Kingfisher .06 " .07 +East Indian Parrots .03 +Peacock Necks, gold and blue .24 " .66 +Peacock Necks, blue and green .36 +Scarlet Ibis .14 " .24 +Toucan breasts .22 " .26 +Red Tanagers .09 +Orange Oriels .05 +Indian Crows' breasts .13 +Indian Jays .04 +Amethyst Hummingbirds .01-1/2 +Hummingbird, various 3/16 of .01 " .02 +Hummingbird, others 1/32 of .01 " .01 +Egret ("Osprey") skins 1.08 " 2.78 +Egret ("Osprey") skins, long 2.40 +Vulture feathers, per pound .36 " 4.56 +Eagle, wing feathers, bundles of 100 .09 +Hawk, wing feathers, bundles of 100 .12 +Mandarin Ducks, per skin .15 +Pheasant tail feathers, per pound 1.80 +Crown Pigeon heads, Victoria 1.68 " 2.50 +Crown Pigeon heads, Coronatus .84 " 1.20 +Emu skins 4.56 " 4.80 +Cassowary plumes, per ounce 3.48 +Swan skins .72 " .74 +Kingfisher skins .07 " .09 +African Golden Cuckoo 1.08 + + * * * * * + +Many thoughts are suggested by these London lists of bird slaughter and +loot. + +It will be noticed that the breast of the grebe has almost wholly +disappeared from the feather market and from women's hats. The reason is +that there are no longer enough birds of that group to hold a place in +the London market! Few indeed are the Americans who know that from 1900 +to 1908 the lake region of southern Oregon was the scene of the +slaughter of uncountable thousands of those birds, which continued until +the grebes were almost exterminated. + +When the wonderful lyre-bird of Australia had been almost exterminated +for its tail feathers, its open slaughter was stopped by law, and a +heavy fine was imposed on exportation, amounting, I have been told, to +$250 for each offense. My latest news of the lyre-bird was of the +surreptitious exportation of 200 skins to the London feather market. + +In India, the smuggling outward of the skins of protected birds is +constantly going on. Occasionally an exporter is caught and fined; but +that does not stop the traffic. + +Bird-lovers must now bid farewell forever to all the birds of paradise. +Nothing but the legal closing of the world's markets against their +plumes and skins can save any of them. They never were numerous; nor +does any species range over a wide area. They are strictly insular, and +the island homes of some of them are very small. Take the great bird of +paradise (_Paradisea apoda_) as an illustration. On Oct. 2, 1912, at +Indianapolis, Indiana, a city near the center of the United States, in +three show-windows within 100 feet of the headquarters of the Fourth +National Conservation Congress, I counted 11 stuffed heads and 11 +complete sets of plumes of this bird, displayed for sale. The prices +ranged from $30 to $47.50 each! And while I looked, a large lady +approached, pointed her finger at the remains of a greater bird of +paradise, and with grim determination, said to her shopping companion: +"There! I want one o' them, an' I'm agoin' to _have_ it, too!" + +Says Mr. James Buckland in "Pros and Cons of the Plumage Bill": + +"Mr. Goodfellow has returned within the last few weeks from a second +expedition to new Guinea.... One can now walk, he states, miles and +miles through the former haunts of these birds [of paradise] without +seeing or hearing even the commonest species. When I reflect on this +sacrilege, I am lost in wonder at the apathy of the British public." + +Mr. Carl Hagenbeck wrote me only three months ago that "the condors of +the Andes are all being exterminated for their feathers, and these birds +are now very difficult to obtain." + +The egret and heron plumes, known under the trade name of "osprey, etc., +feathers," form by far the most important item in each feather sale. +There are _fifteen_ grades! They are sold by the ounce, and the prices +range all the way from twenty-eight cents per ounce for "mixed heron" to +_two hundred and twenty-five shillings_ ($45.60) per ounce for the best +Brazilian "short selected," on February 7, 1912! Is it any wonder that +in Philadelphia the prices of finished aigrettes, ready to be worn, runs +from $20 to $125! + +The plumes that run up into the big figures are the "short selected" +coming from the following localities, and quoted at the prices set down +here in shillings and pence. Count the shilling at twenty-four cents, +United States money. + +PRICES OF "SHORT SELECTED" EGRET AND HERON PLUMES, IN LONDON ON FEBRUARY +7, 1912 + +(Lewis & Peat's List) + +East Indies per ounce, 117/6 to 207/6 = $49.80 max. +Rangoon " " 150/0 " 192/6 = 46.20 " +China " " 130/0 " 245/0 = 58.80 " +Brazil " " 200/0 " 225/0 = 54.00 " +Venezuela " " 165/0 " 222/6 = 53.40 " + +The total offering of these "short selected" plumes in December 1911, +was 689 ounces, and in February, 1912, it was 230 ounces. + +Now with these enormous prices prevailing, is it any wonder that the +egrets and herons are being relentlessly pursued to the uttermost ends +of the earth? I think that any man who really knows the habits of egrets +and herons, and the total impossibility of any quantity of their shed +feathers being picked up in a marketable state, must know in his heart +that if the London and continental feather markets keep open a few years +longer, _every species_ that furnishes "short selected" plumes will be +utterly exterminated from off the face of the earth. + +Let the English people make no mistake about this, nor be fooled by any +fairy tales of the feather trade about Venezuelan "garceros," and vast +quantities of valuable plumes picked off the bushes and out of the mud. +Those carefully concocted egret-farm stories make lovely reading, but +the reader who examines the evidence will soon decide the extent of +their truthfulness. I think that they contain not even ten per cent of +truth; and I shall not rest until the stories of Leon Laglaize and +Mayeul Grisol have been put to the test in the regions where they +originated. + +A _few_ plumes may be picked out of the jungle, yes; but as for any +_commercial quantity_, it is at present beyond belief. Besides, we have +direct, eye-witness testimony to the contrary. + +It must not be inferred that the friends of birds in England have been +idle or silent in the presence of the London feather trade. On the +contrary, the Royal Society for the Protection of Wild Birds and Mr. +James Buckland have so strongly attacked the feather industry that the +London Chamber of Commerce has felt called upon to come to its rescue. +Mr. Buckland, on his own individual account, has done yeoman service to +the cause, and his devotion to the birds, and his tireless energy, are +both almost beyond the reach of praise in words. At the last moment +before going to press I learn that the birds'-plumage bill has achieved +the triumph of a "first reading" in Parliament, which looks as if +success is at last in sight. The powerful pamphlet that he has written, +published and circulated at his own expense, entitled "Pros and Cons of +the Plumage Bill," is a splendid effort. What a pity it is that more +individuals are not similarly inspired to make independent effort in the +protection cause! But, strange to say, few indeed are the men who have +either the nerve or the ability to "go it alone." + +On the introduction in Parliament of the bill to save the birds from the +feather trade, it was opposed (through the efforts of the Chamber of +Commerce), on the ground that if any bill against the sale of plumes +should pass, and plumes could not be sold, the London business in +wild-bird skins and feathers "would immediately be transferred to the +continent!" + +In the face of that devastating and altogether horrible prospect, and +because the London feather dealers "need the money," the bill was at +first defeated--to the great joy of the Chamber of Commerce and Mr. +Downham; but the cause of birds will win in the end, because it is +Right. + +The feather dealers have been shrewdly active in the defense of their +trade, and the methods they have employed for influencing public opinion +have quite outshone those put forth by their brethren in America. I have +before me a copy of a booklet bearing the name of Mr. C.F. Downham as +the author, and the London Chamber of Commerce has loaned its good name +as publisher. Altogether it is a very shrewd piece of work, even though +its arguments in justification of bird slaughter for the feather market +are too absurd and weak for serious consideration. + +The chief burden of the defender of bird slaughter for millinery +purposes is on account of the destruction of egrets and herons, but +particularly the former. To offset as far as possible the absolutely +true charge that egrets bear their best plumes in their breeding season, +when the helpless young are in the nest and the parent birds must be +killed to obtain the plumes, the feather trade has obtained from three +Frenchmen--Leon Laglaize, Mayeul Grisol, and F. Geay--a beautiful and +plausible story to the effect that in Venezuela the enormous output of +egret plumes has been obtained _by picking up, off the bushes and out of +the water and mud, the shed feathers of those birds!_ According to the +story, Venezuela is full of _egret farms_, called "garceros,"--where the +birds breed and moult under strict supervision, and kindly drop their +feathers in such places that it is possible _to find them_, and to _pick +them up_, in a high state of preservation! And we are asked to believe +that it is these very Venezuelan picked-up feathers that command in +London the high price of _$44 per ounce_. + +[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN ENGLAND AGAINST THE USE OF WILD BIRD'S +PLUMAGE IN THE MILLINERY TRADE +Sandwich-men Employed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, +that Patroled London Streets in July, 1911.] + +Mr. Laglaize is especially exploited by Mr. Downham, as a French +traveler of high standing, and well known in the zoological museums of +France; but, sad to say, when Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn cabled to the +Museum of Natural History in Paris, inquiring about Mr. Laglaize, the +cable flashed back the one sad word; "_Inconnu!_" (Unknown!) + +I think it entirely possible that enough shed feathers have been picked +up in the reeking swamps of Venezuela, on the upper tributaries of the +Orinoco, to afford _an excuse_ for the beautiful story of Mr. Laglaize. +Any shrewd individual with money, and the influence that money secures, +could put up just such a "plant" as I firmly believe _has_ been put up +by some one in Venezuela. I will guarantee that I could accomplish such +a job in Venezuela or Brazil, in four months' time, at an expense not +exceeding one thousand dollars. + +That the great supply of immaculately perfect egret plumes that annually +come out of Venezuela could by any possibility be picked up in the +swamps where they were shed and dropped by the egrets, is entirely +preposterous and incredible. The whole proportion is denounced by +several men of standing and experience, none of whom are "_inconnu_." + +As a sweeping refutation of the fantastic statements regarding +"garceros," published by Mr. Downham as coming from Messrs. Laglaize, +Grisol and Geay, I offer the written testimony of an American gentleman +who at this moment owns and maintains within a few yards of his +residence a large preserve of snowy egrets and herons, the former +representing the species which furnishes egret plumes exactly similar to +those shipped from Venezuela and Brazil. If the testimony of Mr. +McIlhenny is not sufficient to stamp the statements of the three +Frenchmen quoted by Mr. Downham as absolute and thoroughly misleading +falsehoods, then there is no such thing in this world as evidence. I +suggest a perusal of the statements of the three Frenchmen who are +quoted with such confidence by Mr. Downham and published by the Hon. +Chamber of Commerce at London, and then a careful reading of the +following letter: + + Avery Island, La., June 17, 1912. + + DEAR MR. HORNADAY:-- + + I have before me your letter of June 8th, asking for information as + to whether or no egrets shed their plumes at their nesting places in + sufficient quantities to enable them to be gathered commercially. I + most emphatically wish to state that it is impossible to gather at + the nesting places of these birds any quantity of their plumes. I + have nesting within 50 yards of where I am now sitting dictating + this letter not less than 20,000 pairs of the various species of + herons and egrets, and there are fully 2,500 pairs of snowy herons + nesting within my preserve. + + During the nesting season, which covers the months of April, May and + June, I am through this heronry in a small canoe almost every day, + and often twice a day. I have had these herons under my close + inspection for the past 17 years, and I have not in any one season + picked up or seen more than half a dozen discarded plumes. Such + plumes as I have picked up, I have kept on my desk, and given to the + people who were interested. I remember that last year I picked up + four plumes of the snowy heron that were in one bunch. I think these + must have been plucked out by the birds fighting. + + This year I have found only one plume so far. I enclose it herewith. + You will notice that it is one of the shorter plumes, and is badly + worn at the end, as have been all the plumes which I have picked up + in my heronry. + + I am positive that it is not possible for natural shed plumes to be + gathered commercially. I have a number of times talked with plume + hunters from Venezuela and other South American countries, and I + have never heard of any egret feathers being gathered by their being + picked up after the birds have shed them. + + I have heard of a number of heronries in South America that are + protected by the land owners for the purpose of gathering a yearly + crop of egret plumes, but this crop is gathered always by shooting a + certain percentage of the birds. This shooting is done by experts + with 22-calibre rifles, and does not materially disturb the nesting + colony. I have known of two men who have been engaged in killing the + birds on large estates in South America, who were paid regular + salaries for their services as egret hunters. + + Very truly yours, + + E.A. McIlhenny. + +I am more than willing to set the above against the fairy tale of Mr. +Laglaize. + +Here is the testimony of A.H. Meyer, an ex-plume-hunter, who for nine +years worked in Venezuela. His sworn testimony was laid before the +Legislature of the State of New York, in 1911, when the New York +Milliners' Association was frantically endeavoring to secure the repeal +of the splendid Dutcher law. This witness was produced by the National +Association of Audubon Societies. + +"My attention has been called to the fact that certain commercial +interests in this city are circulating stories in the newspapers and +elsewhere to the effect that the aigrettes used in the millinery trade +come chiefly from Venezuela, where they are gathered from the ground in +the large _garceros_, or breeding-colonies, of white herons. + +"I wish to state that I have personally engaged in the work of +collecting the plumes of these birds in Venezuela. This was my business +for the years 1896 to 1905, inclusive. I am thoroughly conversant with +the methods employed in gathering egret and snowy heron plumes in +Venezuela, and I wish to give the following statement regarding the +practices employed in procuring these feathers: + +"The birds gather in large colonies to rear their young. They have the +plumes only during the mating and nesting season. After the period when +they are employed in caring for their young, it is found that the plumes +are virtually of no commercial value, because of the worn and frayed +condition to which they have been reduced. It is the custom in Venezuela +to shoot the birds while the young are in the nests. A few feathers of +the large white heron (American egret), known as the _Garza blanca_, can +be picked up of a morning about their breeding places, but these are of +small value and are known as "dead feathers." They are worth locally not +over three dollars an ounce; while the feathers taken from the bird, +known as "live feathers," are worth fifteen dollars an ounce. + +"My work led me into every part of Venezuela and Colombia where these +birds are to be found, and I have never yet found or heard of any +_garceros_ that were guarded for the purpose of simply gathering the +feathers from the ground. No such condition exists in Venezuela. The +story is absolutely without foundation, in my opinion, and has simply +been put forward for commercial purposes. + +"The natives of the country, who do virtually all of the hunting for +feathers, are not provident in their nature, and their practices are of +a most cruel and brutal nature. I have seen them frequently pull the +plumes from wounded birds, leaving the crippled birds to die of +starvation, unable to respond to the cries of their young in the nests +above, which were calling for food. _I have known these people to tie +and prop up wounded egrets on the marsh where they would attract the +attention of other birds flying by. These decoys they keep in this +position until they die of their wounds, or from the attacks of insects. +I have seen the terrible red ants of that country actually eating out +the eyes of these wounded, helpless birds that were tied up by the +plume-hunters._ I could write you many pages of the horrors practiced in +gathering aigrette feathers in Venezuela by the natives for the +millinery trade of Paris and New York. + +"To illustrate the comparatively small number of dead feathers which +are collected, I will mention that in one year I and my associates +shipped to New York eighty pounds of the plumes of the large heron and +twelve pounds of the little recurved plumes of the snowy heron. In this +whole lot there were not over five pounds of plumes that had been +gathered from the ground--and these were of little value. The +plume-birds have been nearly exterminated in the United States and +Mexico, and the same condition of affairs will soon exist in tropical +America. This extermination will come about because of the fact that the +young are left to starve in the nest when the old birds are killed, any +other statement made by interested parties to the contrary +notwithstanding. + +"I am so incensed at the ridiculously absurd and misleading stories that +are being published on this question that I want to give you this +letter, and, before delivering it to you, shall take oath to its +truthfulness." + +Here is the testimony of Mr. Caspar Whitney, of New York, formerly +editor of _Outing_ Magazine and _Outdoor America_: + +"During extended travel throughout South America, from 1903 to 1907, +inclusive, I journeyed, on three separate occasions, by canoe +(1904-1907), on the Lower Orinoco and Apure rivers and their +tributaries. This is the region, so far as Venezuela is concerned, in +which is the greatest slaughter of white herons for their plumage, or +more specifically for the marital plumes, which are carried only in the +mating and breeding season, and are known in the millinery trade as +'aigrettes.' + +"There is literally no room for question. The snowy herons are killed +exactly as I describe. It is the custom of all those who hunt for the +millinery trade, and is recognized by the natives as the usual method." + +Here is the testimony of Mr. Julian A. Dimock, of Peekamose, N.Y., the +famous outdoor photographer, and illustrator of "Florida Enchantments": + +"I know a goodly number of the plume-hunters of Florida. I have camped +with them, and talked to them. I have heard their tales, and even full +accounts of the 'shooting-up' of an egret rookery. Never has a man in +Florida suggested to me that plumes could be obtained without killing +the birds. I have known the wardens, and have visited rookeries after +they had been 'shot-up,' and the evidence all pointed to the everlasting +use of the gun. _It is certainly not true that the plumes can be +obtained without killing the birds bearing them_. + +"Nineteen years ago, I visited the Cuthbert Rookery with one of the men +who discovered the birds nesting in that lake. He and his partner had +sold the plumes gathered there for more than a thousand dollars. He +showed me how they hid in the bushes and shot the birds. He even gave me +a chance to watch him kill two or three birds. + +"I know personally the man chiefly responsible for the slaughter of the +birds at Alligator Bay. _He laughed at the idea of getting plumes +without killing the birds!_ I well know the man who shot the birds up +Rogers River, and even saw some of the empty shells left on the ground +by him. + +[Illustration: YOUNG EGRETS, UNABLE TO FLY, STARVING +The Parent Birds had Been Killed by Plume Hunters] + +[Illustration: SNOWY EGRET, DEAD ON HER NEST +Wounded in the Feeding-Grounds, and Came Home to Die. Photographed in a +Florida Rookery Protected by the National Association of Audubon +Societies] + +I have camped with Seminoles, whites, blacks, outlaws, and those within +the pale, connected with plume-hunting, and all tell the same story: +_The birds are shot to get the plumes._ The evidence of my own eyes, and +the action of the birds themselves, convinces me that there is not a +shadow of doubt concerning this point." + +This sworn testimony from Mr. T.J. Ashe, of Key West, Florida, is very +direct and to the point: + +"I have seen many moulted and dropped feathers from wild plumed birds. I +have never seen a moulted or dropped feather that was fit for anything. +It is the exception when a plumed bird drops feathers of any value while +in flight. Whatever feathers are so dropped are those that are frayed, +worn out, and forced out by the process of moulting. The moulting season +is not during the hatching season, but is after the hatching season. The +shedding, or moulting, takes place once a year; and during this moulting +season the feathers, after having the hard usage of the year from wind, +rain and other causes, when dropped are of absolutely no commercial +value." + +Mr. Arthur T. Wayne, of Mount Pleasant, S.C., relates in sworn testimony +his experience in attempting to secure egret plumes without killing the +birds: + +"It is utterly impossible to get fifty egret plumes from any colony of +breeding birds without shooting the birds. Last spring, I went twice a +week to a breeding colony of American and snowy egrets, from early in +April until June 8. Despite the fact that I covered miles of territory +in a boat, I picked up but two American egret plumes (which I now have); +but not a single snowy egret plume did I see, nor did my companion, who +accompanied me on every trip. + +"I saw an American egret plume on the water, and left it, purposely, to +see whether it would sink or not. Upon visiting the place a few days +afterwards, the plume was not in evidence, undoubtedly having sunk. The +plumes are chiefly shed in the air while the birds are going to or +coming from their breeding grounds. If that millinery plume law is +repealed, the fate of the American and snowy egrets is sealed, for the +few birds that remain will be shot to the very last one." + +Any man who ever has been in an egret rookery (and I have) knows that +the above testimony is _true_! The French story of the beautiful and +smoothly-running egret farms in Venezuela is preposterous, save for a +mere shadow of truth. I do not say that _no_ egret plumes could be +picked up, but I do assert that the total quantity obtainable in one +year in that way would be utterly trivial. + +No; the "ospreys" of the British feather market come from slaughtered +egrets and herons, _killed in the breeding season_. Let the British +public and the British Parliament make no mistake about that. If they +wish the trade to continue, let it be based on the impregnable ground +that the merchants want the money, and not on a fantastic dream that is +too silly to deceive even a child that knows birds. + +The use or disuse of wild birds' plumage as millinery ornaments is +another of those wild-life subjects regarding which there is no room for +argument. To assert that the feather-dealers want the business for the +money it brings them is not argument! We have seen many a steam roller +go over Truth, and Right, and Justice, by main strength and red-hot +power; but Truth and Right refuse to stay flat down. There is on this +earth not one wild-animal species--mammal, bird or reptile--that can +long withstand exploitation for commercial purposes. Even the whales of +the deep sea, the walrus of the arctic regions, the condors of the Andes +and alligators of the Everglade morasses are no exception to the +universal rule. + +In Mr. Downham's book there is much fallacious reasoning, and many +conclusions that are not borne out by the facts. For example, he says +that no species of bird of paradise has been diminished in number by +slaughter for the feather trade; that Florida still contains a supply of +egrets; that the decrease in bird life should be charged to the spread +of cities, towns and farms, and not to the trade; that the trade was "in +no way responsible" for the slaughter of three hundred thousand gulls +and albatrosses on Laysan Island! + +I have space to notice one other important erroneous conclusion that Mr. +Downham publishes in his book, on page 105. He says: + +"The destruction of birds in foreign countries is something that no +trade can direct or control." + +This is an amazing declaration; and absolutely contrary to experience. +Let me prove what I say by a fresh and incontestable illustration: + +Prior to April, 1911, when Governor Dix signed the Bayne law against the +sale of wild native game in the State of New York, Currituck County, +N.C., was a vast slaughter-pen for wild fowl. No power or persuasion had +availed to induce the people of North Carolina to check, or regulate, or +in any manner mitigate that slaughter of geese, ducks and swans. It was +estimated that two hundred thousand wild fowl were annually slaughtered +there. + +We who advocated the Bayne law said: "Close the New York markets against +Currituck birds, and you will stop a great deal of the slaughter." + +We cleaned our Augean stable. The greatest game market in America was +absolutely closed. + +Last winter (1911) the annual killing of wild fowl was fully fifty per +cent less than during previous years. In one small town, twenty +professional duck shooters went entirely out of business--because they +_couldn't sell their ducks_! The dealers refused to buy them. The result +was exactly what we predicted it would be; and this year, it is reported +over and over that ducks are more plentiful in New England than they +have been in twenty years previously! The result is wonderful, because +so quick. + +Beyond all question, the feather merchants of London, Paris and Berlin +absolutely control the bird-killers of Venezuela, China, New Guinea. +Mexico and South America. Let the word go forth that "the trade" is no +longer permitted to buy and sell egret and heron plumes, skins of birds +of paradise and condor feathers, and presto! the killing industry falls +dead the next moment. + +[Illustration: MISCELLANEOUS BIRD SKINS, 8 CENTS EACH +Purchased by the New York Zoological Society from the Quarterly Sale in +London, August, 1912] + +Yes, indeed, members of the British Parliament: it is easily within +_your power_ to wipe out at a single stroke fully one-half of the bird +slaughter for fancy feathers. It can be done just as we wiped out +one-half the annual duck slaughter in wickedly-wasteful North Carolina! + +The feather trade absolutely _does_ control the killing situation! Now, +will the people of England clean house by controlling the feather trade? +If a hundred species of the most beautiful birds of the world must be +exterminated for the feather trade, let the odium rest elsewhere than on +the people of England. + +The bird-lovers of America may rest assured that the bird-lovers of +England--a mighty host--are neither careless nor indifferent regarding +the wild-birds' plumage business. On the contrary, several bills have +been brought before Parliament intended to regulate or prohibit the +traffic, and a measure of vast importance to the birds of the world is +now before the House of Commons. It is backed by Mr. Percy Alden, M.P., +by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, by the Selbourne +Society, and by Mr. James Buckland--a host in himself. For years past +that splendidly-equipped and well-managed Royal Society has waged +ceaseless warfare for the birds. Its activity has been tremendous, and +its membership list contains many of the finest names in England. The +address of the Honorary Secretary, Frank E. Lemon, Esq., is 23 Queen +Anne's Gate, London, S.W. + +Naturally, these influences are opposed by the Textile Trade Section of +the London Chamber of Commerce, and their only argument consists of the +plea that if London doesn't get the money out of the feather trade, the +Continent will get it! A reasonable, logical, magnificent and convincing +excuse for wholesale bird slaughter, truly! + +Mr. Buckland has been informed from the Continent that the people of +France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are waiting and watching to +see what England is going to do with the question, "To slaughter, or not +to slaughter?" For England has no monopoly of the birds' plumage trade, +not by any means. Says Mr. Buckland ("Pros and Cons of the Plumage +Bill," page 17): + +"As regards the vast majority of fancy feathers used in millinery, the +Continent receives its own supplies. The feathers of the hundreds of +thousands of albatrosses which are killed in the North Pacific all go to +Paris. Of the untold thousands of 'magpies,' owls, and other species +which come from Peru, not one skin or feather crosses the Channel. The +white herons of the Upper Senegal and the Niger are being rapidly +exterminated at the instigation of the feather merchants, but not one of +the plumes reaches London. Paris receives direct a large supply of +aigrettes from South America and elsewhere.... The millions of +swallows and other migratory birds which are killed annually as they +pass through Italy, France and Spain on their way north, supply the +millinery trade of Europe with an incredible quantity of wings and other +plumage, but none of it is distributed from London.... London, as a +distributing center, has no monopoly of the trade in raw feathers." + +Mr. Buckland's green-covered pamphlet is a powerful document, and both +his facts and his conclusions seem to be unassailable. The author's +address is Royal Colonial Institute, Northumberland Ave., London, W.C. + +The duty of the civilized nations of Europe is perfectly plain. The +savage and bloody business in feathers torn from wild birds should be +stopped, completely and forever. If the commons will not arise and +reform the odious business out of existence, then the kings and queens +and presidents should do their plain duty. In the suppression of a world +crime like this it is clearly a case of _noblesse oblige_! + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE BIRD TRAGEDY ON LAYSAN ISLAND + + +This chapter is a curtain-dropper to the preceding chapter. As a +clearly-cut, concrete case, the reader will find it unique and +unsurpassed. It should be of lively interest to every American because +the tragedy occurred on American territory. + +In the far-away North Pacific Ocean, about seven hundred miles from +Honolulu west-b'-north, lies the small island of Laysan. It is level, +sandy, poorly planted by nature, and barren of all things likely to +enlist the attention of predatory man. To the harassed birds of +mid-ocean, it seemed like a secure haven, and for ages past it has been +inhabited only by them. There several species of sea birds, large and +small, have found homes and breeding places. Until 1909, the inhabitants +consisted of the Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, sooty tern, +gray-backed tern, noddy tern, Hawaiian tern, white tern, Bonin petrel, +two shearwaters, the red-tailed tropic bird, two boobies and the +man-of-war bird. + +Laysan Island is two miles long by one and one-half miles broad, and at +times it has been literally covered with birds. Its bird life was first +brought prominently to notice in 1891, by Henry Palmer, the agent of +Hon. Walter Rothschild, and in 1902 and 1903 Walter K. Fisher and W.A. +Bryan made further observations. + +Ever since 1891 the bird life on Laysan has been regarded as one of the +wonders of the bird world. One of the photographs taken prior to 1909 +shows a vast plain, apparently a square mile in area, covered and +crowded with Laysan albatrosses. They stand there on the level sand, +serene, bulky and immaculate. Thousands of birds appear in one view--a +very remarkable sight. + +Naturally man, the ever-greedy, began to cast about for ways by which to +convert some product of that feathered host into money. At first guano +and eggs were collected. A tramway was laid down and small box-cars were +introduced, in which the collected material was piled and pushed down to +the packing place. + +For several years this went on, and the birds themselves were not +molested. At last, however, a tentacle of the feather-trade octopus +reached out to Laysan. In an evil moment in the spring of 1909, a +predatory individual of Honolulu and elsewhere, named Max Schlemmer, +decided that the wings of those albatross, gulls and terns should be +torn off and sent to Japan, whence they would undoubtedly be shipped to +Paris, the special market for the wings of sea-birds slaughtered in the +North Pacific. + +[Illustration: LAYSAN ALBATROSSES, BEFORE THE GREAT SLAUGHTER +By the Courtesy of Hon. Walter Rothschild.] + +[Illustration: LAYSAN ALBATROSS ROOKERY, AFTER THE GREAT SLAUGHTER +The Same Ground as Shown in the Preceding Picture, Photographed in 1911 +by Prof. Homer R. Dill] + +Schlemmer the Slaughterer bought a cheap vessel, hired twenty-three +phlegmatic and cold-blooded Japanese laborers, and organized a raid on +Laysan. With the utmost secrecy he sailed from Honolulu, landed his +bird-killers upon the sea-bird wonderland, and turned them loose upon +the birds. + +For several months they slaughtered diligently and without mercy. +Apparently it was the ambition of Schlemmer to kill every bird on the +island. + +By the time the bird-butchers had accumulated between three and four +car-loads of wings, and the carnage was half finished, William A. Bryan, +Professor of Zoology in the College of Honolulu, heard of it and +promptly wired the United States Government. + +Without the loss of a moment the Secretary of the Navy despatched the +revenue cutter _Thetis_ to the shambles of Laysan. When Captain Jacobs +arrived he found that in round numbers about _three hundred thousand_ +birds had been destroyed, and all that remained of them were several +acres of bones and dead bodies, and about three carloads of wings, +feathers and skins. It was evident that Schlemmer's intention was to +kill all the birds on the island, and only the timely arrival of the +_Thetis_ frustrated that bloody plan. + +The twenty-three Japanese poachers were arrested and taken to Honolulu +for trial, and the _Thetis_ also brought away all the stolen wings and +plumage with the exception of one shedful of wings that had to be left +behind on account of lack of carrying space. That old shed, with one +end torn out, and supposed to contain nearly fifty thousand pairs of +wings, was photographed by Prof. Dill in 1911, as shown herewith. + +[Illustration: ACRES OF GULL AND ALBATROSS BONES +Photographed on Laysan Island by H.R. Dill, 1911] + +Three hundred thousand albatrosses, gulls, terns and other birds were +butchered to make a Schlemmer holiday! Had the arrival of the _Thetis_ +been delayed, it is reasonably certain that every bird on Laysan would +have been killed to satisfy the wolfish rapacity of one money-grubbing +white man. + +In 1911, the Iowa State University despatched to Laysan a scientific +expedition in charge of Prof. Homer R. Dill. The party landed on the +island on April 24 and remained until June 5, and the report of +Professor Dill (U.S. Department of Agriculture) is consumedly +interesting to the friends of birds. Here is what he has said regarding +the evidences of bird-slaughter: + +"Our first impression of Laysan was that the poachers had stripped the +place of bird life. An area of over 300 acres on each side of the +buildings was apparently abandoned. Only the shearwaters moaning in +their burrows, the little wingless rail skulking from one grass tussock +to another, and the saucy finch remained. It is an excellent example of +what Prof. Nutting calls the survival of the inconspicuous. + +"Here on every side are bones bleaching in the sun, showing where the +poachers had piled the bodies of the birds as they stripped them of +wings and feathers. In the old open guano shed were seen the remains of +hundreds and possibly thousands of wings which were placed there but +never cured for shipping, as the marauders were interrupted in their +work. + +[Illustration: SHED PILLED WITH WINGS OF SLAUGHTERED BIRDS ON LAYSAN +ISLAND] + +"An old cistern back of one of the buildings tells a story of cruelty +that surpasses anything else done by these heartless, sanguinary +pirates, not excepting the practice of cutting wings from living birds +and leaving them to die of hemorrhage. In this dry cistern the living +birds were kept by hundreds to slowly starve to death. In this way the +fatty tissue lying next to the skin was used up, and the skin was left +quite free from grease, so that it required little or no cleaning during +preparation. + +"Many other revolting sights, such as the remains of young birds that +had been left to starve, and birds with broken legs and deformed beaks +were to be seen. Killing clubs, nets and other implements used by these +marauders were lying all about. Hundreds of boxes to be used in shipping +the bird skins were packed in an old building. It was very evident they +intended to carry on their slaughter as long as the birds lasted. + +"Not only did they kill and skin the larger species but they caught and +caged the finch, honey eater, and miller bird. Cages and material for +making them were found."--(Report of an Expedition to Laysan Island in +1911. By Homer R. Dill, page 12.) + +The report of Professor Bryan contains the following pertinent +paragraphs: + +"This wholesale killing has had an appalling effect on the colony.... It +is conservative to say that fully one-half the number of birds of both +species of albatross that were so abundant everywhere in 1903 have been +killed. The colonies that remain are in a sadly decimated condition.... +Over a large part of the island, in some sections a hundred acres in a +place, that ten years ago were thickly inhabited by albatrosses not a +single bird remains, while heaps of the slain lie as mute testimony of +the awful slaughter of these beautiful, harmless, and without doubt +beneficial inhabitants of the high seas. + +"While the main activity of the plume-hunters was directed against the +albatrosses, they were by no means averse to killing anything in the +bird line that came in their way.... Fortunately, serious as were the +depredations of the poachers, their operations were interrupted before +any of the species had been completely exterminated." + +But the work of the Evil Genius of Laysan did not stop with the +slaughter of three hundred thousand birds. Mr. Schlemmer introduced +rabbits and guinea-pigs; and these rapidly multiplying rodents now are +threatening to consume every plant on the island. If the plants +disappear, many of the insects will go with them; and this will mean the +disappearance of the small insectivorous birds. + +In February, 1909, President Roosevelt issued an executive order +creating the Hawaiian Islands Reservation for Birds. In this are +included Laysan and twelve other islands and reefs, some of which are +inhabited by birds that are well worth preserving. By this act, we may +feel that for the future the birds of Laysan and neighboring islets are +secure from further attacks by the bloody-handed agents of the vain +women who still insist upon wearing the wings and feathers of wild +birds. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XV + +UNFAIR FIREARMS, AND SHOOTING ETHICS + + +For considerably more than a century, the States of the American Union +have enacted game-protective laws based on the principle that the wild +game belongs to the People, and the people's senators, representatives +and legislators generally may therefore enact laws for its protection, +prescribing the manner in which it may and may not be taken and +possessed. The soundness of this principle has been fully confirmed by +the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Geer vs. +Connecticut, on March 2, 1896. + +The tendency of predatory man to kill and capture wild game of all kinds +by wholesale methods is as old as the human race. The days of the club, +the stone axe, the bow and arrow and the flint-lock gun were +contemporaneous with the days of great abundance of game. Now that the +advent of breech-loaders, repeaters, automatics and fixed ammunition has +rendered game scarce in all localities save a very few, the thoughtful +man is driven to consider measures for the checking of destruction and +the suppression of wholesale slaughter. + +First of all, the deadly floating batteries and sail-boats were +prohibited. To-day a punt gun is justly regarded as a relic of +barbarism, and any man who uses one places himself beyond the pale of +decent sportsmanship, or even of modern pot-hunting. Strange to say, +although the unwritten code of ethics of English sportsmen is very +strict, the English to this day permit wild-fowl hunting with guns of +huge calibre, some of which are more like shot-cannons than shot-guns. +And they say, "Well, there are still wild duck on our coast!" + +Beyond question, it is now high time for the English people to take up +the shot-gun question, and consider what to-day is fair and unfair in +the killing of waterfowl. The supply of British ducks and geese can not +forever withstand the market gunners and their shot-cannons. Has not the +British wild-fowl supply greatly decreased during the past fifteen +years? I strongly suspect that a careful investigation would reveal the +fact that it has diminished. The Society for the Preservation of the +Fauna of the Empire should look into the matter, and obtain a series of +reports on the condition of the waterfowl to-day as compared with what +it was twenty years ago. + +In the United States we have eliminated the swivel guns, the punt guns +and the very-big-bore guns. Among the real sportsmen the tendency is +steadily toward shot-guns of small calibre, especially under 12-gauge. +But, outside the ranks of sportsmen, we are now face to face with two +automatic and five "pump" shotguns of deadly efficiency. Of these, more +than one hundred thousand are being made and sold annually by the five +companies that produce them. Recently the annual output has been +carefully estimated from known facts to be about as follows: + +Winchester Arms Co., New Haven, Conn. + (1 Automatic and 1 Pump-gun) 50,000 guns. +Remington Arms Co., Ilion, N.Y. + (1 Automatic and 1 Pump-gun) 25,000 " +Marlin Fire Arms Co., New Haven, Conn. 1 Pump-gun 12,000 " +Stevens Arms Co., Chicopee Falls, Mass. 1 Pump-gun 10,000 " +Union Fire Arms Co., 1 Pump-gun 5,000 " + ------------ + 103,000 guns + +[Illustration: FOUR OF THE SEVEN MACHINE GUNS + +STEVENS PUMP GUN, 6 SHOTS IN 6 SECONDS. + +WINCHESTER PUMP GUN, 6 SHOTS IN 6 SECONDS. + +REMINGTON AUTOMATIC, 5 SHOTS IN 4 SECONDS. +Loaded and cocked by its own recoil. + +WINCHESTER AUTOLOADING. 5 SHOTS IN 4 SECONDS +Loaded and cocked by its own recoil.] + +THE ETHICS OF SHOOTING AND SHOT-GUNS.--Are the American people willing +that their wild birds shall be shot by machinery? + +In the ethics of sportsmanship, the anglers of America are miles ahead +of the men who handle the rifle and shot-gun in the hunting field. Will +the hunters ever catch up? + +The anglers have steadily diminished the weight of the rod and the size +of the line; and they have prohibited the use of gang hooks and nets. In +this respect the initiative of the Tuna Club of Santa Catalina is worthy +of the highest admiration. Even though the leaping tuna, the jewfish and +the sword-fish are big and powerful, the club has elected to raise the +standard of sportsmanship by making captures more difficult than ever +before. A higher degree of skill, and nerve and judgment, is required in +the angler who would make good on a big fish; and, incidentally, the +fish has about double "the show" that it had fifteen years ago. + +That is Sportsmanship! + +But how is it with the men who handle the shot-gun? + +By them, the Tuna Club's high-class principle has been exactly reversed! +In the making of fishing-rods, commercialism plays small part; but in +about forty cases out of every fifty the making of guns is solely a +matter of dollars and profits. + +Excepting the condemnation of automatic and pump guns, I think that few +clubs of sportsmen have laid down laws designed to make shooting more +difficult, and to give the game more of a show to escape. Thousands of +gentlemen sportsmen have their own separate unwritten codes of honor, +but so far as I know, few of them have been written out and adopted as +binding rules of action. I know that among expert wing shots it is an +unwritten law that quail and grouse must not be shot on the ground, nor +ducks on the water. But, among the three million gunners who annually +shoot in the United States how many, think you, are there who in actual +practice observe any sentimental principles when in the presence of +killable game? I should say about one man and boy out of every five +hundred. + +Up to this time, the great mass of men who handle guns have left it to +the gunmakers to make their codes of ethics, and hand them out with the +loaded cartridges, all ready for use. + +For fifty years the makers of shot-guns and rifles have taxed their +ingenuity and resources to make killing easier, especially for "amateur" +sportsmen,--_and take still greater advantages of the game_! Look at +this scale of progression: + +FIFTY YEARS' INCREASE IN THE DEADLINESS OF FIREARMS. + +KIND OF GUN. ESTIMATED DEGREE OF DEADLINESS. + +Single-shot muzzle loader xx 10 +Single-shot breech-loader xxxxxx 30 +Double-barrel breech-loader xxxxxxxxxx 50 +Choke-bore breech-loader xxxxxxxxxxxx 60 +Repeating rifle xxxxxxxxxxxx 60 +Repeating rifle, with silencer xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 70 +"Pump" shot-gun (6 shots) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 90 +Automatic or "autoloading" shot-guns, 5 shots xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 100 + +_The Output of 1911_.--At a recent hearing before a committee of the +House of Representatives at Washington, a representative of the +gun-making industry reported that in the year 1911 ten American +manufacturing concerns turned out the following: + +391,875 shot-guns, +666,643 rifles, and +580,042 revolvers. + +There are 66 factories producing firearms and ammunition, employing +$39,377,000 of invested capital and 15,000 employees. + +The sole and dominant thought of many gunmakers is to make the very +deadliest guns that human skill can invent, sell them as fast as +possible, and declare dividends on their stock. The Remington, +Winchester, Marlin, Stevens and Union Companies are engaged in a mad +race to see who can turn out the deadliest guns, and the most of them. +On the market to-day there are five pump-guns, that fire six shots each, +in about _six seconds_, without removal from the shoulder, by the quick +sliding of a sleeve under the barrel, that ejects the empty shell and +inserts a loaded one. There are two automatics that fire five shots each +in _five seconds or less_, by five pulls on the trigger! _The +autoloading gun is reloaded and cocked again wholly by its own recoil_. +Now, if these are not machine guns, what are they? + +In view of the great scarcity of feathered game, and the number of +deadly machine guns already on the market, the production of the last +and deadliest automatic gun (by the Winchester Arms Company), _already +in great demand_, is a crime against wild life, no less. + +Every human action is a matter of taste and individual honor. + +It is natural for the duck-butchers of Currituck to love the automatic +shot-guns as they do, because they kill the most ducks per flock. With +two of them in his boat, holding _ten shots_, one expert duck-killer +can,--and sometimes _actually does_, so it is said,--get every duck out +of a flock, up to seven or eight. + +It is natural for an awkward and blundering wing-shot to love the +deadliest gun, in order that he may make as good a bag as an expert shot +can make with a double-barreled gun. It is natural for the hunter who +does not care a rap about the extermination of species to love the gun +that will enable him to kill up to the bag limit, every time he takes +the field. It is natural for men who don't think, or who think in +circles, to say "so long as I observe the lawful bag limit, what +difference does it make what kind of a gun I use?" + +It is natural for the Remington, and Winchester, and Marlin gun-makers +to say, as they do, "Enforce the laws! Shorten the open seasons! Reduce +the bag limit, and then it won't matter what guns are used! But,--DON'T +touch autoloading guns! Don't hamper Inventive Genius!" + +Is it not high time for American sportsmen to cease taking their moral +principles and their codes of ethics from the gun-makers? + +Here is a question that I would like to put before every hunter of game +in America: + +In view of the alarming scarcity of game, in view of the impending +extermination of species by legal hunting, can any high-minded +_sportsman_, can any _good citizen_ either sell a machine shot-gun or +use one in hunting? + +A gentleman is incapable of taking an unfair advantage of any wild +creature; therefore a gentleman cannot use punt guns for ducks, dynamite +for game fish, or automatic or pump guns in bird-shooting. The machine +guns and "silencers" are grossly unfair, and like gang-hooks, nets and +dynamite for trout and bass, their use in hunting must everywhere be +prohibited by law. Times have changed, and the lines for protection must +be more tightly drawn. + +[Illustration: THE CHAMPION GAME SLAUGHTER CASE +One Hour's Slaughter (218 Geese) With Two Automatic Shot-Guns] + +The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (Judge Orlady) has decided that the +Pennsylvania law against the use of automatic guns in hunting is +entirely constitutional, because every state has a right to say how its +game may and may not be killed. + +It is up to the American People to say _now_ whether their wild life +shall be slaughtered by machinery, or not. + +If they are willing that it should be, then let us be consistent and +say--away with all "conservation!" The game conservators can endure a +gameless and birdless continent quite as well as the average citizen +can. + +HOW THEY WORK.--There are a few apologists for the automatic and pump +guns who cheerfully say, "So long as the bag limit is observed what +difference does it make how the birds are killed?" + +It is strange that a conscientious man should ask such a question, when +the answer is apparent. + +We reply, "The difference is that an automatic or pump gun will kill +fully twice as many waterfowl as a double-barrel, _if not more_; and _it +is highly undesirable that every gunner should get the bag limit of +birds, or any number near it_! The birds can not stand it. Moreover, +_the best states for ducks and geese have no bag limits on those birds_!" +To-day, on Currituck Sound, for example, the market hunters are killing +all the waterfowl they can sell. On Marsh Island, Louisiana, one man has +killed 369 ducks in one day, and another market gunner killed 430 in one +day. + +The automatic and the "pump" shot-guns are the favorite weapons of the +game-hog who makes a specialty of geese and ducks. It is no uncommon +thing for a gunner who shoots a machine gun to get, with one gun, as +high as _eight_ birds out of one flock. A man who has himself done this +has told me so. + +_The Champion Game-Slaughter Case_.--Here is a story from California +that is no fairy tale. It was published, most innocently, in a western +magazine, with the illustration that appears herewith, and in which +please notice the automatic shot-gun: + +"February 5th, I and a friend were at one of the Glenn County Club's +camps.... Neither of us having ever had the pleasure of shooting over +live decoys, we were anxious, and could hardly wait for the sport to +commence. On arriving at the scene we noticed holes which had been dug +in the ground, just large enough for a man to crawl into. These holes +were used for hiding places, and were deep enough so the sportsmen would +be entirely out of sight of the game. The birds are so wild that to move +a finger will frighten them.... + +"The decoys are wild geese which had been crippled and tamed for this +purpose. They are placed inside of silk net fences which are located on +each side of the holes dug for hiding places. These nets are the color +of the ground and it is impossible for the wild geese flying overhead to +detect the difference. + +"After we had investigated everything the expert caller and owner of the +outfit exclaimed: 'Into your holes!' + +"We noticed in the distance a flock of geese coming. Our caller in a few +seconds had their attention, and they headed towards our decoys. Soon +they were directly over us, but out of easy range of our guns. We were +anxious to shoot, but in obedience to our boss had to keep still, and +soon noticed that the birds were soaring around and in a short time were +within fifteen or twenty feet of us. At that moment we heard the +command, 'Punch 'em!' and the bombardment that followed was beyond +imagining. _We had fired five shots apiece and found we had bagged ten +geese from this one flock_. + +"At the end of one hour's shooting we had 218 birds to our credit and +were out of ammunition. + +"On finding that no more shells were in our pits we took our dead geese +to the camp and returned with a new supply of ammunition. We remained in +the pits during the entire day. When the sun had gone behind the +mountains we summed up our kill and _it amounted to 450 geese_! + +"The picture shown with this article gives a view of _the first hour's +shoot_. A photograph would have been taken of the remainder of the +shoot, but it being warm weather the birds had to be shipped at once in +order to keep them from spoiling. + +[Illustration: SLAUGHTERED ACCORDING TO LAW +A Result of a Faulty System. Such Pictures as this are Very Common in +Sportsmen's Magazines Note the Automatic Gun] + +"Supper was then eaten, after which we were driven back to Willows; both +agreeing that it was one of the greatest days of sport we ever had, and +wishing that we might, through the courtesy of the Glenn County Goose +Club, have another such day. C.H.B." + +Another picture was published in a Canadian magazine, illustrating a +story from which I quote: + +"I fixed the decoys, hid my boat and took my position in the blind. My +man started his work with a will and hustled the ducks out of every +cove, inlet or piece of marsh for two miles around. I had barely time to +slip the cartridges into my guns--_one a double and the other a five +shot automatic_--when I saw a brace of birds coming toward me. They +sailed in over my decoys. I rose to the occasion, and the leader +up-ended and tumbled in among the decoys. The other bird, unable to stop +quick enough, came directly over me. He closed his wings and struck the +ground in the rear of the blind. + +"More and more followed. Sometimes they came singly, and then in twos +and threes. I kept busy and attended to each bird as quickly as +possible. Whenever there was a lull in the flight I went out in the boat +and picked up the dead, leaving the wounded to take chances with any +gunner lucky enough to catch them in open and smooth water. A bird handy +in the air is worth two wounded ones in the water. _Twice I took six +dead birds out of the water for seven shots, and both guns empty_. + +"The ball thus opened, the birds commenced to move in all directions. +Until the morning's flight was over I was kept busy pumping lead, _first +with the 10, then with the automatic_, reloading, picking up the dead, +etc." + +And the reader will observe that the harmless, innocent, inoffensive +automatic shot gun, that "don't matter if you enforce the bag limit," +figures prominently in both stories and both photographs. + +_A Story of Two Pump Guns and Geese_:--It comes from Aberdeen, S.D. +(Sand Lake), in the spring of 1911. Mr. J.J. Humphrey tells it, in +_Outdoor Life_ magazine for July, 1911. + +"Smith and I were about a hundred yards from them [the flock of Canada +geese], when Murphy scared them. They rose in a dense mass and came +directly between Smith and me. We were about gunshot distance apart, and +they were not over thirty feet in the air when we opened up on them with +our pump guns and No. 5 shot. When the smoke cleared away and we had +rounded up the cripples we found we had twenty-one geese. I have heard +of bigger killings out in this country, but never positively knew of +them." + +So then: _those two gunners averaged 10-1/2 wild geese per pump gun out +of one flock_! And yet there are wise and reflective sportsmen who say, +"What difference does the kind of gun make so long as you live up to the +law?" + +I think that the pump and automatic guns make about 75 _per-cent of +difference, against the game_; that is all! + +The number of shot-guns now in use in the United States is almost beyond +belief. About six years ago a gentleman interested in the manufacture of +such weapons informed me, and his statement has never been disputed, +that _every year_ about 500,000 new shot-guns were sold in the United +States. The number of shot cartridges annually produced by our four +great cartridge companies has been reliably estimated as follows: + +Winchester Arms Co 300,000,000 +Union Metallic Cartridge Co 250,000,000 +Peters Cartridge Co 150,000,000 +Western Cartridge Co 75,000,000 + ----------- + 775,000,000 + +We must stop all the holes in the barrel, or eventually lose all the +water. No group of bird-slaughterers is entitled to immunity. We will +not "limit the bag, and enforce the laws," while we permit the makers +and users of autoloading and pump guns to kill at will, as they demand. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Copy of letter: +National Association of Audubon Societies +Founded 1901. Incorporated 1906. + +For the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals + +WILLIAM DUTCHER, President +JOHN E. THAYER, 1st Vice-President +THEO. S. PALMER, M.D., 2d Vice-President +T. GILBERT PEARSON, Secretary +FRANK M. CHAPMAN, Treasurer +SAMUEL T. CARTER, Jr., Attorney + +OFFICES +525 Manhattan Avenue, New York City + +[Illustration: Map showing (shaded) States having +Audubon Societies.] + +[Illustration: Map showing (shaded) States which have adopted +the A.O.U. model law protecting the non-game birds.] + +141 Broadway. + +Feb. 26th 1906. + +My dear Mr. Hornaday:-- + +It is with much surprise that I learn through your communication of even +date that certain persons are claiming that the National Association of +Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Animals and Birds is in +favor of the use of automatic or pump guns, and consequently is not in +favor of the passage of laws to prevent the use or sale of such +firearms. + +I beg officially to state that the National Association of Audubon +Societies is absolutely opposed to either the manufacture, sale, or use +of such firearms, and therefore hopes that the meritorious bill +introduced by the New York Zoological Society will become a law. + +I beg further to add that any statement contrary to the above in effect +is unauthorized. + +This society is working for the preservation of the wild birds and game +of North America, and it sincerely should not stultify itself by +advocating the use of one of the most potent means of destruction that +has ever been devised. + +You are at liberty to use this communication either publicly or +privately. + +Very sincerely yours, +[Signature: William Dutcher] +President. + +A LETTER THAT TELLS ITS OWN STORY] + + * * * * * + +Yes; we _will_ "limit the bag" and "enforce the laws;" but the machine +guns and the alien shooters shall be eliminated at the same time! Each +state has the power to regulate, absolutely, down to the smallest +detail, the manner in which the game of The People shall be taken or not +taken; and such laws are absolutely constitutional. If we can legislate +punt guns and dynamite out of use, the machine guns and silencers can be +treated similarly. + +_No immunity for wild-life exterminators_. + +The following unprejudiced testimony from a New York business man who is +a sportsman, with a fine game preserve of his own, should be of general +interest. It was written to G.O. Shields, March 21, 1906. + + DEAR SIR: + + Regarding the use of the automatic shot-gun, would say that I am a + member of two southern ducking clubs where these guns are used very + extensively. I have seen a flock of ducks come into a blind where + one, two, or even three of these guns were in use, and have seen as + many as eleven shots poured into a single flock. + + We have considerable poaching on one of these clubs, the territory + being so extensive that it is impossible to prevent it. We own + 60,000 acres, and these poachers, I am told, nearly all use the + automatic guns. They frequently kill six or eight ducks out of one + flock--first taking a raking shot on the water, and then getting in + the balance of the magazine before the flock is out of range. In + fact, some of them carry two guns, and are able to discharge a part + of the second magazine into the same flock. + + As I told you the other evening, I am not so much against the gun + when in the hands of gentlemen and real sportsmen, but, on account + of its terrible possibilities for market hunters, I believe that the + only safe way is to abolish it entirely, and that the better class + should be willing to give up this weapon as being the only means of + putting a stop to this willful game slaughter. + + Very truly yours, + + ARTHUR ROBINSON. + + * * * * * + +HOW GENTLEMEN SPORTSMEN REGARD AUTOMATIC AND PUMP GUNS + + +Each one of the following organizations, chiefly clubs of gentlemen +sportsmen, have adopted strong resolutions condemning the use of +automatic guns in hunting, and either requesting or recommending the +enactment of laws against their use: + +New York Zoological Society ... Henry Fairfield Osborn, President +The Camp-Fire Club of America ... Daniel C. Beard, President +Boone and Crockett Club ... W. Austin Wadsworth, President +New York State Fish, Game and Forest League ... 81 Clubs and Associations +New York Association for the Protection of Fish and Game + ... Alfred Wagstaff, President +Lewis and Clark Club ... John M. Phillips, President +League of American Sportsmen ... G.O. Shields, President +Wild Life Protective Association ... W.T. Hornaday, President + +WHERE AUTOMATIC GUNS ARE BARRED OUT BY LAW + +PENNSYLVANIA, 1907 +NEW JERSEY, 1912 +SASKATCHEWAN, 1906 +NEW BRUNSWICK, 1907 +BRITISH COLUMBIA, 1911 +ONTARIO, 1907 +MANITOBA, 1909 +ALBERTA, 1907 +PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND, 1906 + +SPORTSMEN'S CLUBS WHEREIN THEY ARE BARRED BY CODES OF ETHICS AND RULES + +Adirondack League Club, New York +Blooming Grove Park Hunting and Fishing Club, Penn. +Greenwing Gun Club, Ottawa, Ill. +Western Ducking Club, Detroit, Minn. +Bolsa Chica Club, Los Angeles, Cal. +Westminster Club, Los Angeles, Cal. +Los Patos Club, Los Arigeles, Cal. +Pocahontas Club, Va. +Tobico Hunting Club, Kawkawlin, Mich. +Turtle Lake Club, Turtle Lake, Mich. +Au Sable Forest Farm Club, Mich. +Wallace Ducking Club, Wild Fowl Bay, Mich. +Lomita Club, Los Angeles, Cal. +Golden West Club, Los Angeles, Cal. +Recreation Club, Los Angeles, Cal. + + * * * * * + +A MODEL BILL TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF AUTOMATIC AND REPEATING SHOT GUNS IN +HUNTING + + Section 1. It shall be unlawful to use in hunting or shooting birds + or animals of any kind, any automatic or repeating shot gun or pump + gun, or any shot-gun holding more than two cartridges at one time, + or that may be fired more than twice without removal from the + shoulder for reloading. + + Section 2. Violation of any provision of this act shall be punished + by a fine of not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred + dollars for each offence; and the carrying, or possession in the + woods, or in any field, or upon any water of any gun or other weapon + the use of which is prohibited, as aforesaid, shall be prima facie + evidence of the violation of this act. + +_The English 3-barrel "Scatter Rifle," for Ducks_.--All gunners who find +machine guns good enough for them will be delighted by the news that an +Englishman whose identity is concealed under the initials "F.M.M." has +invented and manufactured a 3-barreled rifle specially intended to kill +ducks that are beyond the reach of a choke-bore shotgun. The weapon +discharges all three barrels simultaneously. In the _London Field_, of +Dec. 9, 1911, it is described by a writer who also thoughtfully conceals +his identity under a nom-de-plume. After a trial of 48 shots, the writer +declares that "the 3-barreled is a really practicable weapon," and that +with it one could bag wild-fowl that were quite out of reach of any +shot-gun. Just why a Gatling gun or a Maxim should not be employed for +the same purpose, the writer fails to state. The use of either would be +quite as sportsmanlike, and as fair to the game. There are great +possibilities in ducking mortars, also. + +_The "Sunday Gun."_--A new weapon of peculiar form and great deadliness +to song birds, has recently come into use. Because of the manner of its +use, it is known as the "Sunday gun." It is specially adapted to +concealment on the person. A man could go through a reception with one +of these deadly weapons absolutely concealed under his dress coat! It is +a weapon with two barrels, rifle and shot; and it enables the user to +kill anything from a humming-bird up to a deer. What the shot-barrel can +not kill, the rifle will. It is not a gun that any sportsman would own, +save as a curiosity, or for target use. + +The State Ornithologist of Massachusetts, Mr. E.H. Forbush, informs me +that already the "Sunday gun" has become a scourge to the bird life of +that state. Thousands of them are used by men and boys who live in +cities and towns, and are able to get into the country only on Sundays. +They conceal them under their coats, on Sunday mornings, go out into the +country, and spend the day in shooting small birds and mammals. The dead +birds are concealed in various pockets, the Sunday gun goes under the +coat, and at nightfall the guerrilla rides back to the city with an +innocent smile on his face, as if he had spent a day in harmless +enjoyment of the beauties of nature. + +The "Sunday gun" is on sale everywhere, and it is said to be in use both +by American and Italian killers of song-birds. It weighs only two +pounds, eight ounces, and its cost is so trifling that any guerrilla who +wishes one can easily find the money for its purchase. There are in the +United States at least a million men and boys quite mean enough to use +this weapon on song-birds, swallows, woodpeckers, nuthatches, rabbits +and squirrels, and like other criminals, hide both weapon and loot in +their clothing. So long as this gun is in circulation, no small bird is +safe, at any season, near any city or town. + +Now, what are the People going to do about it? + +My recommendation is that each state enact a law in the following terms: + +Be it enacted, etc.--That from and after the passage of this act it +shall be unlawful for any person to use in hunting, or to carry +concealed on the person, any shotgun, or rifle, or combination of +shotgun and rifle, with a barrel or barrels less than twenty-eight +inches in length, or with a skeleton stock fixed on a hinge. + +The carrying of any rifle or shotgun concealed on the person shall +constitute a felony. + +The penalties for hunting with any gun specially adapted to concealment +should be not less than $50 fine or two months imprisonment at hard +labor, and the carrying of such weapons concealed should be $100 or four +months at hard labor. + +Incidentally, we wonder what will be the next devilish device for the +destruction of wild life that American inventive genius will produce. + +[Illustration: THE "SUNDAY GUN!" +A Deadly Combination of Concealable Rifle-and-Shot-Gun.] + +[Illustration: THE WILDERNESS OF NORTH AMERICA (SHADED) AND THE ARCTIC +PRAIRIES, WELL STOCKED WITH BIG GAME] + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME + + +The subject of this chapter opens up a vast field of facts and +conclusions, quite broad enough to fill a whole volume. In the space at +our disposal here it is possible to offer only a summary of the subject, +without attempting to prove our statements by the production of detailed +evidence. + +To say that all over the world, the large land mammals are being +destroyed more rapidly than they are breeding, would not be literally +true, for the reason that there are yet many areas that are almost +untouched by the destroying hand of civilized man. It is true, however, +that all the unspoiled areas rapidly are growing fewer and smaller. It +is also true that in all the regions of the earth that are easily +penetrable by civilized man, the wild life is being killed faster than +it breeds, and of necessity it is disappearing. This is why the British +are now so urgently bestirring themselves to create game preserves in +all the countries that they own. + +It is one of the inexorable laws of Nature, to which I know of not one +exception, that large hoofed animals which live on open plains, on open +mountains, or in regions that are thinly forested, always are easily +found and easily exterminated. All such animals have a weak hold on +life. This is because it is so difficult for them to hide, and so very +easy for man to creep up within the killing range of modern, high-power, +long-range rifles. Is it not pitiful to think of animals like the +caribou, moose, white sheep and bear trying to survive on the naked +ridges and bald mountains of Yukon Territory and Alaska! With a modern +rifle, the greatest duffer on earth can creep up within killing distance +of any of the big game of the North. + +The gray wolf is practically the only large animal that is able to hide +successfully and survive in the treeless regions of the North; but his +room is always preferable to his company, because he, too, is a +destroyer of big game. + +I am tempted to try to map out roughly what are to-day the unopened and +undestroyed wild haunts of big game in North America. In doing this, +however, I warn the reader not to be deceived into thinking that because +game still exists in those regions, those areas therefore constitute a +permanent preserve and safe breeding-ground for large mammals. That is +very, very far from being the case. The further "opening up" of the +wilderness areas, as I shall call them for convenience, can and surely +will quickly wipe out their big game; for throughout nine-tenths of +those areas it holds to life by very slender threads. + +To-day the unopened and undestroyed wilderness areas of North America, +wherein large mammals still live in a normal wild state, are in general +as follows: + +THE ARCTIC BARREN GROUNDS, or Arctic Prairies, north of the limit of +trees, embracing the Barren Grounds of northern Canada, the great arctic +archipelago, Ellesmere, Melville and Grant Lands and Greenland. This +region is the home of the musk-ox and three species of arctic caribou. + +THE ALASKA-YUKON REGION, inhabited by the moose, white mountain sheep, +mountain goat, four species of caribou, and half a dozen species of +Alaska brown, grizzly and black bears. + +NORTHERN ONTARIO, QUEBEC, LABRADOR AND NEWFOUNDLAND, inhabited by moose, +woodland caribou, white-tailed deer and black bear. + +BRITISH COLUMBIA, inhabited by a magnificent big-game fauna embracing +the moose, elk, caribou of two species, white sheep, black sheep, +big-horn sheep, mule deer, white-tailed deer, mountain goat, grizzly, +black and inland white bears. + +THE SIERRA MADRE OF MEXICO, containing jaguar, puma, _grizzly_ and black +bears, mule deer, white-tailed deer, antelope, mountain sheep and +peccaries. + +I have necessarily omitted all those regions of the United States and +Canada that still contain a remnant of big game, but have been literally +"shot to pieces" by gunners. + +In the United States and southern Canada there are about fifteen +localities which contain a supply of big game sufficient that a +conscientious sportsman might therein hunt and kill one head per year +with a clear conscience. _All others should be closed for five years_! +Here is the list of availables; and regarding it there will be about as +many opinions as there are big-game sportsmen: + + * * * * * + +HUNTING GROUNDS IN AND NEAR THE UNITED STATES AND SOUTHERN CANADA +WHEREIN IT IS RIGHT TO HUNT BIG GAME + + +THE MAINE WOODS: Well stocked with white-tailed deer. + +NEW BRUNSWICK: Well stocked with moose; a few caribou, deer and black +bear. + +WHITE MOUNTAINS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE AND VERMONT: For deer. + +THE ADIRONDACKS, NEW YORK: Well stocked with white-tailed deer, only. + +PENNSYLVANIA MOUNTAINS: Contain many deer and black bears, and soon will +contain more. + +NORTHERN MINNESOTA: Deer and moose. + +NORTHERN MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN: White-tailed deer. + +NORTHWESTERN WYOMING: Thousands of elk in fall and winter; a few deer, +grizzly and black bears, but no sheep that it would be right to kill. + +WESTERN AND SOUTHWESTERN MONTANA: Elk in season, mule and white-tail +deer; no sheep that it would be right to kill. + +NORTHWESTERN MONTANA: Mule and white-tailed deer, only. No sheep, bear, +moose, elk or antelope _to kill_! + +WYOMING, EAST OF YELLOWSTONE PARK: A few elk, by migration from the +Park; a few deer, and bear of two species. + +NORTHERN WOODS OF ONTARIO AND QUEBEC: Moose; deer. + +SOUTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA: Goat, a few sheep and deer; grizzly bear. +Moose, caribou and elk should not be killed. + +NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA: Six fine species of big game. + +NORTHWESTERN ALBERTA: Grizzly bear, big-horn and mountain goat. + +Under existing conditions I regard the above-named hunting grounds as +_nearly all_ in which it is right or fair for big-game hunting now to be +permitted, even on a strict basis. Nearly all others should immediately +be closed, for large game, for ten years. + +Of course such a proceeding, if carried into effect, would provoke loud +protests from sportsmen, gunners, game-hogs, pot-hunters and others; but +I only wish to high heaven that we had the power to carry such a program +as that into effect! _Then we would see some game in ten years_; and our +grand-children would thank us for some real big-game protection at a +critical period. + +Except in the few localities above-mentioned, I regard the big-game +situation in the United States and southern Canada as particularly +desperate. Unless there is an immediate and complete revolution in this +country from an era of slaughter to an era of preservation, as sure as +the sun rises on the morrow, outside of the hard and fast game +preserves, and places like Maine and the Adirondacks, this generation of +Americans and near-Americans will live to see our country _swept clean +of big game_! + +Two years ago, I did not believe this; but I do now. It is impossible to +exaggerate the wide extent or the seriousness of this situation. In a +country where any and every individual can rise and bluster, +"I'm-just-as-good-as-_you_-are," and bellow for his "rights" as a +"tax-payer," there is no stopping the millions who kill whenever there +is an open season. And to many Americans, no right is dearer than the +right to kill the game which by even the commonest law of equity +belongs, not to the shooter exclusively, but partly to two thousand +other persons who don't shoot at all! + +Unless we come to an "About, face!" in quick time, all our big game +outside the preserves is doomed to sure and quick extermination. This is +not an individual opinion, merely: it is a _fact_; and a hundred +thousand men know it to be such. + +Last winter (1911-12), because the deer of Montana were driven by cold +and hunger out of the mountains and far down into the ranchmen's +valleys, eleven thousand of them were ruthlessly slaughtered. State +Game Warden Avare says that often heads of families took out as many +licenses as there were persons in the family, and the whole quota was +killed. Such people deserve to go deerless into the future; but we can +not allow them to rob innocent people. + + * * * * * + +OUR SPECIES OF BIG GAME + +THE PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE, unique and wonderful, will be one of _the +first species of North American big game to become totally extinct_. We +may see this come to pass within twenty years. They can not be bred in +protection, _save in very large fenced ranges_. They are delicate, +capricious, and easily upset. They die literally "at the drop of a hat." +They are quite subject to actinomycosis (lumpy-jaw), which in wild +animals is incurable. + +Already all the states that possess wild antelope, except Nevada, have +passed laws giving that species long close seasons; which is highly +creditable to the states that have done their duty. Nevada must get in +line at the next session of her legislature! + +In 1908, Dr. T.S. Palmer published in his annual report of "Progress in +Game Protection" the following in regard to the prong-horned antelope: + +"Antelope are still found in diminished numbers in fourteen western +states. A considerable number were killed during the year in Montana, +where the species seems to have suffered more than elsewhere since the +season was opened in 1907. + +"A striking illustration of the decrease of the antelope is afforded by +Colorado. In 1898 the State Warden estimated that there were 25,000 in +the state, whereas in 1908 the Game Commissioner places the number at +only 2,000. The total number of antelope now in the United States +probably does not exceed 17,000, distributed approximately as follows: + +Colorado 2,000 Yellowstone Park 2,000 +Idaho 200 Other States 2,000 +Montana 4,000 ----- +New Mexico 1,300 Saskatchewan 2,000 +Oregon 1,500 ----- +Wyoming 4,000 19,000 + +To-day (1912), Dr. Palmer says the total number of antelope is less than +it was in 1908, and in spite of protection the number is steadily +diminishing. This is indeed serious news. The existing bands, already +small, are steadily growing smaller. The antelope are killed lawlessly, +and the crimes of such slaughter are, in nearly every instance, +successfully concealed. + +Previously, we have based strong hopes for the preservation of the +antelope species on the herd in the Yellowstone Park, but those animals +are vanishing fearfully fast. In 1906, Dr. Palmer reported that "About +fifteen hundred antelope came down to the feeding grounds near the +haystacks in the vicinity of Gardiner." In 1908 the Yellowstone Park +was credited with two thousand head. _To-day, the number alive, by +actual count, is only five hundred head_; and this after twenty-five +years of protection! Where have the others gone? This shows, alas! that +perpetual close seasons can not _always_ bring back the vanished +thousands of game! + +[Illustration: PRONG-HORNED ANTELOPE] + +Here is a reliable report (June 29, 1912) regarding the prong-horned +antelope in Lower California, from E.W. Nelson: "Antelope formerly +ranged over nearly the entire length of Lower California, but are now +gone from a large part of their ancient range, and their steadily +decreasing numbers indicate their early extinction throughout the +peninsula." + +In captivity the antelope is exasperatingly delicate and short-lived. It +has about as much stamina as a pet monkey. As an exhibition animal in +zoological gardens and parks it is a failure; for it always looks faded, +spiritless and dead, like a stuffed animal ready to be thrown into the +discard. Zoologists can not save the prong-horn species save at long +range, in preserves so huge that the sensitive little beast will not +even suspect that it is confined. + +Two serious attempts have been made to transplant and acclimatize the +antelope--in the Wichita National Bison Range, in Oklahoma, and in the +Montana Bison Range, at Ravalli. In 1911 the Boone and Crockett Club +provided a fund which defrayed the expenses of shipping from the +Yellowstone Park a small nucleus herd to each of those ranges. Eight +were sent to the Wichita Range, of which five arrived alive. Of the +seven sent to the Montana Range, four arrived alive and were duly set +free. While it seems a pity to take specimens from the Yellowstone Park +herd, the disagreeable fact is that there is no other source on which to +draw for breeding stock. + +The Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, in Canada, still permit the +hunting and killing of antelope; which is wholly and entirely wrong. + +THE BIG-HORN SHEEP.--Of North American big game, the big-horn of the +Rockies will be, after the antelope, the next species to become extinct +outside of protected areas. In the United States that event is fast +approaching. It is far nearer than even the big-game sportsmen realize. +There are to-day only two localities in the four states that still +_think_ they have killable sheep, in which it is worth while to go +sheep-hunting. One is in Montana, and the other is in Wyoming. In the +United States a really big, creditable ram may now be regarded as an +impossibility. There are now perhaps half a dozen guides who can find +killable sheep in our country, but the game is nearly always young rams, +under five years of age. + +That Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington still continue to permit +sheep slaughter is outrageous. Their answer is that "The sportsmen won't +stand for stopping it altogether." I will add:--and the great mass of +people are too criminally indifferent to take a hand in the matter, and +_do their duty_ regardless of the men of blood. + +The seed stock of big-horn sheep now alive in the United States +aggregates a pitifully small number. After twenty-five years of unbroken +protection in Colorado, Dillon Wallace estimates, after an investigation +on the ground, that the state possesses perhaps thirty-five hundred +head. He credits Montana and Wyoming with five hundred each--which I +think is far too liberal a number. I do not believe that either of those +states contains more than one hundred unprotected sheep, at the very +utmost limit. If there are more, where are they? + +In the Yellowstone Park there are 210 head, safe and sound, and slowly +increasing. I can not understand why they have not increased more +rapidly than they have. In Glacier Park, now under permanent protection, +three guides on Lake McDonald, in 1910, estimated the number of sheep at +seven hundred. Idaho has in her rugged Bitter Root and Clearwater +Mountains and elsewhere, a remnant of possibly two hundred sheep, and +Washington has only what chemists call "a trace." It has recently been +discovered that California still contains a few sheep, and in +southwestern Nevada there are a few more. + +In Utah, the big-horn species is probably quite extinct. In Arizona, +there are a few very small bands, very widely scattered. They are in the +Santa Catalina Mountains, the Grand Canyon country, the Gila Range, and +the Quitovaquita Mountains, near Sonoyta. But who can protect from +slaughter those Arizona sheep? Absolutely no one! They are too few and +too widely scattered for the game wardens to keep in touch with them. +The "prospectors" have them entirely at their mercy, and the world well +knows what prospectors' "mercy" to edible big game looks like on the +ground. It leads straight to the frying-pan, the coyotes and the +vultures. + +The Lower California peninsula contains about five hundred mountain +sheep, without the slightest protection save low, desert mountains, heat +and thirst. But that is no real protection whatever. Those sheep are too +fine to be butchered the way they have been, and now are being +butchered. In 1908 I strongly called the attention of the Mexican +Government to the situation; and the Departmento de Fomento secured the +issue of an executive order forbidding the hunting of any big game in +Lower California without the written authority of the government. I am +sure, however, that owing to the political and military upheaval it +never stopped the slaughter of sheep. In such easy mountains as those of +Lower California, it is a simple matter to exterminate quickly all the +mountain sheep that they possess. The time for President Madero and his +cabinet to inaugurate serious protective measures has fully arrived. + +Both British Columbia and Alberta have even yet fine herds of big-horn, +and we can count three large game preserves in which they are protected. +They are Goat Mountain Park (East Kootenay district, between the Elk and +Bull Rivers); the Rocky Mountains Park, near Banff, and Waterton Lakes +Park, in the southwestern corner of Alberta. + +In view of the number of men who desire to hunt them, the bag limit on +big-horn rams in British Columbia and Alberta still is too liberal, by +half. One ram per year for one man is _quite enough_; quite as much so +as one moose is the limit everywhere. To-day "a big, old ram" is +regarded by sportsmen as a much more desirable and creditable trophy +than a moose; because moose-killing is easy, and the bagging of an old +mountain ram in real mountains requires five times as much effort and +skill. + +The splendid high and rugged mountains of British Columbia and Alberta +form an ideal home for the big-horn (and mountain goat), and it would be +an international calamity for that region to be denuded of its splendid +big game. With resolute intent and judicial treatment that region can +remain a rich and valuable hunting ground for five hundred years to +come. Under falsely "liberal" laws, it can be shot into a state of +complete desolation within ten years, or even less. + +OTHER MOUNTAIN SHEEP.--In northern British Columbia, north of Iskoot +Lake, there lies a tremendous region, extending to the Arctic Ocean, and +comprehending the whole area between the Rocky Mountain continental +divide and the waters of the Pacific. Over the southern end of this +great wilderness ranges the black mountain sheep, and throughout the +remainder, with many sheepless intervals, is scattered the white +mountain sheep. + +Owing to the immensity of this wilderness, the well-nigh total lack of +railroads and also of navigable waters, excepting the Yukon, it will not +be thoroughly "opened up" for a quarter of a century. The few resolute +and pneumonia-proof sportsmen who can wade into the country, pulling +boats through icy-cold mountain streams, are not going to devastate +those millions of mountains of their big game. The few head of game +which sportsmen can and will take out of the great northwestern +wilderness during the next twenty-five years will hardly be missed from +the grand total, even though a few easily-accessible localities are shot +out. It is the deadly resident trappers, hunters and prospectors who +must be feared! And again,--_who_ can control them? Can any wilderness +government on earth make it possible? Therefore, _in time, even the +great wilderness will be denuded of big game_. This is absolutely fixed +and certain; for within much less than another century, every square rod +of it will have been gone over by prospectors, lumbermen, trappers and +skin-hunters, and raked again and again with fine-toothed combs. A +railway line to Dawson, the Copper River and Cook Inlet is to-day merely +the next thing to expect, after Canada's present railway program has +been wrought out. + +Yes, indeed! In time the wilderness will be opened up, and the big game +will _all_ be shot out, save from the protected areas. + +THE MOUNTAIN GOAT.--Even yet, this species is not wholly extinct in the +United States. It survives in Glacier Park, Montana, and the number +estimated in that region by three guide friends is too astoundingly +large to mention. + +This animal is much more easily killed than the big-horn. Its white coat +renders it fatally conspicuous at long range during the best hunting +season; it is almost devoid of fear, and it takes altogether too many +chances on man. Thanks to the rage for sheep horns, the average +sportsman's view-point regarding wild life ranks a goat head about six +contours below "old ram" heads, in desirability. Furthermore, most +guides regard the flesh of the goat as almost unfit for use as food, and +far inferior to that of the big-horn. These reasons, taken together, +render the goats much less persecuted by the sportsmen, ranchmen and +prospectors who enter the home of the two species. It was because of +this indifference toward goats that in 1905 Mr. John M. Phillips and his +party saw 243 goats in thirty days in Goat Mountain Park, and only +fourteen sheep. + +Unless the preferences of western sportsmen and gunners change very +considerably, the coast mountains of the great northwestern wilderness +will remain stocked with wild mountain goats until long after the last +big-horn has been shot to death. Fortunately, the skin of the mountain +goat has no commercial value. I think it was in 1887 that I purchased, +in Denver, 150 nicely tanned skins of our wild white goat _at fifty +cents each_! They were wanted for the first exhibit ever made to +illustrate the extermination of American large mammals, and they were +shown at the Louisville Exposition. It must have cost the price of those +skins to tan them; and I was pleased to know that some one lost money on +the venture. + +[Illustration MAP OF THE FORMER AND EXISTING RANGES OF THE AMERICAN ELK +From "Life History of Northern Animals," Copyright 1909 by E.T. Seton] + +At present the mountain goat extends from north-western Montana to the +head of Cook Inlet, but it is not found in the interior or in the Yukon +valley. Whenever man decides that the species has lived long enough, he +can quickly and easily exterminate it. It is one of the most picturesque +and interesting wild animals on this continent, and there is not the +slightest excuse for shooting it, save as a specimen of natural history. +Like the antelope, it is so unique as a natural curiosity that it +deserves to be taken out of the ranks of animals that are regularly +pursued as game. + +THE ELK.--The story of the progressive extermination of the American +elk, or wapiti, covers practically the same territory as the tragedy of +the American bison--one-third of the mainland of North America. The +former range of the elk covered absolutely the garden ground of our +continent, omitting the arid region. Its boundary extended from central +Massachusetts to northern Georgia, southern Illinois, northern Texas and +central New Mexico, central Arizona, the whole Rocky Mountain region up +to the Peace River, and Manitoba. It skipped the arid country west of +the Rockies, but it embraced practically the whole Pacific slope from +central California to the north end of Vancouver Island. Mr. Seton +roughly calculated the former range of _canadensis_ at two and a half +million square miles, and adds: "We are safe, therefore, in believing +that in those days there may have been ten million head." + +The range of the elk covered a magnificent domain. The map prepared by +Mr. Ernest T. Seton, after twenty years of research, is the last word on +the subject. It appears on page 43, Vol. I, of his great work, "Life +Histories of Northern Animals," and I have the permission of author and +publisher to reproduce it here, as an object lesson in wild-animal +extermination. Mr. Seton recognizes (for convenience, only?) four forms +of American elk, two of which, _C. nannodes_ and _occidentalis_, still +exist on the Pacific Coast. The fourth, _Cervus merriami_, was +undoubtedly a valid species. It lived in Arizona and New Mexico, but +became totally extinct near the beginning of the present century. + +In 1909 Mr. Seton published in the work referred to above a remarkably +close estimate of the number of elk then alive in North America. +Recently, a rough count--the first ever made--of the elk in and around +the Yellowstone Park, revealed the real number of that largest +contingent. By taking those results, and Mr. Seton's figures for elk +outside the United States, we obtain the following very close +approximation of the wild elk alive in North America in 1912: + +LOCALITY NUMBER AUTHORITY + +Yellowstone Park and vicinity 47,000 U.S. Biological Survey. +Idaho (permanently), 600 +Washington 1,200 Game Warden Chris. Morgenroth. +Oregon 500 +California 400 +New York, Adirondacks 400 State Conservation Commission. +Minnesota 50 E.T. Seton. +Vancouver Island 2,000 E.T. Seton. +British Columbia (S.-E.) 200 E.T. Seton. +Alberta 1,000 E.T. Seton. +Saskatchewan 500 E.T. Seton +In various Parks and Zoos 1,000 E.T. Seton. + ------ +Total, for all America. 54,850 + +In 1905, a herd of twenty of the so-called dwarf elk of the San Joaquin +Valley, California, were taken to the Sequoia National Park, and placed +in a fenced range that had been established for it on the Kaweah River. + +The extermination of the wapiti began with the settlement of the +American colonies. Naturally, the largest animals were the ones most +eagerly sought by the meat-hungry pioneers, and the elk and bison were +the first game species to disappear. The colonists believed in the +survival of the fittest, and we are glad that they did. The one thing +that a hungry pioneer cannot withstand is--temptation--in a form that +embraces five hundred pounds of succulent flesh. And let it not be +supposed that in the eastern states there were only a few elk. The +Pennsylvania salt licks were crowded with them, and the early writers +describe them as existing in "immense bands" and "great numbers." + +Of course it is impossible for wild animals of great size to exist in +countries that are covered with farms, villages and people. Under such +conditions the wild and the tame cannot harmonize. It is a fact, +however, that elk could exist and thrive in every national forest and +national park in our country, and also on uncountable hundreds of +thousands of rough, wild, timbered hills and mountains such as exist in +probably twenty-five different states. There is no reason, except man's +short-sighted greed and foolishness, why there are not to-day one +hundred thousand elk living in the Allegheny Mountains, furnishing each +year fifty thousand three-year-old males as free food for the people. + +The trouble is,--the greedy habitants _could not_ be induced to kill +only the three-year-old-males, in the fall, and let the cows, calves and +breeding bulls alone! By sensible management the Rocky Mountains, the +Sierra Nevadas and the Coast Range would support enough wild elk to feed +a million people. But we Americans seem utterly incapable of maintaining +anywhere from decade to decade a large and really valuable supply of +wild game. Outside the Yellowstone Park and northwestern Wyoming, the +American elk exists only in small bands--mere remnants and samples of +the millions we could and should have. + +_If_ they could be protected, and the surplus presently killed according +to some rational, working system, then _every national forest in the +United States should be stocked with elk_! In view of the awful cost of +beef (to-day 10-1/2 cents per pound in Chicago _on the hoof_!), it is +high time that we should consider the raising of game on the public +domain on such lines that it would form a valuable food supply without +diminishing the value of the forests. + +Just now (1912) the American people are sorely puzzled by a remarkable +elk problem that each winter is presented for solution in the Jackson +Hole country, Wyoming. Driven southward by the deep snows of winter, the +elk thousands that in summer graze and grow fat in the Yellowstone Park +march down into Jackson Hole, to find in those valleys less snow and +more food. Now, it happens that the best and most of the former winter +grazing grounds of the elk are covered by fenced ranches! As a result, +the elk that strive to winter there, about fifteen thousand head, are +each winter threatened with starvation; and during three or four winters +of recent date, an aggregate of several thousand calves, weak yearlings +and weakened cows perished of hunger. The winters of 1908, 1909 and 1910 +were progressively more and more severe; and 1911 saw about 2500 deaths, +(S.N. Leek). + +In 1909-10, the State of Wyoming spent $7,000 for hay, and fed it to the +starving elk. In 1911, Wyoming spent $5,000 more, and appealed to +Congress for help. Thanks to the efforts of Senator Lodge and others, +Congress instantly responded with a splendid emergency appropriation of +$20,000, partly for the purpose of feeding the elk, and also to meet the +cost of transporting elsewhere as many of the elk as it might seem best +to move. The starving of the elk ceased with 1911. + +_Outdoor Life_ magazine (Denver, Colo.) for August, 1912, contains an +excellent article by Dr. W.B. Shore, entitled, "Trapping and Shipping +Elk." I wish I could reprint it entire, for the solid information that +it contains. It gives a clear and comprehensive account of last spring's +operations by the Government and by the state of Montana in capturing +and shipping elk from the Yellowstone Park herd, for the double purpose +of diminishing the elk surplus in the Park and stocking vacant ranges +elsewhere. + +The operations were conducted on the same basis as the shipping of +cattle--the corral, the chute, the open car, and the car-load in bulk. +Dr. Shore states that the undertaking was really no more difficult than +the shipping of range cattle; but the presence of a considerable +proportion of young and tender calves, such as are never handled with +beef cattle, led to 8.8 per cent of deaths in transit. The deaths and +the percentage are nothing at which to be surprised, when it is +remembered, that the animals had just come through a hard winter, and +their natural vitality was at the lowest point of the year. + +The following is a condensed summary of the results of the work: + + Number of Hours on Killed or Died After + Destination Elk Road Died in Car Unloading + +1 Car. Startup, Washington 60: calves, 94 11 7 + yearlings + and two-year + olds +1 " Hamilton, Montana 43: cows & 30 4 1 + calves +1 " Thompson Falls, + Montana 40 -- 2 O +1 " Stephensville, + Montana 36 -- 1 1 +1 " Deer Lodge, Montana 40 24 2 O +1 " Hamilton, Montana 40 -- O O +1 " Mt. Vernon, + Washington 46 4 days; 7 O + unloaded & + fed twice + --- -- - + 305 27 9 + +The total deaths in transit and after, of 36 elk out of 305, amounted to +11.4 per cent. + +All those shipped to Montana points were shipped by the state of +Montana. + + +In order to provide adequate winter grazing grounds for the +Yellowstone-Wyoming elk, it seems imperative that the national +government should expend between $30,000 and $40,000 in buying back from +ranchmen certain areas in the Jackson valley, particularly a tract known +as "the swamp," and others on the surrounding foothills where the herds +annually go to graze in winter, A measure to render this possible was +presented to Congress in the winter of 1912, and without opposition an +appropriation of $45,000 was made. + +The splendid photographs of the elk herds that recently have been made +by S.N. Leek, of Jackson Hole, clearly reveal the fact that the herds +now consist chiefly of cows, calves, yearlings and young bulls with +small antlers. In one photograph showing about twenty-five hundred elk, +there are not visible even half a dozen pairs of antlers that belong to +adult bulls. There should be a hundred! This condition means that the +best bulls, with the finest heads, are constantly being selected and +killed by sportsmen and others who want their heads; and the young, +immature bulls are left to do the breeding that alone will sustain the +species. + +[Illustration: HUNGRY ELK IN JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING +Part of a Herd of About 2,500 Head, being fed on hay, in the Winter of +1910-11 Note the Absence of Adult Bulls. Copyright, 1911, by S.N. +Leek] + +It is a well-known principle in stock-breeding that sires should be +fully adult, of maximum strength, and in the prime of life. No +stockbreeder in his senses ever thinks of breeding from a youthful, +immature sire. The result would be weak offspring not up to the +standard. + +This inexorable law of inheritance and transmission is just as much a +law for the elk, moose and deer of North America as it is for domestic +cattle and horses. If the present conditions in the Wyoming elk herds +continue to prevail for several generations, as sure as time goes on we +shall see a marked deterioration in the size and antlers of the elk. + +If the foundation principles of stock-breeding are correct, then it is +impossible to maintain any large-mammal species at its zenith of size, +strength and virility by continuous breeding of the young and immature +males. By some sportsmen it is believed that through long-continued +killing of the finest and largest males, the red deer of Europe have +been growing smaller; but on that point I am not prepared to offer +evidence. + +In regard to the in-breeding of the elk herds in large open parks and +preserves throughout North America, there are positively _no ill effects +to fear_. Wild animals that are _closely_ confined generation after +generation are bound to deteriorate physically; but with healthy wild +animals living in large open ranges, feeding and breeding naturally, the +in-breeding that occurs produces no deterioration. + +In the twin certainties of over-population, and deterioration from +excessive killing of the good sires, we have to face two new problems of +very decided importance. Nothing short of very radical measures will +provide a remedy. For the immediate future, I can offer a solution. +While it seems almost impossible deliberately to kill females, I think +that the present is a very exceptional case, and one that compels us to +apply the painful remedy that I now propose. + +_Premises_: + +1.--There are at present _too many_ breeding cows in the Yellowstone +herds. + +2.--There are far too few good breeding bulls. + +_Conclusion_:--For five years, entirely prohibit the killing of adult +male elk, and kill only females, and young males. This would gradually +diminish the number of calves born each year, by about 2,500, and by the +end of five years it would reduce the number, _and the annual birth_, of +females to a figure sufficiently limited that the herds could be +maintained on existing ranges. + +_Corollary_.--At the end of five years, stop killing females, and kill +only _young_ males. This plan would permit a large number of bull elk to +mature; and then the largest and strongest animals would do the +breeding,--just as Nature always intends shall be done. + + * * * * * + +SOUTH AMERICA + +Of all the big-game regions of the earth, South America is the poorest. +Of hoofed game she possesses only a dozen species that are worth the +attention of sportsmen; and like all other animal life in that land of +little game, they are desperately hard to find. In South America you +must work your heart out in order to get either game or specimens that +will be worth showing. + +At present, we need not worry about the marsh deer, the pampas deer, the +guemal, or the venado, nor the tapir, jaguar, ocelot and bears. All +these species are abundantly able to take care of themselves; and to +find and kill any one of them is a man's task. In Patagonia the natives +do wastefully slaughter the guanacos; and there are times also when +great numbers of guanacos come down in winter to certain mountain lakes, +presumably in search of food, and perish by hundreds through starvation. +(H. Hesketh Prichard.) + + * * * * * + +MEXICO + +About ten years more will see the extinction of the mountain sheep of +Lower California,--in the wake of the recently exterminated Mexican +sheep of the Santa Maria Lakes region. In 1908, I solemnly warned the +government of President Diaz, and at that time the Mexican government +expressed much concern. + +It is a great pity that just now political conditions are completely +estopping wild-life protection in Mexico; but it is true. If the code of +proposed laws that I drew up (by request) in 1908 and submitted to +Minister Molina were adopted, it would have a good effect on the fauna +of Mexico. + +In Mexico there is little hoofed game to kill,--deer of the white-tail +groups, seven or eight species; the desert mule deer; the brocket; the +prong-horned antelope, the mountain sheep and the peccary. The deer will +not so easily be exterminated, but the antelope and sheep will be +utterly destroyed. They will be the first to go; and I think they can +not by any possibility last longer than ten years. Is it not too bad +that Mexico should permit her finest species of hoofed and horned game +to be obliterated before she awakens to the desirability of +conservation! The Mexicans could protect their small stock of big game +if they would; but in Lower California they are leasing huge tracts of +land to cattle companies, and they permit the lessees to kill all the +wild game they please on their leased lands, even with the aid of dogs. +This is a vicious and fatal system, and contrary to all the laws of +nations. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XVII + +PRESENT AND FUTURE OF NORTH AMERICAN BIG GAME + +(Concluded) + + +THE WHITE-TAILED DEER.--Five hundred years hence, when the greed and +rapacity of "civilized" man has completed the loot and ruin of the +continent of North America, the white-tailed deer will be the last +species of our big game to be exterminated. Its mental traits, its size, +its color and its habits all combine to render it the most persistent of +our large animals, and the best fitted to survive. It neither bawls nor +bugles to attract its enemies, it can not be called to a sportsman, like +the moose, and it sticks to its timber with rare and commendable +closeness. When it sees a strange living thing walking erect, it does +not stop to stare and catch soft-nosed bullets, but dashes away in quest +of solitude. + +The worst shooting that I ever did or saw done at game was at running +white-tailed deer, in the Montana river bottoms. + +For the reasons given, the white-tail exists and persists in a hundred +United States localities from which all other big game save the black +bear have been exterminated. For example, in our Adirondacks the moose +were exterminated years and years ago, but the beloved wilderness called +the "North Woods" still is populated by about 20,000 deer, and about +8,000 are killed annually. The deer of Maine are sufficiently numerous +that in 1909 a total of 15,879 were killed. With some assistance from +the thin sprinkling of moose and caribou, the deer of Maine annually +draw into that state, for permanent dedication, a huge sum of money, +variously estimated at from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000. In spite of heavy +slaughter, and vigorous attempts at extermination by over-shooting, the +deer of northern Michigan obstinately refuse to be wiped out. + +There is, however, a large group of states in which this species has +been exterminated. The states comprising it are Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, +Iowa, and adjacent portions of seven other states. + +As if to shame the people of Iowa, a curious deer episode is recorded. +In 1885, W.B. Cuppy, of Avoca, Iowa, purchased five deer, and placed +them in a paddock on his 600-acre farm. By 1900 they had increased to 32 +head; and then one night some one kindly opened the gate of their +enclosure, and gave them the freedom of the city. Mr. Cuppy made no +effort to capture them, possibly because they decided to annex his farm +as their habitat. When a neighbor led them with a bait of corn to their +owner's door, he declined to impound them, on the ground that it was +unnecessary. + +By 1912, those deer had increased to 400, and the portion of this story +that no one will believe is this: they spread all through the suburbs +and hinterland farms of Avoca, and _the people not only failed to +assassinate all of them and eat them, but they actually killed only a +few, protected the rest, and made pets of many!_ Queer people, those men +and boys of Avoca. Nearly everywhere else in the world that I know, that +history would have been ended differently. Here in the East, 90 per cent +of our people are like the Avocans, but the other 10 per cent think only +of slaying and eating, sans mercy, sans decency, sans law. Now the State +of Iowa has taken hold, to capture some of those deer, and set them free +in other portions of the state. + +Elsewhere I shall note the quick and thorough success with which the +white-tailed deer has been brought back in Vermont, Massachusetts, +Connecticut, and southern New York. + +No state having waste lands covered with brush or timber need be without +the ubiquitous white-tailed deer. Give them a semblance of a fair show, +and they will live and breed with surprising fecundity and persistence. +If you start a park herd with ten does, soon you will have more deer +than you will know how to dispose of, unless you market them under a +Bayne law, duly tagged by the state. In close confinement this species +fares rather poorly. In large preserves it does well, but during the +rutting season the bucks are to be dreaded; and those that develop +aggressive traits should be shot and marketed. This is the only way in +which the deer parks of England are kept safe for unarmed people. + +Dr. T.S. Palmer has taken much pains to ascertain the number of deer +killed in the eastern United States. His records, as published in May, +1910, are as follows: + +STATE 1908 1909 1910 +Maine 15,000 15,879 15,000 +New Hampshire (a) (a) (a) +Vermont 2,700 4,736 3,649 +New York 6,000 9,000 9,000 +New Jersey (a) 120 +Pennsylvania 500 500 800 +Michigan 9,076 6,641 13,347 +Wisconsin 11,000 6,000 6,000 +Minnesota 6,000 6,000 3,147 +West Virginia 107 51 49 +Maryland 16 13 6 +Virginia 207 210 224 +North Carolina (a) (a) (a) +South Carolina 1,000 (a) (a) +Georgia (a) 367 369 +Florida 2,209 2,021 1,526 +Alabama 152 148 132 +Mississippi 411 458 500 +Louisiana 5,500 5,470 5,000 +Massachusetts 1,281 + ------ ------ ------ + Total 59,878 57,494 60,150 + +(a) No statistics available. + +At this date deer hunting is not permitted at any time in Indiana, +Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas,--where there are no wild deer; nor +in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Tennessee or Kentucky. The long +close seasons in Massachusetts, Connecticut and southern New York have +caused a great migration of deer into those once-depopulated +regions,--in fact, right down to tide-water. + +THE MULE DEER.--This will be the first member of the Deer Family to +become extinct in North America outside of the protected portions of its +haunts. Its fatal preference for open ground and its habit of pausing to +stare at the hunter have been, and to the end will be, its undoing. +Possibly there are now two of these deer in the United States and +British Columbia for every 98 that existed forty years ago, but no more. +It is a deer of the bad lands and foothills, and its curiosity is fatal. + +The number of sportsmen who have hunted and killed this fine animal in +its own wild and picturesque bad-lands is indeed quite small. It has +been four-fifths exterminated by the resident hunter and ranchman, and +to-day is found in the Rocky Mountain region most sparingly. Ten years +ago it seemed right to hunt the so-called Rocky Mountain "black-tail" in +northwestern Montana, because so many deer were there it did not seem to +spell extermination. Now, conditions have changed. Since last winter's +great slaughter in northwestern Montana, of 11,000 hungry deer, the +species has been so reduced that it is no longer right to kill mule deer +anywhere in our country, and a universal close season for five years is +the duty of every state which contains that species. + +THE REAL BLACK-TAILED DEER, of the Pacific coast, (_Odocoileus +columbianus_) is, to most sportsmen of the Rocky Mountains and the East +actually less known than the okapi! Not one out of every hundred of them +can recognize a mounted head of it at sight. It is a small, +delicately-formed, delicately-antlered understudy of the big mule deer, +and now painfully limited in its distribution. It is _the_ deer of +California and western Oregon, and it has been so ruthlessly slaughtered +that today it is going fast. As conditions stand to-day, and without a +radical change on the part of the people of the Pacific coast, this very +interesting species is bound to disappear. It will not be persistent, +like the white-tailed deer, but in the heavy forests, it will last much +longer than the mule deer. + +My information regarding this deer is like the stock of specimens of it +in museum collections,--meager and unsatisfactory. We need to know in +detail how that species is faring to-day, and what its prospects are for +the immediate future. In 1900, I saw great piles of skins from it in the +fur houses of Seattle, and the sight gave me much concern. + +THE CARIBOU, GENERALLY.--I think it is not very difficult to forecast +the future of the Genus _Rangifer_ in North America, from the logic of +the conditions of to-day. Thanks to the splendid mass of information +that has been accumulated regarding this group, we are able to draw +certain conclusions. I think that the caribou of the Canadian Barren +Grounds and northeastern Alaska will survive in great numbers for at +least another century; that the caribou herds of Newfoundland will last +nearly as long, and that in fifty years or less all the caribou of the +great northwestern wilderness will be swept away. + +The reasons for these conclusions are by no means obscure, or +farfetched. + +In the first place, the barren-ground caribou are to-day enormously +numerous,--undoubtedly running up into millions. It can not be possible +that they are being killed faster than they are breeding; and so they +must be increasing. Their food supply is unlimited. They are protected +by two redoubtable champions,--Jack Frost and the Mosquito. Their +country never will contain a great human population. The natives are so +few in number, and so lazy, that even though they should become supplied +with modern firearms, it is unlikely that they ever will make a serious +impression on the caribou millions. The only thing to fear for the +barren-ground caribou throngs is disease,--a factor that is beyond human +prediction. + +It is reasonably certain that the Barren Grounds never will be netted by +railways,--unless gold is discovered over a wide area. The fierce cold +and hunger, and the billions of mosquitoes of the Barren Grounds will +protect the caribou from the wholesale slaughter that "civilized" man +joyously would inflict--if he had the chance. + +The caribou thousands of Newfoundland are fairly accessible to sportsmen +and pot-hunters, but at the same time the colonial government can +protect them from extermination if it will. Already much has been done +to check the reckless and wicked slaughter that once prevailed. A bag +limit of three bull caribou per annum has been fixed, which is enforced +as to non-residents and sportsmen, but in a way that is much too +"American" it is often ignored by residents in touch with the game. For +instance, the guide of a New York gentleman whom I know admitted to my +friend that each year he killed "about 25" caribou for himself and his +family of four other persons. He explained thus: "When the inspector +comes around, I show him two caribou hanging in my woodshed, but back in +the woods I have a little shack where I keep the others until I want +them." + +The real sportsmen of the world never will make the slightest +perceptible impression on the caribou of Newfoundland. For one thing, +the hunting is much too tame to be interesting. If the caribou of that +Island ever are exterminated, it will be strictly by the people of +Newfoundland, themselves. If the government will tighten its grip on the +herds, they need never be exterminated. + +The caribou of New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario are few and widely +scattered. Unless carefully conserved, they are not likely to last long; +for their country is annually penetrated in every direction by armed +men, white and red. There is no means by which it can be proven, but +from the number of armed men in those regions I feel sure that the +typical woodland caribou species is being shot faster than it is +breeding. The sportsmen and naturalists of Canada and New Brunswick +would render good service by making a close and careful investigation of +that question. + +The caribou of the northwestern wilderness are in a situation peculiarly +their own. They inhabit a region of naked mountains and _thin_ forests, +wherein they are conspicuous, easily stalked and easily killed. Nowhere +do they exist in large herds of thousands, or even of many hundreds. +They live in small bands of from ten to twenty head, and even those are +far apart. The region in which they live is certain to be thoroughly +opened up by railways, and exploited. Fifty years from now we will find +every portion of the now-wild Northwest fairly accessible by rail. The +building of the railways will be to the caribou--and to other big +game--the day of doom. In that wild, rough region, no power on +earth,--save that which might be able to deprive _all_ the inhabitants +and all visitors of firearms,--can possibly save the game outside of a +few preserves that are diligently patroled. + +The big game of the northwest region, in which I include the interior of +Alaska, _will go_! It is only a question of time. Already the building +of the city of Fairbanks, and the exploitation of the mining districts +surrounding it, have led to such harassment and slaughter of the +migrating caribou that the great herd which formerly traversed the +Tanana country once a year has completely changed its migration route, +and now keeps much farther north. The "crossing" of the Yukon near Eagle +City has been abandoned. A hundred years hence, the northwestern +wilderness will be dotted with towns and criss-crossed with railways; +but the big game of it will be gone, except in the preserves that are +yet to be made. This will particularly involve the caribou, moose, and +mountain sheep of all species, which will be the first to go. The +mountain goat and the forest bears will hold out longer than their more +exposed neighbors of the treeless mountains. + +THE MOOSE.--In the United States the moose is found in five +states,--Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. There are 550 in +the Yellowstone Park. In Maine and Minnesota only may moose be hunted +and killed. In the season of 1909, 184 moose were killed in Maine,--a +large number, considering the small moose population of that state. In +northern Minnesota, we now possess a great national moose preserve of +909,743 acres; and in 1908 Mr. Fullerton, after a personal inspection in +which he saw 189 moose in nine days, estimated the total moose +population of the present day at 10,000 head. This is a moose preserve +worth while. + +Outside of protected areas, the moose is the animal that is most easily +exterminated. Its trail is easily followed, and its habits are +thoroughly known, down to three decimal places. As a hunter's reward it +is Great. Strange to say, New Brunswick has found that the moose is an +animal that it is possible, and even easy, to protect. The death of a +moose is an event that is not easily concealed! Wherever it is +thoroughly understood that the moose law will be enforced, the would-be +poacher pauses to consider the net results to him of a jail sentence. + +In New Brunswick we have seen two strange things happen, during our own +times. We have seen the moose migrate into, and permanently occupy, an +extensive area that previously was destitute of that species. At the +same time, we have seen a reasonable number of bull moose killed by +sportsmen without disturbing in the least the general equanimity of the +general moose population! And at this moment, the moose population of +New Brunswick is almost incredible. Every moose hunter who goes there +sees from 20 to 40 moose, and two of my friends last year saw, "in round +numbers, about 100!" Up to date the size of adult antlers seem to be +maintaining a high standard. + +In summer, the photographing of moose in the rivers, lakes and ponds of +Maine and New Brunswick amounts to an industry. I am uneasy about the +constant picking off of the largest and best breeding bulls of the +Mirimachi country, lest it finally reduce the size and antlers of the +moose of that region; but only the future can tell us just how that +prospect stands to-day. + +In Alaska, our ever thoughtful and forehanded Biological Survey of the +Department of Agriculture has by legal proclamation at one stroke +converted the whole of the Kenai Peninsula into a magnificent moose +preserve. This will save _Alces gigas_, the giant moose of Alaska, from +extermination; and New Brunswick and the Minnesota preserve will save +_Alces americanus_. But in the northwest, we can positively depend upon +it that eventually, wherever the moose may legally be hunted and killed +by any Tom, Dick or Harry who can afford a twenty-dollar rifle and a +license, the moose surely will disappear. + +The moose laws of Alaska are strict--toward sportsmen, only! The miners, +"prospectors" and Indians may kill as many as they please, "for food +purposes." This opens the door to a great amount of unfair slaughter. +Any coffee-cooler can put a pan and pick into his hunting outfit, go out +after moose, and call himself a "prospector." + +I grant that the _real_ prospector, who is looking for ores and minerals +with an intelligent eye, and knows what he is doing, should have special +privileges on game, to keep him from starving. The settled miner, +however, is in a different class. No miner should ask the privilege of +living on wild game, any more than should the farmer, the steamboat man, +the railway laborer, or the soldier in an army post. The Indian should +have no game advantages whatever over a white man. He does not own the +game of a region, any more than he owns its minerals or its water-power. +He should obey the general game laws, just the same as white men. In +Africa, as far as possible, the white population wisely prohibits the +natives from owning or using firearms, and a good idea it is, too. I am +glad there is one continent on which the "I'm-just-as-good-as-you-are" +nightmare does not curse the whole land. + +THE MUSK-OX.--Now that the north pole has been safely discovered, and +the south pole has become the storm-center of polar exploration, the +harried musk-ox herds of the farthest north are having a rest. I think +that most American sportsmen have learned that as a sporting proposition +there is about as much fun and glory in harrying a musk-ox herd with +dogs, and picking off the members of it at "parade rest," as there is in +shooting range cattle in a round-up. The habits of the animal positively +eliminate the real essence of sport,--difficulty and danger. When a +musk-ox band is chased by dogs, or by wolves, the full-grown members of +it, bulls and cows alike, instantly form a close circle around the +calves, facing outward shoulder to shoulder, and stand at bay. Without +the aid of a gunner and a rifle, such a formation is invincible! Mr. +Paul Rainey's moving pictures tell a wonderful story of animal +intelligence, bravery and devotion to the parental instinct. + +For some reason, the musk-ox herds do not seem to have perceptibly +increased since man first encountered them. The number alive to-day +appears to be no greater than it was fifty years ago; and this leads to +the conclusion that the present delicate balance could easily be +disturbed the wrong way. Fortunately, it seems reasonably certain that +the Indians of the Canadian Barren Grounds, the Eskimo of the far north, +and the stray explorers all live outside the haunts of the species, and +come in touch only with the edge of the musk-ox population as a whole. +This leads us to hope and believe that, through the difficulties +involved in reaching them, the main bodies of musk-ox of both species +are safe from extermination. + +At the same time, the time has come for Canada, the United States and +Denmark to join in formulating a stiff law for the prevention of +wholesale slaughter of musk-ox for sport. It should be rendered +impossible for another sportsman to kill twenty-three head in one day, +as once occurred. Give the sportsman a bag of three bulls, and no more. +To this, no true sportsman will object, and the objections of game-hogs +only serve to confirm the justice of the thing they oppose. + +THE GRIZZLY BEAR.--To many persons it may seem strange that anyone +should feel disposed to accord protection to such fierce predatory +animals as grizzly bears, lions and tigers. But the spirit of fair play +springs eternal in some human breasts. The sportsmen of the world do not +stick at using long-range, high-power repeating rifles on big game, but +they draw the line this side of traps, poisons and extermination. The +sportsmen of India once thought,--for about a year and a day,--that it +was permissible to kill troublesome and expensive tigers by poison. Mr. +G.P. Sanderson tried it, and when his strychnine operations promptly +developed three bloated and disgusting tiger carcasses, even his native +followers revolted at the principle. That was the alpha and omega of +Sanderson's poisoning activities. + +I am quite sure that if the extermination of the tiger from the whole of +India were possible, and the to-be or not-to-be were put to a vote of +the sportsmen of India, the answer would be a thundering _"No!"_ Says +Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton in his "Animal Life in Africa:" "It is +impossible to contemplate the use against the lion of any other weapon +than the rifle." + +The real sportsmen and naturalists of America are decidedly opposed to +the extermination of the grizzly bear. They feel that the wilds of North +America are wide enough for the accommodation of many grizzlies, without +crowding the proletariat. A Rocky Mountain without a grizzly upon it, or +at least a bear of some kind, is only half a mountain,--commonplace and +tame. Put one two-year-old grizzly cub upon it, and presto! every cubic +yard of its local atmosphere reeks with romantic uncertainty and +fearsome thrills. + +A few persons have done considerable talking and writing about the +damage to stock inflicted by bears, but I think there is little +justification for such charges. Certainly, there is not one-tenth enough +real damage done by bears to justify their extermination. At the present +time, we hear that the farmers (!) of Kadiak Island, Alaska, are being +seriously harassed and damaged by the big Kadiak bear,--an animal so +rare and shy that it is very difficult for a sportsman to kill one! I +think the charges against the bears,--if the Kadiak Islanders ever +really have made any,--need to be proven, by the production of real +evidence. + +In the United States, outside of our game preserves, I know of not one +locality in which grizzly bears are sufficiently numerous to justify a +sportsman in going out to hunt them. The California grizzly, once +represented by "Monarch" in Golden Gate Park, is almost, if not wholly, +extinct. In Montana, outside of Glacier Park it is useless to apply for +wild grizzlies. In the Bitter Root Mountains and Clearwater Mountains of +Idaho, there are grizzlies, but they hide so effectually under the +snow-bent willows on the "slides" that it is almost impossible to get a +shot. Northwestern Wyoming still contains a few grizzlies, but there are +so many square miles of mountains around each animal it is now almost +useless to go hunting for them. British Columbia, western Alberta and +the coast mountains at least as far as Skaguay, and Yukon Territory +generally, all contain grizzlies, and the sportsman who goes out for +sheep, caribou and moose is reasonably certain to see half a dozen bears +and kill at least one or two. In those countries, the grizzly species +will hold forth long after all killable grizzlies have vanished from the +United States. + +I think that it is now time for California, Montana, Washington, Oregon, +Idaho and Wyoming to give grizzly bears protection of some sort. +Possibly the situation in those states calls for a five-year close +season. Even British Columbia should now place a bag limit on this +species. This has seemed clear to me ever since two of my friends killed +(in the spring of 1912) _six_ grizzlies in one week! But Provincial Game +Warden A. Bryan Williams says that at present it would be impossible to +impose a bag limit of one per year on the grizzlies of British Columbia; +and Mr. Williams is a sincere game-protector. + +THE BROWN BEARS OF ALASKA.--These magnificent monsters present a +perplexing problem, which I am inclined to believe can be satisfactorily +solved by the Biological Survey only in short periods, say of three or +four years each. Naturally, the skin hunters of Alaska ardently desire +the skins of those bears, for the money they represent. That side of the +bear problem does not in the least appeal to the ninety odd millions of +people who live this side of Alaska. The skins of the Alaskan brown +bears have little value save as curiosities, nailed upon the wall, where +they can not be stepped upon and injured. The _hunting_ of those bears, +however, is a business for men; and it is partly for that reason they +should be preserved. A bear-hunt on the Alaska Peninsula, Admiralty or +Montagu Islands, is an event of a lifetime, and with a bag limit of +_one_ brown bear, the species would be quite safe from extermination. + +[Illustration: THE WICHITA NATIONAL BISON HERD +Presented by the New York Zoological Society] + +In Alaska there is some dissatisfaction over the protection accorded the +big brown bears; but those rules are right _as far as they go_! A +governor of Alaska once said to me: "The preservation of the game of +Alaska should be left to the _people_ of Alaska. It is their game; and +they will preserve it all right!" + +The answer? _Not by a long shot_! + +Only three things were wrong with the ex-governor's view: + +1.--The game of Alaska does _not_ belong to the people who live in +Alaska--with the intent to get out to-morrow! It belongs to the +93,000,000 people of the Nation. + +2.--The preservation of the Alaskan fauna on the public domain should +not be left unreservedly to the people of Alaska, because + +3.--As sure as shooting, they will _not_ preserve it! + +Congress is right in appropriating $15,000 for game protection in +Alaska. It is very necessary that the regulations for conserving the +wild life should be fixed by the Secretary of Agriculture, with the +advice of the Biological Survey. + +THE BLACK BEAR is an interesting citizen. He harms nobody nor anything; +he affords good sport; he objects to being exterminated, and wherever in +North America he is threatened with extermination, he should at once be +given protection! A black bear _in the wilds_ is harmless. In captivity, +posed as a household "pet," he is decidedly dangerous, and had best be +given the middle of the road. In big forests he is a grand stayer, and +will not be exterminated from the fauna of the United States until +Washington is wrecked by anarchists. + +THE AMERICAN BISON.--I regard the American bison species as now +reasonably secure against extermination. This is due to the fact that it +breeds persistently and successfully in captivity, and to the great +efforts that have been put forth by the United States Government, the +Canadian Government, the American Bison Society, the New York Zoological +Society, and several private individuals. + +The species reached its lowest ebb in 1889, when there were only 256 +head in captivity and 835 running wild. The increase has been as +follows: + +1888--W.T. Hornaday's census 1,300 +1902--S.P. Langley's census 1,394 +1905--Frank Baker's census 1,697 +1908--W.T. Hornaday's census 2,047 +1910--W.P. Wharton's census (in North America) 2,108 +1912--W.P. Wharton's census (in North America) 2,907 + +To-day, nearly one-half of the living bison are in very large +governmental parks, perpetually established and breeding rapidly, as +follows: + +IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Yellowstone Park fenced herd, founded by Congress 125 +Montana National Bison Range, founded by The American Bison Society 69 +Wichita Bison Range, founded by The New York Zoological Society 39 +Wind Cave Bison Range, S. Dakota, founded by Am. Bison Society To be + stocked +Niobrara (Neb.) National Bison Range, now in process of creation To be + stocked + +IN CANADA. + +Buffalo Park, Wainwright, Alberta 1,052 +Elk Island Park, Alberta 53 +Rocky Mountains Park, Banff, Alberta 27 + +Total National and Provincial Preserves 1,365 + +Of wild bison there are only three groups: 49 head in the Yellowstone +National Park, about 75 Pablo "outlaws" around the Montana Bison Range, +and between 300 and 400 head in northern Athabasca, southwest of Fort +Resolution, existing in small and widely scattered bands. + +The efforts of man to atone for the great bison slaughter by preserving +the species from extinction have been crowned with success. Two +governments and two thousand individuals have shared this task,--solely +for sentimental reasons. In these facts we find reason to hope and +believe that other efforts now being made to save other species from +annihilation will be equally successful. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF AFRICAN GAME + + +Thanks to the diligence with which sportsmen and field naturalists have +recorded their observations in the haunts of big game, it is not at all +difficult to forecast the immediate future of the big game of the world. +We may safely assume that all lands well suited to agriculture, mining +and grazing will become populated by rifle-bearing men, with the usual +result to the wild mammals and birds. At the same time, the game of the +open mountains everywhere is thinly distributed and easily exterminated. +On the other hand, the unconquerable forest jungles of certain portions +of the tropics will hold their own, and shelter their four-footed +inhabitants for centuries to come. + +On the open mountains of the world and on the grazing lands most big +game is now being killed much faster than it breeds. This is due to the +attacks of five times too many hunters, open seasons that are too long, +and bag limits that are far too liberal. As an example, consider Africa +Viewed in any way it may be taken, the bag limit in British East Africa +is appallingly high. Notice this astounding array of wild creatures that +_each hunter_ may kill under a license costing _only $250!_ + + 2 Buffalo + 2 Rhinoceros + 2 Hippopotamus + 1 Eland + 2 Grevy Zebra +20 Common Zebra + 2 Fringe-eared Oryx + 4 Beisa Antelope + 4 Waterbuck + 1 Sable Antelope + 1 Roan Antelope + 1 Greater Kudu + 4 Lesser Kudu +10 Topi +20 Coke Hartebeest + 2 Neumann Hartebeest + 4 Jackson Hartebeest + 6 Hunter's Antelope + 4 Thomas Kob + 2 Bongo + 4 Pallah + 2 Sitatunga + 3 Gnu +12 Grant Gazelle + 4 Waller's Gazelle +10 Harvey's Duiker +10 Isaac's Duiker +10 Blue Duiker +10 Kirk's Dik-dik +10 Guenther's Dik-dik +10 Hinde's Dik-dik +10 Cavendish Dik-dik +10 Abyssinian Oribi +10 Haggard's Oribi +10 Kenya Oribi +10 Suni +10 Klipspringer +10 Ward's Reedbuck +10 Chanler's Reedbuck +10 Thompson Gazelle +10 Peters Gazelle +10 Soemmerring Gazelle +10 Bushbuck +10 Haywood Bushbuck + +The grand total is a possible 300 large hoofed and horned animals +representing _44 species_! Add to this all the lions, leopards, +cheetahs, cape hunting dogs and hyaenas that the hunter can kill, and +it will be enough to stock a zoological garden! + +Quite a number of these species, like the sable antelope, kudu, Hunter's +antelope, bongo and sitatunga are already rare, and therefore they are +all the more eagerly sought. + +Into the fine grass-lands of British East Africa, suitable for crops and +stock grazing, settlers are steadily going. Each one is armed, and at +once becomes a killer of big game. And all the time the visiting +sportsmen are increasing in number, going farther from the Uganda +Railway, and persistently seeking out the rarest and finest of the game. +The buffalo has recovered from the slaughter by rinderpest only in time +to meet the onset of oversea sportsmen. + +Mr. Arthur Jordan has seen much of the big game of British East Africa, +and its killing. Him I asked to tell me how long, in his opinion, the +big game of that territory will last outside of the game preserves, as +it is now being killed. He said, "Oh, it will last a long time. I think +it will last fifteen years!" + +_Fifteen years!_ And this for the richest big-game fauna of any one spot +in the whole world, which Nature has been _several million years in +developing and placing there_! + +At present the marvelous herds of big game of British East Africa and +Uganda constitute the grandest zoological spectacle that the world ever +has seen in historic times. For such an area, the number of species is +incredible, and until they are seen, the thronging masses of individuals +are beyond conception. It is easy to say "a herd of 3,000 zebras;" but +no mere words can give an adequate impression of the actual army of +stripes and bars, and hoofs thundering in review over a grassy plain. + +But the settlers say, "The zebras must go! They break through our best +wire fences, ruin our crops, despoil us of the fruits of long and +toilsome efforts, and much expenditure. We simply can not live in a +country inhabited by herds of wild zebras." And really, their contention +is well founded. When it is necessary to choose between wild animals and +peaceful agriculture for millions of men, the animals must give way. + +In those portions of the great East African plateau region that are +suited to modern agriculture, stretching from Buluwayo to northern +Uganda, the wild herds are doomed to be crowded out by the farmer and +the fruit-grower. This is the inevitable result of civilization and +progress in wild lands. Marauding battalions of zebras, bellicose +rhinoceroses and murderous buffaloes do not fit in with ranches and +crops, and children going to school. Except in the great game preserves, +the swamps and the dense jungles it is certain that the big game of the +whole of eastern Africa is foredoomed to disappear,--the largest and +most valuable species first. + +Five hundred years from now, when North America is worn out, and wasted +to a skeleton of what it now is, the great plateau region of East Africa +between Cape Town and Lake Rudolph will be a mighty empire, teeming +with white population. Giraffes and rhinoceroses now are trampling over +the sites of the cities and universities of the future. Then the herds +of grand game that now make Africa a sportsman's wonderland will exist +only in closed territory, in books, and in memory. + +[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE LION +Incidentally, it is also an Index of the Disappearance of African Big +Game Generally. From an Article in the Review of Reviews, for August, +1912, by Cyrus C. Adams, and Based Largely upon the Exhaustive Studies +of Dr. C.M. Engel, of Copenhagen.] + +From what has befallen in South Africa, we can easily and correctly +forecast the future of the big game of British East Africa and Uganda. +Less than fifty years ago, Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand, and every +country up to the Zambesi was teeming with herds of big wild animals, +just as the northern provinces now are. As late as 1890, when Rhodesia +was taken over by the Chartered Company, and the capital city of +Salisbury was staked out, an American boy in the Pioneer Corps, now +Honorable William Harvey Brown, of Salisbury, wrote thus of the Gwibi +Flats, near Salisbury: + +"That evening I beheld on those flats a sight which probably will never +again be seen there to the end of the world. The variety deploying +before me was almost incredible! There, within the range of my vision +were groups of roan, sable and tsessebi antelopes, Burchell zebras, [now +totally extinct!] elands, reedbucks, steinbucks and ostriches. It was +like Africa in the days of Livingstone. As I sat on my horse, viewing +with amazement this wonderful panorama of wild life, I was startled by a +herd that came galloping around a small hill just behind me."--("_On the +South African Frontier_," p. 114.) + +That was in 1890. And how is it to-day? + +Salisbury is a modern city, endorsed by two lines of railway. The Gwibi +Flats are farms. There is some big game yet, in Rhodesia south of the +Zambesi, but to find it you must go at least a week's journey from the +capital, to the remote corners that have not yet been converted into +farms or mining settlements. North of the Zambesi, Rhodesia yet contains +plenty of big game. The Victoria Falls station is a popular starting +point for hunting expeditions headed northeast and northwest. In the +northwest the game is yet quite in a state of nature. Unfortunately the +Barotse natives of that region can procure from the Portuguese traders +all the firearms and ammunition that they can pay for, and by treaty +they retain their hunting rights. The final result will +be--extermination of the game. + +Elsewhere throughout Rhodesia the natives are not permitted to have guns +and gunpowder,--a very wise regulation. In Alaska our Indians are +privileged to kill game all the year round, and they have modern +firearms with which to do it. + +And how is it with the game of that day? + +The true Burchell's zebra is now regarded as _extinct_! In Cape Colony +and Natal, that once teemed with big game in the old-fashioned African +way, they are _counting the individual wild animals that remain_! Also, +they are making game preserves, literally everywhere. + +Now that the best remaining game districts of Africa are rapidly coming +under British control, it is a satisfaction to observe that the +governing bodies and executive officers are alive to the necessity of +preserving the big game from actual extinction. Excepting German East +Africa, from Uganda to Cape Colony the game preserves form an almost +continuous chain. It is quite impossible to enumerate all of them; but +the two in British East Africa are of enormous size, and are well +stocked with game. South Africa contains a great many smaller preserves +and a few specimen herds of big game, but that is about all. Except in a +few localities the hunting of big game in that region is done forever. + +The Western Districts Game and Trout Protective Association of South +Africa recently, (1911), has made careful counts and estimates of the +number of individual game animals remaining in Cape Colony, with the +following result: + + * * * * * + +BIG GAME IN THE CAPE PROVINCE + +From information kindly placed at the disposal of the Association by the +Government, it was found that the following varieties of big game are +still found in the Province. The numbers, however, are only approximate: + +_Blesbok_: About 400 in Steynsburg, and 35 in Queen's Town divisions. + +_Bontebok_: About 30 in Bredasdorp and 45 in Swellendam divisions. + +_Buffalo_: About 340 in Uitenhage, 120 in Alexandria, and 75 in Bathurst +divisions. + +_Elephants_: About 130 in Alexandria, 160 in Uitenhage, 40 in Bathurst, +and 20 in Knysna divisions. + +_Gemsbok_: About 2,450 in Namaqualand, 4,500 in Vryburg, 4,000 in +Gordonia, and 670 in the Kenhardt, Mafeking and Barkly West divisions. + +_Koodoo_: About 10,000, found chiefly in the divisions of Albany, Barkly +West, Fort Beaufort, Hay, Herbert, Jansenville, Kuruman, Ladismith, +Mafeking, Mossel Bay, Oudtshoorn, Riversdale, Steytlerville, Uitenhage, +Victoria East and Vryburg. + +_Oribi_: About 120, in the divisions of Albany and Alexandria. + +_Rietbok_: About 170, in the Komgha division. + +_Zebra_: About 560, most of which are to be found in the divisions of +Cradock, George and Oudtshoorn. A few are to be found in the divisions +of Uniondale and Uitenhage. + +_Springbok_: Being migratory, it is difficult to estimate their number. +In some years they are compelled by drought to invade the Province in +large numbers. They are then seen as far south as Calvinia and +Fraserburg. Large numbers are, however, fenced in on private estates in +various parts of the Province. + +_Klipspringers_: About 11,200, in the following divisions, viz.: +Namaqualand, 6,559; Kuruman, 2,100; Steytlerville, 1,530; Oudtshoorn, +275; Hay, 250; Ladismith, 220; Graaff-Reinet, 119; Kenhardt, 66; and +Cradock, 56. + +_Hartebeest_: About 9,700, principally in the divisions of Vryburg, +Gordonia, Kuruman, Mafeking, Kimberley, Hay and Beaufort West. + +_Wildebeest_: About 3,450 in Vryburg, 80 each in Gordonia and Kuruman, +65 in Mafeking, 20 in Queen's Town, and a few in the Bredasdorp +divisions. + +_Eland_: About 12 in the Graaff-Reinet division, privately bred. + + * * * * * + +The above showing of the pitifully small numbers of the specimens that +constitute the remnant of the big-game of the Cape suggest just one +thing:--a universal close season throughout Cape Colony, and no hunting +whatever for ten years. And yet, what do we see? + +The Report from which the above census was taken contains half a column +of solid matter, in small type, giving a list of the _open seasons_ all +over Cape Colony, during which killing may be done! So it seems that the +spirit of slaughter is the same in Africa that it is in +America,--_kill_, as long as there is _anything_ alive to kill! + +This list is of startling interest, because it shows how closely the +small remnants of big game are now marked down in South Africa. + +In view of the success with which Englishmen protect their game when +once they have made up their minds to do so, it is fair to expect that +the herds now under protection, as listed above, will save their +respective species from extinction. It is alarming, however, to note the +wide territory covered by the deadly "open seasons," and to wonder when +the bars really will be put up. + +To-day, Mashonaland is a very-much-settled colony. The Cape to Cairo +railway and trains de luxe long ago attained the Palls of the Zambesi, +and now the Curator of the Salisbury Museum will have to search +diligently in far off Nyassaland, and beyond the Zambesi River, to find +enough specimens to fill his cases with representatives of the vanished +Rhodesian fauna. Once (1892) the white rhinoceros was found in northern +Rhodesia; but never again. In Salisbury, elands and zebras are nearly as +great a curiosity as they are in St. Louis. + +But for the discovery of white rhinoceroses in the Lado district, on the +western bank of the Nile below Gondokoro, we would now be saying that +_Rhinoceros simus_ is within about ten specimens of total extinction. + +From South Africa, as far up as Salisbury, in central Rhodesia, at least +99 per cent of the big game has disappeared before the white man's +rifle. Let him who doubts this scan the census of wild animals still +living in Cape Colony. + +From all the other regions of Africa that are easily accessible to +gunners, the animal life is vigorously being shot out, and no man in his +senses will now say that the big game is breeding faster than it is +being killed. The reverse is painfully true. Mr. Carl Akeley, in his +quest for a really large male elephant for the American Museum found and +looked over _a thousand_ males without finding one that was really fine +and typical. All the photographs of elephant herds that were taken by +Kermit Roosevelt and Akeley show a striking absence of adult males and +of females with long tusks. There are only young males, and young +females with small, short tusks. The answer is--the white ivory hunters +have killed nearly all the elephants bearing good ivory. + +The slaughter of big game is going on furiously in British East Africa +because the Uganda Railway opens up the entire territory to hunters. +Anyone, man or woman, who can raise $5,000 in cash can go there and make +a huge "bag" of big game. With a license costing only $250 he can kill +enough big game to sink a ship. + +The bag limit in British East Africa is ruinously extravagant. If the +government desires the extermination of the game, such a bag limit +surely will promote that end. It is awful to think that for a petty sum +any man may buy the right to kill 300 _head_ of hoofed and horned +animals, of 44 species, not counting the carnivorous animals that also +may be killed. That bag limit should _immediately_ be reduced _75 per +cent_! + +As matters stand to-day in British East Africa, the big game of the +country, outside the three preserves, is absolutely certain to +disappear, in about one-fourth of the time that it took South Africa to +accomplish the same result. The reasons are obvious:--superior +accessibility, more deadly rifles, expert professional guides, and a +widespread craze for killing big game. With care and economy, British +East Africa should furnish good hunting for two centuries, but as +things are going on to-day, twenty years will see a tremendous change +for the worse, and a disappearance of game that will literally astonish +the natives. + +German East Africa and Uganda will not exterminate their quotas of big +game quite so soon. The absence of railways is a great factor in +game-existence. The Congo Free State contains game and sporting +possibilities--on the unexplored uplands _between the rivers_,--that are +as yet totally unknown to sportsmen at large. We are accustomed to +thinking of the whole basin of the Congo as a vast, gloomy and +impenetrable forest. + +There is to-day in Africa a vast reserve supply of grand game. It +inhabits regions that are either unknown, or most difficult to +penetrate. As a species in point, consider the okapi. Only the boldest +and most persistent explorers ever have set foot in its tangled and +miasmatic haunts. It may be twenty years before a living specimen can be +brought out. The gorilla and the chimpanzee are so well protected by the +density of their jungles that they never can be exterminated--until the +natives are permitted to have all the firearms that they desire! When +that day arrives, it is "good-night" to all the wild life that is large +enough to eat or to wear. + +The quagga and the blaubok became _extinct_ before the world learned +that their existence was threatened! The giant eland, the sable +antelope, the greater kudu, the bontebok, blessbok, the mountain and +Burchell zebras, all the giraffes save that of Nigeria, the big +waterbucks, the nyala, the sitatunga, the bongo, and the gerenuk--all +will go in the same way, everywhere outside the game preserves. The +buffalo, zebra and rhinoceros are especially marked for destruction, as +annoyances to colonists. You who read of the killing of these species +to-day will read of their total disappearance to-morrow. So long as the +hunting of them is permitted, their ultimate disappearance is fixed and +certain. It is not the way of rifle-shooting English colonists to permit +herds of big game to run about merely to be looked at. + +Naturally, the open plains of Africa, and the thin forests of the +plateau regions, will be the first to lose their big game. In the gloomy +fastnesses of the great equatorial forests, and other really dense +forests wherever found, the elephants, the Derby eland, the bongo, the +okapi, the buffaloes (of three species), the bush-pigs, the bushbucks +and the forest-loving antelopes generally will live, for possibly one +hundred years,--_or until the natives secure plenty of modern firearms +and ammunition_. Whenever and wherever savages become supplied with +rifles, then it is time to measure each big-game animal for its coffin. + +The elephants of the great equatorial forest westward of the lake region +will survive long after the last eastern elephant has bitten the dust. +The pygmy elephant of the lower Congo region (_Elephas pumilio_) will be +the last African elephant species to disappear--because it inhabits +dense miasmatic jungles, its tusks are of the smallest size, and it has +the least commercial value. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XIX + +THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE GAME OF ASIA + + +After a successful survival of man's influence through two thousand +years, at last the big game of India has made a good start on the road +to vanishment. Up to 1870 it had held its own with a tenacity that was +astonishing. In 1877, I found the Ganges--Jumna dooab, the Animallai +Hills, the Wynaad Forest and Ceylon literally teeming with herds of +game. The Animallais in particular were a hunter's paradise. In each day +of hunting, large game of some kind was a certainty. The Nilgiri Hills +had been quite well shot out, but in view of the very small area and +open, golf-links character of the whole top of that wonderful sky +plateau, that was no cause for wonderment. + +In those days no native shikaree owned and operated a gun,--or at the +most very, very few of them did. If a rogue elephant, a man-eating tiger +or a nasty leopard became a public nuisance, it was a case for a sahib +to come and doctor it with a .577 double-barreled express rifle, worth +$150 or more; and the sahibs had shooting galore. + +I think that no such great wild-life sights as those of the plateau +regions of Africa ever were seen in southern Asia. Conditions there are +different, and usually the game is widely scattered. The sambar deer and +muntjac of the dense forests, the axis of the bamboo glades, the thameng +deer of the Burmese jungles, the sladang, or gaur, of the awful Malay +tangle, and the big cats and canines will last long and well. The +ibexes, markhors, tahr and all the wild sheep eventually will be shot +out by sportsmen who are "sheep crazy." The sheep and goats of Asia will +disappear soon after the plains animals of Africa, because no big game +that lives in the open can much longer endure the modern, inexpensive +long-range rifles of deadly accuracy and limitless repetition of fire. + +Eventually, I fear that by some unlucky turn of Fortune's wheel all the +native hunters of Asia will obtain rifles; and when they do, we soon +will see the end of the big game. + +Even to-day we find that the primitive conditions of 1877 have been +greatly changed. In the first place, about every native shikaree +(hunter) owns a rifle, at a cost of about $25; and many other natives +possess guns, and assume to hunt with them. The logical conclusion of +this is more hunting and less game. The development of the country has +reduced the cover for game. New roads and railways have made the game +districts easily accessible, and real sportsmen are now three or four +times as numerous as they were in 1877. + +At Toonacadavoo, in the Animallai Hills where thirty-five years ago +there modestly nestled on the ridge beside the river only Forest Ranger +Theobold's bungalow, built of mud and covered with grass thatch and +bamboo rats, there is now a regular hill station lighted by electricity, +a modern sanatorium high up on the bluff, a _club_, golf links, and +other modern improvements. In my day there were exactly four guns on the +Animallais. Now there are probably one hundred; and it is easy to guess +how much big game remains on the Delectable Mountains in comparison with +the golden days of 1877. I should say that there is now only one game +animal for every twenty-five that were there in my day. + +I am told that it is like that all over India. Beyond question, the +gun-sellers and gun-users have been busy there, as everywhere else. The +game of India is on the toboggan slide, and the old days of abundance +have gone forever. + +The first fact that strikes us in the face is the impending fate of the +great Indian rhinoceros, an animal as wonderful as the Titanothere or +the Megatherium. It is like a gift handed down to us straight out of the +Pleistocene age, a million years back. The British paleontologists +to-day marvel at _Elephas ganesa_, and by great labor dig his bones out +of the Sewalik rocks, but what one of them all has yet made a move to +save _Rhinoceros indicus_ from the quick extermination that soon will be +his portion unless he is accorded perpetual and real protection from the +assaults of man? + +Let the mammalogists of the world face this fact. The available cover of +the Indian rhinoceros is _alarmingly_ decreasing, throughout Assam and +Bengal where the behemoth of the jungle has a right to live. It is +believed that the few remaining rhinos are being shot much faster then +they are breeding; and what will be the effect of this upon an animal +that requires fourteen years to reach full maturity? To-day, the most +wonderful hoofed mammal of all Asia is booked for extermination, and +unless very radical measures for its preservation are at once carried +into effect, it is probable that twenty years more will see the last +Indian rhino go down to rise no more. One remedy would be a good, ample +rhinoceros preserve; and another, the most absolute and permanent +protection for the species, all along the line. Half-way measures will +not suffice. It is time to ring in a general alarm. + +During the past eighteen years, only three specimens of that species +have come out of India for the zoological gardens and parks of the +world, and I think there are only five in captivity, all told. + +We are told that in India now the natives are permitted to have about +all the firearms they can pay for. Naturally, in a country containing +over 300,000,000 people this is a deadly thing. Of course there are +shooting regulations, many of them; but their enforcement is so +imperfect that it is said that the natives are attacking the big game on +all sides, with deadly effect. I fear it is utterly impossible for the +Indian government to put enough wardens into the field to watch the +doings of the grand army of native poachers. + +Fortunately, the Indian native,--unlike the western frontiersman,--does +not contend that _he owns_ the big game, or that "all men are born free +and equal." At the same time, he means to have his full share of it, to +eat, and to sell in various forms for cash. Even in India, the +sale-of-game dragon has reared its head, and is to-day in need of being +scotched with an iron hand. + +When I received direct from a friend in the native state of Kashmir a +long printed circular setting forth the hunting laws and game-protective +measures of that very interesting principality, it gave me a shock. It +was disquieting to be thus assured that the big game of Kashmir has +disappeared to such an extent that strong protective measures are +necessary. It was as if the Chief Eskimo of Etah had issued a strong +proclamation for the saving of the musk-ox. + +In Kashmir, the destruction of game has become so serious that a Game +Preservation Department has been created, with the official staff that +such an organization requires. The game laws are printed annually, and +any variations from them may be made only by the authority of the +Maharajah himself. Up to date, _eight_ game preserves have been created, +having a total area of about thee hundred square miles. In addition to +these, there are twelve small preserves, each having an area of from +twenty-five to fifty square miles. By their locations, these seem to +provide for all the species of big game that are found in Kashmir,--the +ibex, two forms of markhor, the tahr. Himalayan bighorn sheep, burrhel +and goral. + +In our country we have several states that are very large, very +diversified in surface, and still inhabited by large game. Has any one +of those states created a series of game preserves even half way +comparable with those of Kashmir? I think not. Montana has made a +beginning with two preserves,--Snow Creek and the Pryor Mountains,--but +beside the splendid series of Kashmir they are not worthy of serious +mention. + +And then following closely in the wake of that document came a lengthy +article in the "Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London," by +E.C. Stebbing, in which a correspondent of the Indian _Field_ clearly +sets forth the fact that the big game of the Himalayas now is menaced by +a peril new to our consideration, but of a most deadly character. Hear +him: + +"In this inventory (of game destroyers in India), the Gurkha soldier +does not find a place, for he belongs to a class which he amply fills by +himself with his small but very important personality. He deserves +separate notice. From the banks of the Sarda on the frontier of Nepal, +to the banks of the Indus, the battalions of these gallant little men +are scattered in cantonments all along the outer spurs of the Himalayan +range. In seven or eight of these locations there are at least 14,000 of +these disciplined warriors, who, in the absence of opportunities for +spilling human blood legitimately, are given a free hand for +slaughtering wild animals, along five-hundred miles of the best hunting +grounds of Upper India." + +Now, since those facts must be true as reported, do they not in +themselves constitute a severe arraignment of the Indian government? Why +should that state of game slaughter endure, when a single executive +order to the C.O. of each post would effectually stop it? + +In the making of game preserves, or "sanctuaries" as they are called out +there, the Government of India has shown rare and commendable diligence. +The total number is too great for enumeration here. The native state of +Mysore has seven, and the Nilgiri Hills have sanctuaries aggregating +about 100,000 acres in area. In the Wynaad Forest, my old +hunting-grounds at Mudumallay have been closed to bison shooting, +because of the alarming decrease of bison (gaur) through shooting and +disease. The Kundah Forest Reserve has been made a partial game +preserve, but the door might as well have been left wide open as so +widely ajar. + +In eastern Bengal and Assam, several game preserves have been created. +On the whole, by the diligence and thoroughness with which sanctuaries, +as they are termed, have been created quite generally throughout India, +it is quite evident that the government and the sportsmen of India have +become thoroughly alarmed by the great decrease of the game, and the +danger of the extermination of species. In the past India has been the +finest and best-stocked hunting-ground of all Asia, quite beyond +compare, and the destruction of her once-splendid fauna of big game +would be a zoological calamity. + +_Tibet_.--As yet, Tibet offers free hunting, without legal let or +hindrance, to every sportsman who can climb up to her lofty, wind-swept +and whizzing-cold plateau. The man who hunts the _Ovis poli_, superb +creature though it be, pays in full for his trophies. The ibex of the +south help out the compensatory damages, but even with that, the list of +species available in southern Tibet is painfully small. The Mitchell +takin can be reached from China, via Chungking, after a long, hard +journey, over Consul Mason Mitchell's trail; but the takin is about the +only large hoofed game available. + +_The Altai Mountains_, of western China, contain the magnificent +Siberian argali, the grandfather of all sheep species, whose horns must +be seen to be believed. Through a quest for that species the Russian +military authorities played upon Mr. George L. Harrison and his comrade +a very grim and unsportsmanlike joke. At the frontier military post, on +the Russo-Chinese border, the two Americans were courteously halted, +hospitably entertained, and _prevented_ from going into the +argali-infested mountains that loomed up before them only a few miles +away! The Russian officers said: + +"Sheep? Why, if you really want sheep, we will send out some of our +brave soldiers to shoot some for you; but there is no need for _you_ to +take the trouble to go after them!" + +After Mr. Harrison and his comrade had spent $5,000, and traveled half +way around the world for those sheep, that is in brief the story of how +the cup of Tantalus was given them by the Russians, actually _at their +goal_! As spoil-sports, those Russian officers were the champions of the +world. + +Seven hundred miles southeastward of the Altai Mountains of western +China, guarded by the dangerous hostility of savage native tribes, there +exists and awaits the scientific explorer, according to report, an +undiscovered wild horse. The Bicolored Wild Horse is black and white, +and joy awaits the zoologist or sportsman who sees it first. Evidently +it will not soon be exterminated by modern rifles. + +_The Impenetrable Forests_.--Although the mountains of central Asia will +in time be cleared of their big game,--when by hook and by crook the +natives secure plenty of modern firearms,--there are places in the Far +East that we know will contain big game forever and a day. Take the +Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra as examples. + +Mr. C. William Beebe, who recently has visited the Far East, has +described how the state of Selangor, between Malacca and Penang, has +taken on many airs of improvement since 1878, and sections of Sarawak +Territory are being cut down and burned for the growing of rubber. +Despite this I am trying to think that those developments menace the +total volume of the wild life of those regions but little. I wonder if +those tangled, illimitable, ever-renewing jungles yet know that their +faces have been scratched. White men never will exterminate the big game +of the really dense jungles of the eastern tropics; but with enough +axes, snares, guns and cartridges _the natives_ may be able to +accomplish it! + +In Malayana there are some jungles so dense, so tangled with lianas and +so thorny with Livistonias and rattan that nothing larger than a cat can +make way through them. There are thousands of square miles so boggy, so +swampy, so dark, gloomy and mosquito-ridden that all men fear them and +avoid them, and in them rubber culture must be impossible. In those +silent places the gaur, the rhino, the Malay sambar, the clouded leopard +and the orang-utan surely are measurably safe from the game-bags and +market gunners of the shooting world. It is good to think that there is +an equatorial belt of jungle clear around the world, in Central and +South America as well as in the old World, in which there will be little +extermination in our day, except of birds for the feather market. But +the open plains, open mountains, and open forests of Asia and +Australasia are in different case. Eventually they will be "shot out." + +China, all save Yunnan and western Mongolia, is now horribly barren of +wild life. Can it ever be brought back? We think it can not. The +millions of population are too many; and except in the great forest +tracts, the spread of modern firearms will make an end of the game. +Already the pheasants are being swept out of China for the London +market, and extinction is staring several species in the face. On the +whole, the pheasants of the Old World are being hit hard by the +rubber-planting craze. Mr. Beebe declares that owing to the inrush of +aggressive capital, the haunts of many species of pheasants are being +denuded of all their natural cover, and some mountain species that are +limited to small areas are practically certain to be exterminated at an +early date. + +DESTRUCTION OF ANIMALS FOR FUR.--In the far North, only the interior of +Kamchatka seems to be safe from the iron heel of the skin-hunter. A +glance at the list of furs sold in London last year reveals one or two +things that are disquieting. The total catch of furs for the year 1911 +is enormous,--considering the great scarcity of wild life on two +continents. Incidentally it must be remembered that every trapper +carries a gun, and in studying the fur list one needs no help in trying +to imagine the havoc wrought with firearms on the edible wild life of +the regions that contributed all that fur. I have been told by trappers +that as a class, trappers are great killers of game. + +In order that the reader may know by means of definite figures the +extent to which the world is being raked and combed for fur-bearing +animals, we append below a statement copied from the _Fur News Magazine_ +for November, 1912, of the sales of the largest London fur house during +the past two years. + +With varying emotions we call attention to the wombat of Australia, +3,841; grebe, 51,261, and house cat, 92,407. Very nearly all the totals +of Lampson & Co. for each species are much lower for the sales of 1912 +than for those of 1911. Is this fact significant of a steady decline? + + * * * * * + +FURS SOLD BY C.M. LAMPSON & Co., LONDON + + _Totals for Totals for + 1911, Skins 1912, Skins_ +Raccoon 354,057 215,626 +Musquash (Muskrat) 3,382,401 2,937,150 +Musquash, Black 78,363 60,000 +Skunk 1,310,185 979,612 +Cat, Civet 329,180 229,155 +Opossum, American 1,011,824 948,189 +Mink 183,574 100,951 +Marten 29,881 26,895 +Fox, Red 58,900 40,300 +Fox, Cross 1,294 1,569 +Fox, Silver 761 590 +Fox, Grey 43,909 32,471 +Fox, Kit 30,278 35,222 +Fox, White 16,709 13,341 +Fox, Blue 3,137 1,778 +Otter 17,399 13,899 +Sea Otter 328 202 +Cat, Wild, etc 38,870 29,740 +Cat, House 92,407 65,641 +Lynx 2,424 5,144 +Fisher 1,918 656 +Badger 16,338 15,325 +Beaver 21,137 17,036 +Bear 16,851 13,377 +Wolf 65,893 74,535 +Wolverine 1,530 1,172 +Hair Seal, Dry 6,455 5,378 +Grebe 51,261 19,571 +Fur Seal, Dry 897 1,453 +Sable, Russian 10,285 8,972 +Kolinsky 138,921 120,933 +Marten, Baum 1,853 1,481 +Marten, Stone 7,504 6,331 +Fitch 26,731 20,400 +Ermine 328,840 248,295 +Squirrel 976,395 707,710 +Saca, etc. 40,982 13,599 +Chinchilla, Real 6,282 11,457 +Chinchilla, Bastard 7,533 8,145 +Marten, Japanese 26,005 3,294 +Sable, Japanese 1,429 52 +Fox, Japanese 60,831 13,725 +Badger, Japanese 183 2,949 +Opossum, Australian 1,613,799 1,782,364 +Wallaby, Australian 1,003,820 540,608 +Kangaroo, Australian 21,648 16,193 +Wombat, Australian 3,841 1,703 +Fox, Red, Australian 60,435 40,724 + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XX + +THE DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS IN THE FAR EAST[G] +BY C. WILLIAM BEEBE +Curator of Birds, New York Zoological Park + +[Footnote G: The observations which furnished this valuable chapter were +made by Mr. Beebe in 1911 while conducting an expedition in southern +Asia, Borneo and Java for the purpose of studying in life and nature all +the members of the Pheasant Family inhabiting that region. The results +of these studies and collections will shortly appear in a very complete +monograph of the Phasianidae.--W.T.H.] + + +In chapter XIII, treating of the "Extermination of Birds for Women's +Hats," Dr. Hornaday has dealt fully with the feather and plumage traffic +after it enters the brokers' hands, and has proved conclusively that the +plumes of egrets are gathered from the freshly killed birds. We may +trace the course of the plumes and feathers backward through the +tightly-packed bales and boxes in the holds of the vessels to the ports +of the savage lands whence they were shipped; then to the skilful, dark +hands of Mexican peon, Venezuelan Indian, African negro or Asiatic +Chinaman or Malay, who stripped the skin from the flesh; and finally to +the jungle or mountain side or terai where the bird gave up its life to +blowpipe, cross-bow, blunderbuss or carefully set snare. + +In various trips to Mexico, Venezuela and other countries in the tropics +of the New World I have seen many such scenes, but not until I had +completed a seventeen months' expedition in search of pheasants, through +some twenty wild countries of Asia and the East Indies, did I realize +the havoc which is being wrought week by week everywhere on the globe. +While we were absent even these few months from the great centers of +civilization, tremendous advances had been made in air-ships and the +thousand and one other modern phases of human development, but evolution +in the world of Nature as we observed it was only destructive--a +world-wide katabolism--a retrogression often discernible from month to +month. We could scarcely repeat the trip and make the same observations +upon pheasants, so rapidly is this group of birds approaching +extinction. + +The causes of this destruction of wild life are many and diverse, and +resemble one another only in that they all emanate from mankind. To the +casual traveller the shooting and trapping of birds for millinery +purposes at first seems to hold an insignificant place among the causes. +But this is only because in many of the larger ports, the protective +laws are more or less operative and the occupation of the plume hunter +is carried on in secret ways. But it is as far-reaching and insidious +as any; and when we add to the actual number of birds slain, the +compound interest of eggs grown cold, of young birds perishing slowly +from hunger, of the thousands upon thousands of birds which fall wounded +or dead among the thick tropical jungle foliage and are lost, the total +is one of ghastly proportions. + +Not to weaken my argument with too many general statements, let me take +at once some concrete cases. First, that of the Himalayan pheasants and +game-birds. In a recent interesting article by E.P. Stebbing[H] the +past, present and hoped-for future of game birds and animals in India is +reviewed. Unfortunately, however, most of the finest creatures in Asia +live beyond the border of the British sphere of influence, and though +within sight, are absolutely beyond reach of civilized law. The heart of +the Himalayas,--the haunts of some of the most beautiful birds in the +world, the tragopans, the blood and impeyan pheasants--lies within the +limits of Nepal, a little country which time and time again has bade +defiance to British attacks, and still maintains its independence. From +its northern border Mt. Everest looks down from its most exalted of all +earthly summits and sees valley after valley depleted of first one bird +and then another. I have seen and lived with Nepalese shepherds who have +nothing to do month after month but watch their flocks. In the lofty +solitudes time hangs heavy on their hands, and with true oriental +patience they weave loop after loop of yak-hair snares, and then set +them, not in dozens or scores, but in hundreds and thousands up and down +the valleys. + +[Footnote H: "Game Sanctuaries and Game Protection in India," +Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 1912. pp. 23-35.] + +In one locality seven great valleys had been completely cleared of +pheasants, only a single pair of tragopans remaining; and from one of +these little brown men I took two hundred nooses which had been prepared +for these lone survivors. In these cases, the birds were either cooked +and eaten at once, or sold to some passing shepherd or lama for a few +annas. But in other parts of this unknown land systematic collecting of +skins goes on, for bale after bale of impeyan and red argus (tragopan) +pheasant skins goes down to the Calcutta wharves, where its infamous +contents, though known, are safe from seizure under the Nepal Raja's +seal! Thus it is that the London feather sales still list these among +the most splendid of all living birds. And shame upon shame, when we +read of 80 impeyan skins "dull," or "slightly defective," we know that +these are female birds. Then, if ever, we realize that the time of the +bird and the beast is passing, the acme of evolution for these wonderful +beings is reached, and at most we can preserve only a small fragment of +them. + +To the millinery hunter, what the egret is to America, and the bird of +paradise to New Guinea, the impeyan pheasant is to India--the most +coveted of all plumages. There is a great tendency to blame the native +hunter for the decrease of this and other pheasants, and from what I +have personally seen in many parts of the Himalayas there is no question +that the Garwhalese and Nepalese hill-men have wrought havoc among the +birds. But these men are by no means the sole cause. As long ago as 1879 +we read that "The great demand for the brilliant skins of the moonal +that has existed for many years has led to their almost total +extermination in some parts of the hills, as the native shikaris shoot +and snare for the pot as well as for skins, and kill as many females as +males. On the other hand, though for nearly thirty years my friend Mr. +Wilson has yearly sent home from 1,000 to 1,500 skins of this species +and the tragopan, there are still in the woods whence they were obtained +as many as, if not more than, when he first entered them, simply because +he has rigidly preserved females and nests, and (as amongst English +pheasants) one cock suffices for several hens." + +[Illustration: PHEASANT SNARES +Made of Yak Hair, Taken from a Shepherd in Nepal by Mr. Beebe] + +Ignoring the uncertainty of the last statement, it is rather absurd to +think of a single man "preserving" females and nests in the Himalayas +from 1850 to 1880, when the British Government, despite most efficient +laws and worthy efforts is unable to protect the birds of these wild +regions to-day. The statement that after thirty to forty-five thousand +cock impeyans were shot or snared, as many or more than the original +quota remained, could only emanate from the mind of a professional +feather-hunter, and Hume should not be blamed for more than the mere +repetition of such figures. Let it be said to the credit of Wilson, the +slaughterer of something near forty-five thousand impeyans, that he was +a careful observer of the birds' habits, and has given us an excellent +account, somewhat coloured by natives, but on the whole, the best we +have had in the past. But it is not pleasant to read of his waiting +until "twenty or thirty have got up and alighted in the surrounding +trees, and have then walked up to the different trees and fired at those +I wished to procure without alarming the rest, only those very close to +the one fired at being disturbed at each report." + +Hume's opinion that in 1879 there were scores of places where one might +secure from ten to eighteen birds in a day, is certainly not true +to-day. Indeed, as early as 1858 we read that "This splendid bird, once +so abundant on the Western Himalayas is now far from being so, in +consequence of the numbers killed by sportsmen on account of its beauty. +Whole tracts of mountain forest once frequented by the moonal are now +almost without a single specimen." The same author goes on naively to +tell the reader that "Among the most pleasant reminiscences of bygone +days is a period of eleven days, spent by the author and a friend on the +Choor Mountain near Simia, when among other trophies were numbered +sixty-eight moonal pheasants, etc." + +[Illustration: SILVER PHEASANT SKINS SEIZED AT RANGOON, BRITISH BURMA +About 600 Skins out of Several Thousand Confiscated in the Custom House, +on their way to the London Feather Market. Photographed by Mr. Beebe] + +For some unaccountable reason there is, or was for many years, a very +prevalent idea that the enormous number of skins which have poured into +the London market were from birds bred in the vicinity of Calcutta. When +we remember the intense heat of that low-lying city, and learn from the +records of the Calcutta Zoological Garden that impeyans and tragopans +are even shorter-lived than in Europe, the absurdity of the idea is +apparent. In spite of numberless inquiries throughout India, I failed to +learn of a single captive young bird ever hatched and reared even in the +high, cool, hill-stations. The commercial value of an impeyan skin has +varied from five dollars to twenty dollars, according to the number +received annually. In 1876 an estimate placed the monthly average of +impeyans received in London at from two to eight hundred. + +In such a case as Nepal, direct protective laws are of no avail. All +humane arguments are useless, but if the markets at the other end _can +be closed_, the slaughter will cease instantly and automatically. + +[Illustration: DEADFALL TRAPS IN BURMA +A Long Series set Across a Valley, by the Kachins of the Burma-Chinese +Border. A Wholesale Method of Wild-life Slaughter, Photographed by C. +William Beebe, 1910] + +As a contrast to the millinery hunter of fifty years ago it is +refreshing to find that at last sincere efforts are being made in +British possessions to stop this traffic. I happened to be at Rangoon +when six large bales of pheasant skins were seized by the Custom +officials. A Chinaman had brought them from Yunnan via Bhamo, and was +preparing to ship them as ducks' feathers. Two of the bales were opened +for my inspection. The first contained about five hundred Lady Amherst +pheasant skins, falling to pieces and lacking heads and legs. The second +held over four hundred silver pheasants, in almost perfect condition. +The chief collector had put the absolutely prohibitive fine of 200 +pounds on them, and was waiting for the expiration of the legal number +of days before burning the entire lot. They must have represented years +of work in decimating the pheasant fauna of western China. + +Far up in the wilderness of northern Burma, and over the Yunnan border, +we often came upon some of the most ingenious examples of native +trapping, a system which we found repeated in the Malay States, Borneo, +China and other parts of the Far East. A low bamboo fence is built +directly across a steep valley or series of valleys, about half way from +the summit to the lower end, and about every fifteen feet a narrow +opening is left, over which a heavy log is suspended. Any creature +attempting to make its way through, treads upon several small sticks and +by so doing springs the trap and the dead-fall claims a victim. When a +country is systematically strung with traps such as these, sooner or +later all but a pitiful remnant of the smaller mammals, birds and +reptiles are certain to be wiped out. Morning after morning I have +visited such a runway and found dead along its path, what must have been +all the walking, running or crawling creatures which the night before +had sought the water at the bottom; pheasants, cobras, mouse-deer, +rodents, civets, and members of many other groups. In some countries +nooses instead of dead-falls guard the openings, but the result is +equally deadly. + +I have described this method of trapping because of its future +importance in the destruction of wild life in the Far East. The Chinaman +in all his many millions is undergoing a remarkably swift and radical +evolution both of character and dress. In many ways, if only from the +viewpoint of the patient, thrifty store-keeper he is a most powerful +factor in the East, and is becoming more so. In many cases he imitates +the white nations by cutting off his queue and altering his dress. In +some mysterious correlated way his diet seems simultaneously affected, +and while for untold generations rice and fish has satisfied all his +gastronomic desires, a new craving, that for meat, has come to him. The +result is apparent in many parts of the East. The Chinaman is willing +and able to pay for meat, and the native finds a new market for the +creatures about him. Again and again when I wished a few specimens of +some certain pheasant I had but to hail passing canoes and bid a few +annas or "cash" or "ringits" higher than the prospective Chinese +purchaser would give, and the pheasants were mine. + +In the catalogues of the brokers' sales of feathers we read of many +thousands of the wonderful ocellated wing feathers of the argus +pheasant, but no less horrible is the sight of a canoe crammed with the +bedraggled bodies of these magnificent birds on their way to some +Chinese hamlet where they will be sold for a pittance, the flesh eaten +to the last tendon and the feathers given to the children and puppies to +play with. The newly-aroused appetite of the Mongolian will soon be an +important factor in the extermination of animals and birds, few species +being exempt, for the Chinaman lives up to his reputation and is not +squeamish as to the nature of his meat. + +Before we leave the subject of Chinamen let us consider another recent +factor in the destruction of wild life which is at present widely +operative in China itself. This is the cold storage warehouse, of which +six or eight enormous ones have gone up in different parts of the East. +To speak in detail only of the one at Hankow, six hundred miles up the +Yangtze, we found it to be the largest structure in the city. Surrounded +by a high wall, with each entrance and exit guarded by armed Sikhs, it +seemed like the feudal castle of some medieval baron. Why such secrecy +is necessary I could not learn, as there are no laws against its +business. But so carefully guarded is its premises that until a short +time ago even the British consul-general of Hankow had not been allowed +to enter. He, however, at last refused to sign the papers for any more +outgoing shipments until he should be allowed to see what was going on +within the warehouse. I hoped to be able to look over some of the frozen +pheasants for interesting scientific material, but of course was not +allowed to do so. + +Although here in the heart of China, outside changes are not felt so +strongly and the newly-acquired meat diet of the border and emigrant +Chinese is hardly apparent, these warehouses have opened up a new source +of revenue, which has met with instant response. Thousands and tens of +thousands of wild shot or trapped pheasants and other birds are now +brought to these establishments by the natives from far and near. The +birds are frozen, and twice a year shipped on specially refrigerated P. +and O. steamships to England and the continent of Europe where they seem +to find a ready sale. Pigs and chickens also figure in the shipments. +Now the pheasants have for centuries existed in enormous numbers in the +endless ricefields of China, without doing any damage to the crops. In +fact they could not be present in such numbers without being an +important factor in keeping down insect and other enemies of the grain. +When their numbers are decimated as they are being at present, there +must eventually result a serious upsetting of the balance of nature. Let +us hope that in some way this may be avoided, and that the present +famine deaths of thirty thousand or more in some provinces will not be +increased many fold. + +When I started on this search for pheasants I was repeatedly told by old +explorers in the east that my task would be very different from theirs +of thirty years ago; that I would find steamers, railroads and +automobiles where formerly were only canoes and jungle. I indeed found +this as reported, but while my task was different it was made no easier. +Formerly, to be sure, one had from the start to paddle slowly or push +along the trails made by natives or game animals. But then the wild life +was encountered at once, while I found it always far from the end of the +steamer's route or the railroad's terminal, and still to be reached only +by the most primitive modes of travel. + +I cite this to give point to my next great cause of destruction; the +burning and clearing of vast stretches of country for the planting of +rubber trees. The East seems rubber mad, and whether the enormous output +which will result from the millions of trees set out month after month +will be profitable, I cannot say. I can think only of the vanishing of +the _entire fauna_ and _flora_ of many districts which I have seen as a +direct result of this commercial activity. One leaves Port Swettenham on +the west coast of Selangor, and for the hour's run to Kuala Lumpur sees +hardly anything but vast radiating lines of spindling rubber trees, all +underbrush cleared, all native growths vanished. From Kuala Lumpur to +Kuala Kubu at the very foot of the mountain backbone of the Malay +Peninsula, the same holds true. And where some area appears not under +cultivation, the climbing fern and a coarse, useless "lalang" grass +covers every inch of ground. One can hardly imagine a more complete +blotting out of the native fauna and flora of any one limited region. +And ever-extending roads for the increasing motor cars are widening the +cleared zone, mile after mile to the north and south. + +In this region, as we pushed on over the mountains into the wilderness +of Pahang, we saw little of the actual destruction of the primeval +native growth, but elsewhere it became a common sight. Once, for many +days we studied the wonderful life of a jungle which stretched up to our +very camp. Troops of rollicking wa-was or gibbons frequented the forest; +squirrels, tupaias, birds and insects in myriads were everywhere during +the day. Great fruit-bats, flying lemurs, owls and other nocturnal +creatures made the evenings and nights full of interest. + +And then, one day without warning came the sound of an ax, and another +and another. From that moment the songs, cries, chirps and roars of the +jungle were seldom heard from our camp. Every day saw new phalanxes of +splendid primeval trees fallen, or half suspended in their rigging of +lianas. The leaves withered, the flower petals fell and we heard no more +the crackling of bamboos in the wind. Then the pitiful survivors of the +destruction were brought to us; now a baby flying lemur, flung from its +hole by the falling of some tree; young tupaias, nestling birds; a few +out of the thousands of creatures from insects to mammals which were +slain so that a Chinaman or Malay might eke a few dollars, four or five +years hence, from a grove of rubber trees. I do not say it is wrong. Man +has won out, and might is right, as since the dawn of creation; but to +the onlooker, to the lover of nature and the animal world it is a +terrible, a hopeless thing. + +One cannot at present leave the tourist line of travel in the East +without at once encountering evidence of the wholesale direct slaughter +of wild life, or its no less certain extermination by the elimination of +the haunts and the food plants of the various beasts and birds. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE SAVAGE VIEW-POINT OF THE GUNNER + + +The mental attitude of the men who shoot constitutes a deadly factor in +the destruction of wild life and the extermination of species. Fully +ninety-five per cent of the sportsmen, gunners and other men and boys +who kill game, all over the world and in all nations, regard game birds +and mammals only as things to be killed _and eaten_, and not as +creatures worth preserving for their beauty or their interest to +mankind. This is precisely the viewpoint of the cave-man and the savage, +and it has come down from the Man-with-a-Club to the Man-with-a-Gun +absolutely unchanged save for one thing: the latter sometimes is +prompted to save to-day in order to slaughter to-morrow. + +The above statement of an existing fact may seem harsh; and some persons +may be startled by it; but it is based on an acquaintance with thousands +of men who shoot all kinds of game, all over the world. My critics +surely will admit that my opportunities to meet the sportsmen and +gunners of the world are, and for thirty-five years have been, rather +favorable. As a matter of fact, I think the efforts of the hunters of my +personal acquaintance have covered about seven-tenths of the hunting +grounds of the world. If the estimate that I have formed of the average +hunter's viewpoint is wrong, or even partially so, I will be glad to +have it proven in order that I may reform my judgment and apologize. + +In working with large bodies of bird-shooting sportsmen I have +steadily--and also painfully--been impressed by their intentness on. +killing, and by the fact that _they seek to preserve game only to kill +it!_ Who ever saw a bird-shooter rise in a convention and advocate the +preservation of any species of game bird on account of its beauty or its +esthetic interest _alive?_ I never did; and I have sat in many +conventions of sportsmen. All the talk is of open seasons, bag limits +and killing rights. The man who has the hardihood to stand up and +propose a five-year close season has "a hard row to hoe." Men rise and +say: "It's all nonsense! There's plenty of quail shooting on Long Island +yet." + +Throughout the length and breadth of America, the ruling passion is to +kill as long as anything killable remains. The man who will openly +advocate the stopping of quail-shooting because the quails are of such +great value to the farmers, or because they are so _beautiful_ and +companionable to man, receives no sympathy from ninety per cent of the +bird-killing sportsmen. The remaining ten per cent think seriously about +the matter, and favor long close seasons. It is my impression that of +the men who shoot, it is only among the big-game hunters that we find +much genuine admiration for game animals, or any feeling remotely +resembling regard for it. + +The moment that a majority of American gunners concede the fact that +game birds are worth preserving for their beauty, and their value as +living neighbors to man, from that moment there is hope for the saving +of the Remnant. That will indeed be the beginning of a new era, of a +millennium in fact, in the preservation of wild life. It will then be +easy to enact laws for ten-year close seasons on whole groups of +species. Think what it would mean for such a close season to be enacted +for all the grouse of the United States, all the shore-birds of the +United States, or the wild turkey wherever found! + +To-day, the great--indeed, the _only_--opponents of long close seasons +on game birds are the gunners. Whenever and wherever you introduce a +bill to provide such a season, you will find that this is true. The gun +clubs and the Downtrodden Hunters' and Anglers' Protective Associations +will be quick to go after their representatives, and oppose the bill. +And state senators and assemblymen will think very hard and with strong +courage before they deliberately resolve to do their duty regardless of +the opposition of "a large body of sportsmen,"--men who have votes, and +who know how to take revenge on lawmakers who deprive them of their +"right" to kill. The greatest speech ever made in the Mexican Congress +was uttered by the member who solemnly said: "I rise to sacrifice +ambition to honor!" + +Unfortunately, the men who shoot have become possessed of the idea that +they have certain inherent, God-given "rights" to kill game! Now, as a +matter of fact, a sportsman with a one-hundred-dollar Fox gun in his +hands, a two-hundred-dollar dog at his heels and five one-hundred-dollar +bills in his pocket has no more "right" to kill a covey of quail on Long +Island than my milkman has to elect that it shall be let alone for the +pleasure of his children! The time has come when the people who don't +shoot must do one of two things: + +1. They must demonstrate the fact that they have rights in the wild +creatures, and demand their recognition, or + +2. See the killable game all swept off the continent by the Army of +Destruction. + +Really, it is to me very strange that gunners never care to save game +birds on account of their beauty. One living bob white on a fence is +better than a score in a bloody game-bag. A live squirrel in a tree is +poetry in motion; but on the table a squirrel is a rodent that tastes as +a rat smells. Beside the ocean a flock of sandpipers is needed to +complete the beautiful picture; but on the table a sandpiper is beneath +contempt. A live deer trotting over a green meadow, waving a triangular +white flag, is a sight to thrill any human ganglion; but a deer lying +dead,--unless it has an exceptionally fine head,--is only so much +butcher's meat. + +One of the finest sights I ever saw in Montana was a big flock of sage +grouse slowly stalking over a grassy flat thinly sprinkled with +sage-brush. It was far more inspiring than any pile of dead birds that I +ever saw. I remember scores of beautiful game birds that I have seen and +not killed; but of all the game birds that I have eaten or tried to eat +in New York, I remember with sincere pleasure only _one_. Some of the +ancient cold-storage candidates I remember "for cause," as the lawyers +say. + +[Illustration: ONE MORNING'S CATCH OF TROUT, NEAR SPOKANE +Another Line of Extermination According to law. Three Times too Many +Fish for one rod. In those Cold Mountain Streams, Fish Grow Slowly, and +a Stream is Quickly "Fished out"] + +Sportsmen and gunners, for God's sake elevate your viewpoint of the +game of the world. Get out of the groove in which man has run ever since +the days of Adam! There is something in a game bird over and above its +pound of flesh. You don't "need" the meat any longer; for you don't know +what hunger is, save by reading of it. Try the field-glass and the +camera, instead of the everlasting gun. Any fool can take a five-dollar +gun and kill a bird; but it takes a genius to photograph one wild bird +and get "a good one." As hunters, the camera men have the best of it. +One good live-bird photograph is more of a trophy and a triumph than a +bushel of dead birds. The birds and mammals now are literally dying for +_your_ help in the making of long close seasons, and in the real +stoppage of slaughter. Can you not hear the call of the wild remnant? + +It is time for the people who don't shoot to call a halt on those who +do; "and if this be treason, then let my enemies make the most of it!" + +Since the above was written, I have read in the _Outdoor World_ for +April, 1912, the views of a veteran sportsman and writer, Mr. Emerson +Hough, on the wild-life situation as it seems to him to-day. It is a +strong utterance, even though it reaches a pessimistic and gloomy +conclusion which I do not share. Altogether, however, its breadth of +view, its general accuracy, and its incisiveness, entitle it to a full +hearing. The following is only an extract from a lengthy article +entitled, "God's Acre:" + + * * * * * + + EMERSON HOUGH'S VIEW OF THE SITUATION + + The truth is none the less the truth because it is unpleasant to + face. There is no well posted sportsman in America, no manufacturer + of sporting goods in America, no man well versed in American outdoor + matters, who does not know that we are at the evening of the day of + open sport in America. Our old ways have failed, all of them have + failed. The declining fortunes of the best sportsman's journals of + America would prove that, if proof were asked. Our sportsmanship has + failed. Our game laws have failed, and we know they have failed. Our + game is almost gone, and we know it is almost gone. America has + changed and we know that it has changed, although we have not + changed with it. The old America is done and it is gone, and we know + that to be the truth. The old order passeth, and we know that the + new order must come soon if it is to work any salvation for our wild + game and our life in the open in pursuit of it. + + There are many reasons for this fact, these facts. Perhaps the + greatest lies in the steady advance of civilization into the + wilderness, the usurpation for agricultural or industrial use of + many of the ancient breeding and feeding places of the wild game. + All over the West and now all over Canada, the plow advances, that + one engine which cannot be gainsaid, which never turns a backward + furrow. + + Another great agency is the rapid perfection of transportation all + over the world. Take the late influx of East African literature. If + there really were not access to that country we would not have this + literature, would not have so many pictures from that country. And + if even Africa will soon be overrun, if even Africa soon will be + shot out, what hope is there for the game of the wholly accessible + North American continent? + + It is all too easy now for the slaughterer to get to his work, all + too easy for him to transport the fruits of the slaughter. At the + hands of the ignorant, the unscrupulous and the unsparing, our game + has steadily disappeared until it is almost gone. We have handled it + in a wholly greedy, unscrupulous and selfish fashion. This has been + our policy as a nation. If there is to be success for any plan to + remedy this, it must come from a few large-minded men, able to think + and plan, and able to do more than that--to follow their plans with + deeds. + + I have seen the whole story of modern American sportsmanship, so + called. It has been class legislation and organized + selfishness--that is what it has been, and nothing else. I do not + blame country legislators, game dealers, farmers, for calling the + sportsmen of America selfish and thoughtless. I do not blame them + for saying that the so-called protective measures advanced by + sportsmen have been selfish measures, and looking to destruction + rather than to protection. At least that has been their actual + result. I have no more reverence for a sportsman than for anyone + else, and no reverence for him at all because he is or calls himself + a sportsman. He has got to be a man. He has got to be a citizen. + + I have seen millions of acres of breeding and feeding grounds pass + under the drain and under the plow in my own time, so that the + passing whisper of the wild fowl's wing has been forgotten there now + for many years. I have seen a half dozen species of fine game birds + become extinct in my own time and lost forever to the American + people. + + And you and I have seen one protective society after another, + languidly organized, paying in a languid dollar or so per capita + each year, and so swiftly passing, also to be forgotten. We have + seen one code and the other of conflicting and wholly selfish game + laws passed, and seen them mocked at and forgotten, seen them all + fail, as we all know. + + We have seen even the nation's power--under that Ark of the Covenant + known as the Interstate Commerce Act--fail to stop wholly the + lessening of our wild game, so rapidly disappearing for so many + reasons. + + We have seen both selfish and unselfish sportsmen's journals attempt + to solve this problem and fail to do so. Some of them were great and + broad-minded journals. Their record has not been one of disgrace, + although it has been one of defeat; for some of them really desired + success more than they desired dividends. These, all of them, bore + their share of a great experiment, an experiment in a new land, + under a new theory of government, a theory which says a man should + be able to restrain himself, and to govern himself. Only by + following their theory through to the end of that experiment could + they know that it was to fail in one of its most vitally interesting + and vitally important phases. + + But now, as we know, all of these agencies, selfish or unselfish, + have failed to effect the salvation of American wild game. Not by + any scheme, device, or theory, not by any panacea can the old days + of America be brought back to us. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Hough's views are entitled to respectful consideration; but on one +vital point I do not follow him. + +I believe most sincerely--in fact, _I know_,--that it is _possible_ to +make a few new laws which, in addition to the many, many good protective +laws we already have, will bring back the game, just as fast and as far +as man's settlements, towns, railroads, mines and schemes in general +ever can permit it to come back. + +If the American People as a whole elect that our wild life shall be +saved, and to a reasonable extent brought back, then by the Eternal it +will be saved and brought back! The road lies straight before us, and +the going is easy--_if_ the Mass makes up its mind to act. But on one +vital point Mr. Hough is right. The sportsman alone never will save the +game! The people who do not kill must act, independently. + + * * * * * + +PART II.--PRESERVATION + + +CHAPTER XXII + +OUR ANNUAL LOSSES BY INSECTS + + +"You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live." + +"In no country in the world," says Mr. C.L. Marlatt, of the U.S. +Department of Agriculture, "do insects impose a heavier tax on farm +products than in the United States." These attacks are based upon an +enormous and varied annual output of cereals and fruits, and a great +variety and number of trees. For every vegetable-eating insect, native +and foreign, we seem to have crops, trees and plant food galore; and +their ravages rob the market-basket and the dinner-pail. In 1912 there +were riots in the streets of New York over the high cost of food. + +In 1903, this state of fact was made the subject of a special inquiry by +the Department of Agriculture, and in the "Yearbook" for 1904, the +reader will find, on page 461, an article entitled, "The Annual Loss +Occasioned by Destructive Insects in the United States." The article is +not of the sensational type, it was not written in an alarmist spirit, +but from beginning to end it is a calm, cold-blooded analysis of +existing facts, and the conclusions that fairly may be drawn from them. +The opinions of several experts have been considered and quoted, and +often their independent figures are stated. + +With the disappearance of our birds generally, and especially the +slaughter of song and other insect-eating birds both in the South and +North, the destruction of the national wealth by insects forges to the +front as a subject of vital importance. The logic of the situation is so +simple a child can see it. Short crops mean higher prices. If ten per +cent of our vegetable food supply is destroyed by insects, as certain as +fate we will feel it _in the increased cost of living_. + +I would like to place Mr. Marlatt's report in the hands of every man, +boy and school-teacher in America; but I have not at my disposal the +means to accomplish such a task. I cannot even print it here in full, +but the vital facts can be stated, briefly and in plain figures. + + * * * * * + +CROPS AND INSECTS. + +CORN.--The principal insect enemies of corn are the chinch bug, +corn-root worm (_Diabrotica longicornis_), bill bug, wire worm, +boll-worm or ear-worm, cut-worm, army worm, stalk worm, grasshopper, +and plant lice, in all a total of about fifty important species! Several +of these pests work secretly. At husking time the wretched ear-worm that +ruins the terminal quarter or fifth of an immense number of ears, is +painfully in evidence. The root-worms work insidiously, and the moles +and shrews are supposed to attack them and destroy them. The corn-root +worm is charged with causing an annual loss of two per cent of the corn +crop, or $20,000,000; the chinch bug another two per cent; the boll or +ear-worm two per cent more. The remaining insect pests are charged with +two per cent, which makes eight per cent in all, or a total of +$80,000,000 lost each year to the American farmer through the ravages of +insects. This is not evenly distributed, but some areas suffer more than +others. + +[Illustration: THE CUT-WORM, (_Peridroma Sancia_) +Very Destructive to Crops] + +WHEAT.--Of all our cereal crops, wheat is the one that suffers most from +insects. There are three insects that cause to the wheat industry an +annual loss of about ten per cent. The _chinch bug_ is the worst, and it +is charged with five per cent ($20,000,000) of the total loss. The +_Hessian fly_ comes next in order, and occasionally rolls up enormous +losses. In the year 1900, that insect caused to Indiana and Ohio alone +the loss of 2,577,000 _acres_ of wheat, and the total cost to us of that +insect in that year "undoubtedly approached $100,000,000." Did that +affect the price of wheat or not? If not, then there is no such thing as +a "law of supply and demand." + +_Wheat plant-lice_ form collectively the third insect pest destructive +to wheat, of which it is reported that "the annual loss occasioned by +wheat plant-lice probably does not fall short of two or three per cent +of the crop." + +HAY AND FORAGE CROPS.--These are attacked by locusts, grasshoppers, army +worms, cut-worms, web worms, small grass worms and leaf hoppers. Some of +these pests are so small and work so insidiously that even the farmer is +prone to overlook their existence. "A ten per cent shrinkage from these +and other pests in grasses and forage plants is a minimum estimate." + +COTTON.--The great enemies of the cotton-planter are the cotton boll +weevil, the bollworm and the leaf worm; but other insects inflict +serious damage. In 1904 the loss occasioned by the boll weevil, chiefly +in Texas, was conservatively estimated by an expert, Mr. W.D. Hunter, at +$20,000,000. The boll worm of the southwestern cotton states has +sometimes caused an annual loss of $12,000,000, or four per cent of the +crops in the states affected. Before the use of arsenical poisons, the +leaf worm caused an annual loss of from twenty to thirty million +dollars; but of late years that total has been greatly reduced. + +FRUITS.--The insects that reduce our annual fruit crop attack every +portion of the tree and its product. The woolly aphis attacks the roots +of the fruit tree, the trunk and limbs are preyed upon by millions of +scale insects and borers, the leaves are devastated by the all-devouring +leaf worms, canker worms and tent caterpillars, while the fruit itself +is attacked by the codling moth, curculio and apple maggot. To destroy +fruit is to take money out of the farmer's pocket, and to attack and +injure the tree is like undermining his house itself. By an annual +expenditure of about $8,250,000 in cash for spraying apple trees, the +destructiveness of the codling moth and curculio have been greatly +reduced, but that money is itself a cash loss. Add to this the +$12,000,000 of actual shrinkage in the apple crop, and the total annual +loss to our apple-growers due to the codling moth and curculio is about +$20,000,000. In the high price of apples, a part of this loss falls upon +the consumer. + +In 1889 Professor Forbes calculated that the annual loss to the +fruit-growers of Illinois from insect ravages was $2,375,000. In 1892, +insects caused to Nebraska apple-growers a loss computed at $2,000,000 +and, in 1897, New York farmers lost $2,500,000 from that cause. "In many +sections of the Pacific Northwest the loss was from fifty to +seventy-five per cent." (Yearbook, page 470.) + +FORESTS.--"The annual losses occasioned by insect pests to forests and +forest products (in the United States) have been estimated by Dr. A.D. +Hopkins, special agent in charge of forest insect investigations, at not +less than $100,000,000.... It covers both the loss from insect +damages to standing timber, and to the crude and manufactured forest +products. The annual loss to growing timber is conservatively placed at +$70,000,000." + +[Illustration: THE GYPSY MOTH, (_Portheria dispar_) +Very Destructive to the Finest Shade Trees] + +There are other insect damages that we will not pause to enumerate +here. They relate to cattle, horses, sheep and stored grain products of +many kinds. Even cured tobacco has its pest, a minute insect known as +the cigarette beetle, now widespread in America and "frequently the +cause of very heavy losses." + +The millions of the insect world are upon us. Their cost to us has been +summed up by Mr. Marlatt in the table that appears below. + + * * * * * + +ANNUAL VALUES OF FARM PRODUCTS, AND LOSSES CHARGEABLE +TO INSECT PESTS. + +_Official Report in the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, +1904_. + + % OF + PRODUCT VALUE LOSS AMOUNT OF LOSS + + Cereals $2,000,000,000 10 $200,000,000 + Hay 530,000,000 10 53,000,000 + Cotton 600,000,000 10 60,000,000 + Tobacco 53,000,000 10 5,300,000 + Truck Crops 265,000,000 20 53,000,000 + Sugars 50,000,000 10 5,000,000 + Fruits 135,000,000 20 27,000,000 + Farm Forests 110,000,000 10 11,000,000 + Miscellaneous Crops 58,000,000 10 5,800,000 + + Total $3,801,000,000 $420,100,000 + + Animal Products 1,750,000,000 10 175,000,000 + Natural Forests and 100,000,000 + Forest Products + Products in Storage 100,000,000 + + GRAND TOTAL $5,551,000,000 $795,100,000 + +The millions of the insect world are upon us. The birds fight them for +us, and when the birds are numerous and have nestlings to feed, the +number of insects they consume is enormous. They require absolutely +nothing at our hands save _the privilege of being let alone while they +work for us!_ In fighting the insects, our only allies in nature are the +songbirds, woodpeckers, shore-birds, swallows and martins, certain +hawks, moles, shrews, bats, and a few other living creatures. All these +wage war at their own expense. The farmers might just as well lose +$8,250,000 through a short apple crop as to pay out that sum in labor +and materials in spraying operations. And yet, fools that we are, we go +on slaughtering our friends, and allowing others to slaughter them, +under the same brand of fatuous folly that leads the people of Italy to +build anew on the smoking sides of Vesuvius, after a dozen generations +have been swept away by fire and ashes. + +In the next chapter we will consider the work of our friends, The Birds. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS + + +To-day, from Halifax to Los Angeles, and from Key West to Victoria, a +deadly contest is being waged. The fruit-growers, farmers, forest owners +and "park people" are engaged in a struggle with the insect hordes for +the possession of the trees, shrubs and crops. Go out into the open, +with your eyes open, and you will see it for yourself. Millions of +dollars are being expended in it. Look at this exhibit of what is going +on around me, at this very moment,--July 19, 1912: + +The bag insects, in thousands, are devouring the leaves of locust and +maple trees. + +The elm beetles are trying to devour the elms; and spraying is in +progress. + +The hickory-bark borers are slaughtering the hickories; and even some +park people are neglecting to take the measures necessary to stop it! + +The tent caterpillars are being burned. + +The aphis (scale insects) are devouring the tops of the _white potatoes_ +in the New York University school garden, just as the potato beetle +does. + +The codling moth larvae are already at work on the apples. + +The leaves affected by the witch hazel gall fly are being cut off and +burned. + +These are merely the most conspicuous of the insect pests that I now see +daily. I am not counting those of second or third-rate importance. + +Some of these hordes are being fought with poisonous sprays, some are +being killed by hand, and some are being ignored. + +In view of the known value of the remaining trees of our country, each +woodpecker in the United States is worth twenty dollars in cash. Each +nuthatch, creeper and chickadee is worth from five to ten dollars, +according to local circumstances. You might just as well cut down four +twenty-inch trees and let them lie and decay, as to permit one +woodpecker to be killed and eaten by an Italian in the North, or a negro +in the South. The downy woodpecker is the relentless enemy of the +codling moth, an insect that annually inflicts upon our apple crop +damages estimated by the experts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture +at twelve million dollars! + +Now, is a federal strong-arm migratory bird law needed for such birds or +not? Let the owners of orchards and forests make answer. + +THE CASE OF THE CODLING MOTH AND CURCULIO.--The codling moth and +curculio are twin terrors to apple-growers, partly because of their +deadly destructiveness, and partly because man is so weak in resisting +them. The annual cost of the fight made against them, in sprays and +labor and apparatus, has been estimated at $8,250,000. And what do the +birds do to the codling moth,--when there are any birds left alive to +operate? The testimony comes from all over the United States, and it is +worth while to cite it briefly as a fair sample of the work of the birds +upon this particularly deadly pest. These facts and quotations are from +the "Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture," for 1911. + +[Illustration: DOWNY WOODPECKER] + +_The Downy Woodpecker_ is the champion tree-protector, and also one of +the greatest enemies of the codling moth. When man is quite unable to +find the hidden larvae, Downy locates it every time, and digs it out. It +extracts worms from young apples so skillfully that often the fruit is +not permanently injured. Mr. F.M. Webster reports that the labors of +this bird "afford actual and immediate relief to the infected fruit." +Testimony in favor of the downy woodpecker has come from New York, New +Jersey, Texas and California, "and no fewer than twenty larvae have been +taken from a single stomach." + +Take the _Red-Shafted Flicker_ vs. the codling moth. Mr. A.P. Martin of +Petaluma, Cal., states that during the early spring months (of 1890) +they were seen by hundreds in his orchard, industriously examining the +trunks and larger limbs of the fruit trees; and he also found great +numbers of them around sheds where he stored his winter apples and +pears. As the result of several hours' search, Mr. Martin found only one +worm, and this one escaped only by accident, for several of the birds +had been within a quarter of an inch of it. "So eager are woodpeckers in +search, of codling moths that they have often been known to riddle the +shingle traps and paper bands which are placed to attract the larvae +about to spin cocoons." + +Behold the array of birds that devour the larvae of the codling moth to +an important extent. + + * * * * * + +BIRDS THAT DEVOUR THE CODLING MOTH + +Downy Woodpecker (_Dryobates pubescens_). +Hairy Woodpecker (_Dryobates villosus_). +Texan Woodpecker (_Dryobates scalaris bairdi_). +Red-Headed Woodpecker (_Melanerpes erythrocephalus_). +Red-Shafted Flicker (_Colaptes cafer collaris_). +Pileated Woodpecker (_Phloeotomus pileatus_). +Kingbird (_Tyrranus tyrranus_). +Western Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher (_Empidonax difficilis_). +Blue Jay (_Cyanocitta cristata_). +California Jay (_Aphelocoma californica_). +Magpie (_Pica pica hudsonia_). +Crow Blackbird (_Quiscalus quiscula_). +Brewer Blackbird (_Euphagus cyanocephalus_). +Bullock Oriole (_Icterus bullocki_). +English Sparrow (_Passer domesticus_). +Chipping Sparrow (_Spizella passerina_). +California Towhee (_Pipilo crissalis_). +Cardinal (_Cardinalis cardinalis_). +Black Headed Grosbeak (_Zamelodia melanocephala_). +Lazuli Bunting (_Passerina cyanea_). +Barn Swallow (_Hirundo erythrogastra_). +Western Warbling Vireo (_Vireosylva gilva swainsoni_). +Summer, or Yellow Warbler (_Dendroica aestiva_). +Lutescent Warbler (_Vermivora celata lutescens_). +Brown Creeper (_Certhia familiaris americana_). +White-Breasted Nuthatch (_Sitta carolinensis_). +Black-Capped Chickadee (_Penthestes atricapillus_). +Plain Titmouse (_Baeolophus inornatus_). +Carolina Chickadee (_Penthestes carolinensis_). +Mountain Chickadee (_Penthestes gambeli_). +California Bush Tit (_Psaltriparus minimus californicus_). +Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (_Regulus calendula_). +Robin (_Planesticus migratorius_). +Bluebird (_Sialia sialis_). + + * * * * * + +In all, says Mr. W.L. McAtee, thirty-six species of birds of thirteen +families help man in his irrepressible conflict against his deadly +enemy, the codling moth. "In some places they destroy from sixty-six to +eighty-five per cent of the hibernating larvae." + +Now, are the farmers of this country content to let the Italians of the +North, and the negroes of the South, shoot those birds for food, and +devour them? What is the great American farmer going to _do_ about this +matter? What he should do is to write and urge his members of Congress +to work for and vote for the federal migratory bird bill. + +THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL.--Let us take one other concrete case. The cotton +boll weevil invaded the United States from Mexico in 1894. Ten years +later it was costing the cotton planters an annual loss estimated at +fifteen million dollars per year. Later on that loss was estimated at +twenty million dollars. The cotton boll weevil strikes at the heart of +the industry by destroying the boll of the cotton plant. While the total +loss never can be definitely ascertained, we know that it has amounted +to many millions of dollars. The figure given above has been widely +quoted, and so far as I am aware, never disputed. + +Fortunately we have at hand a government publication on this subject +which gives some pertinent facts regarding the bird enemies of the +cotton boll weevil. It is Circular No. 57 of the Biological Survey, +Department of Agriculture. Any one can obtain it by addressing that +Department. I quote the most important portions of this valuable +document: + + * * * * * + +BIRDS USEFUL IN THE WAR AGAINST THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. + +By H.W. Henshaw, Chief of the Biological Survey. + +The main purpose of this circular is to direct the attention of cotton +growers and others in the cotton growing states to the importance of +birds in the boll weevil war, to emphasize the need of protection for +them, and to suggest means to increase the numbers and extend the range +of certain of the more important kinds. + +Investigations by the Biological Survey show that thirty-eight species +of birds eat boll weevils. While some eat them only sparingly others eat +them freely, and no fewer than forty-seven adult weevils have been found +in the stomach of a single cliff swallow. Of the birds known at the +present time to feed on the weevil, among the most important are the +orioles, nighthawks, and, foremost of all, the swallows (including the +purple martin). + +ORIOLES.--Six kinds of orioles live in Texas, though but two inhabit the +southern states generally. Orioles are among the few birds that evince a +decided preference for weevils, and as they persistently hunt for the +insects on the bolls, they fill a place occupied by no other birds. They +are protected by law in nearly every state in the Union, but their +bright plumage renders them among the most salable of birds for +millinery purposes, and despite protective laws, considerable numbers +are still killed for the hat trade. It is hardly necessary to point out +that their importance as insect eaters everywhere demands their +protection, but more especially in the cotton belt. + +NIGHTHAWK.--The nighthawk, or bull-bat, also renders important service +in the destruction of weevils, and catches them on the wing in +considerable numbers, especially during its migration. Unfortunately, +_the nighthawk is eaten for food in some sections of the South, and +considerable numbers are shot for this purpose_. The bird's value for +food, however, is infinitesimal as compared with the service it renders +the cotton grower and other agriculturists, and every effort should be +made to spread broadcast a knowledge of its usefulness as a weevil +destroyer, with a view to its complete protection. + +SWALLOWS.--Of all the birds now known to destroy weevils, swallows are +the most important. Six species occur in Texas and the southern states. +The martin, the barn swallow, the bank swallow, the roughwing, and the +cliff swallow breed locally in Texas, and all of them, except the cliff +swallow, breed in the other cotton states. The white-bellied, or tree +swallow, nests only in the North, and by far the greater number of cliff +swallows nest in the North and West. + +[Illustration: THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE +The Deadly Enemy of the Cotton-Boll Weevil +From the "American Natural History"] + +As showing how a colony of martins thrives when provided with sufficient +room to multiply, an experiment by Mr. J. Warren Jacobs, of Waynesburg, +Pa., may be cited. The first year five pairs were induced to occupy the +single box provided, and raised eleven young. The fourth year three +large boxes, divided into ninety-nine rooms, contained fifty-three +pairs, and they raised about 175 young. The colony was thus nearly three +hundred strong at the close of the fourth season. The effect of this +number of hungry martins on the insects infesting the neighborhood may +be imagined. + +From the standpoint of the farmer and the cotton grower, swallows are +among the most useful birds. Especially designed by nature to capture +insects in midair, their powers of flight and endurance are unexcelled, +and in their own field they have no competitors. Their peculiar value to +the cotton grower consists in the fact that, like the nighthawk, they +capture boll weevils when flying over the fields, which no other birds +do. Flycatchers snap up the weevils near trees and shrubbery. Wrens hunt +them out when concealed under bark or rubbish. Blackbirds catch them on +the ground, as do the killdeer, titlark, meadow lark, and others; while +orioles hunt for them on the bolls. But it is the peculiar function of +swallows to catch the weevils as they are making long flights, leaving +the cotton fields in search of hiding places in which to winter or +entering them to continue their work of devastation. + +Means have been taken to inform residents of the northern states of the +value of the swallow tribe to agriculturists generally, and particularly +to cotton planters, in the belief that the number of swallows breeding +in the North can be substantially increased. The cooperation of the +northern states is important, since birds bred in the North migrate +directly through the southern states in the fall on their way to the +distant tropics, and also in the spring on their return. + +[Illustration: THE NIGHTHAWK +A Goatsucker, not a Song-bird; but it Feeds Exclusively Upon Insects] + +Important as it is to increase the number of northern breeding swallows, +it is still more important to increase the number nesting in the South +and to induce the birds there to extend their range over as much of the +cotton area as possible. Nesting birds spend much more time in the South +than migrants, and during the weeks when the old birds are feeding young +they are almost incessantly engaged in the pursuit of insects. + +It is not, of course, claimed that birds alone can stay the ravages of +the cotton boll weevil in Texas, but they materially aid in checking the +advance of the pest into the other cotton states. Important auxiliaries, +in destroying these insects, birds aid in reducing their numbers within +safe limits, and once within safe limits in keeping them there. Hence it +is for the interests of the cotton states that special efforts be made +to protect and care for the weevil-eating species, and to increase their +numbers in every way possible.--(End of the circular.) + + * * * * * + +CONDENSED NOTES ON THE FOOD HABITS OF CERTAIN NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. + +Millions of Americans and near-Americans, both old and young, now need +to be shown the actual figures that represent the value of our birds as +destroyers of the insects, weeds and the small rodents that are swarming +to overrun and devour our fields, orchards and forests. Will our people +never learn that in fighting pests the birds are worth ten times more to +men than all the poisons, sprays and traps that ever were invented or +used? + +We cannot spray our forests; and if the wild birds do not protect, them +from insects, _nothing will_! If you will watch a warbler collecting the +insects out of the top of a seventy-foot forest oak, busy as a bee hour +after hour, it will convince you that the birds do for the forests that +which man with all his resources cannot accomplish. You will then +realize that to this country every woodpecker, chickadee, titmouse, +creeper and warbler is easily worth its weight in gold. The killing of +any member of those groups of birds should be punished by a fine of +twenty-five dollars. + +[Illustration: THE PURPLE MARTIN +A Representative of the Swallow Family. A Great Insect-eater; +one of the Most Valuable of all Birds to the Southern Cotton +planter, and Northern farmer. Shot for "Food" in the South. +Driven out of the North by the English Sparrow Pest.] + +THE BOB-WHITE.--And take the _Bob White Quail_, for example, and the +weeds of the farm. To kill weeds costs money--hard cash that the farmer +earns by toil. Does the farmer put forth strenuous efforts to protect +the bird of all birds that does most to help him keep down the weeds? +Far from it! All that the _average_ farmer thinks about the quail is of +killing it, for a few ounces of meat on the table. + +It is fairly beyond question that of all birds that influence the +fortunes of the farmers and fruit-growers of North America, the common +quail, or bob white, is one of the most valuable. It stays on the farm +all the year round. When insects are most numerous and busy, Bob White +devotes to them his entire time. He cheerfully fights them, from sixteen +to eighteen hours per day. When the insects are gone, he turns his +attention to the weeds that are striving to seed down the fields for +another year. Occasionally he gets a few grains of wheat that have been +left on the ground by the reapers; but he does _no damage_. In +California, where the valley quail once were very numerous, they +sometimes consumed altogether too much wheat for the good of the +farmers; but outside of California I believe such occurrences are +unknown. + +Let us glance over the bob white's bill of fare: + +_Weed Seeds_.--One hundred and twenty-nine different weeds have been +found to contribute to the quail's bill of fare. Crops and stomachs have +been found crowded with rag-weed seeds, to the number of one thousand, +while others had eaten as many seeds of crab-grass. A bird shot at Pine +Brook, N.J., in October, 1902, had eaten five thousand seeds of green +fox-tail grass, and one killed on Christmas Day at Kinsale, Va., had +taken about ten thousand seeds of the pig-weed. (Elizabeth A. Reed.) In +Bulletin No. 21, Biological Survey, it is calculated that if in Virginia +and North Carolina there are four bob whites to every square mile, and +each bird consumes one ounce of seed per day, the total destruction to +weed seeds from September 1st to April 30th in those states alone will +be 1,341 tons. + +In 1910 Mrs. Margaret Morse Nice, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., +finished and contributed to the Journal of Economic Entomology (Vol. +III., No. 3) a masterful investigation of "The Food of the Bob-White." +It should be in every library in this land. Mrs. Nice publishes the +entire list of 129 species of weed seeds consumed by the quail,--and it +looks like a rogue's gallery. Here is an astounding record, which proves +once more that truth is stranger than fiction: + + * * * * * + +NUMBER OF SEEDS EATEN BY A BOB-WHITE IN ONE DAY + +Barnyard grass 2,500 Milkweed 770 +Beggar ticks 1,400 Peppergrass 2,400 +Black mustard 2,500 Pigweed 12,000 +Burdock 600 Plantain 12,500 +Crab grass 2,000 Rabbitsfoot clover 30,000 +Curled dock 4,175 Round-headed bush clover 1,800 +Dodder 1,560 Smartweed 2,250 +Evening primrose 10,000 White vervain 18,750 +Lamb's quarter 15,000 Water smartweed 2,000 + +NOTABLY BAD INSECTS EATEN BY THE BOB-WHITE + +(Prof. Judd and Mrs. Nice.) + +Colorado potato beetle +Cucumber beetle +Chinch bug +Bean-leaf beetle +Wireworm +May beetle +Corn billbug +Imbricated-snout beetle +Plant lice +Cabbage butterfly +Mosquito +Squash beetle +Clover leaf beetle +Cotton boll weevil +Cotton boll worm +Striped garden caterpillar +Cutworms +Grasshoppers +Corn-louse ants +Rocky Mountain locust +Codling moth +Canker worm +Hessian fly +Stable fly + +SUMMARY OF THE QUAIL'S INSECT FOOD + +Orthoptera--Grasshoppers and locusts 13 species. +Hemiptera--Bugs 24 " +Homoptera--Leaf hoppers and plant lice 6 " +Lepidoptera--Moths, caterpillars, cut-worms, etc 19 " +Diptera--Flies 8 " +Coleoptera--Beetles 61 " +Hymenoptera--Ants, wasps, slugs 8 " +Other insects 6 " + --- + Total 145 " + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE BOB-WHITE +For the Smaller Pests of the Farm, This Bird is the Most +Marvelous Engine of Destruction Ever put Together of Flesh and Blood.] + +_A few sample meals of insects_.--The following are records of single +individual meals of the bob white: + +Of grasshoppers, 84; chinch bugs, 100; squash bugs, 12; army worm, 12; +cut-worm, 12; mosquitoes, 568 in three hours; cotton boll weevil, 47; +flies, 1,350; rose slugs, 1,286. Miscellaneous insects consumed by a +laying hen quail, 1,532, of which 1,000 were grasshoppers; total weigh +of the lot, 24.6 grams. + +"F.M. Howard, of Beeville, Texas, wrote to the U.S. Bureau of +Entomology, that the bob whites shot in his vicinity had their crops +filled with the weevils. Another farmer reported his cotton fields full +of quail, and an entire absence of weevils." Texas and Georgia papers +(please copy.) + +And yet, because of its few pitiful ounces of flesh, two million gunners +and ten thousand lawmakers think of the quail _only as a bird that can +be shot and eaten!_ Throughout a great portion of its former range, +including New York and New Jersey, the species is surely and certainly +on the verge of _total extinction_. And yet sportsmen gravely discuss +the "bag limit," and "enforcement of the bag-limit law" as a means of +bringing back this almost vanished species! Such folly in grown men is +very trying. + +_To my friend, the Epicure_:--The next time you regale a good appetite +with blue points, terrapin stew, filet of sole and saddle of mutton, +touched up here and there with the high lights of rare old sherry, rich +claret and dry monopole, pause as the dead quail is laid before you, on +a funeral pyre of toast, and consider this: "Here lies the charred +remains of the Farmer's Ally and Friend, poor Bob White. In life he +devoured 145 different kinds of bad insects, and the seeds of 129 +anathema weeds. For the smaller pests of the farm, he was the most +marvelous engine of destruction that God ever put together of flesh and +blood. He was good, beautiful and true; and his small life was +blameless. And here he lies, dead; snatched away from his field of +labor, and destroyed, in order that I may be tempted to dine three +minutes longer, after I have already eaten to satiety." + +Then go on, and finish Bob White. + +THE CASE OF THE ROBIN.--For a long time this bird has been slaughtered +in the South for food, regardless of the agricultural interests of the +North. No Southern gentleman ever shoots robins, or song birds of any +kind, but the negroes and poor whites do it. The worst case of recent +occurrence was the slaughter in the town of Pittsboro, North Carolina. + +It was in January, 1912. The Mayor of the town, Hon. Bennet Nooe, was +away from home; and during a heavy fall of snow "the robins came into +the town in great numbers to feed upon the berries of the cedar trees. +In order that the birds might be killed without restriction, the Board +of Aldermen suspended the ordinance against the firing of guns in the +town, and permitted the inhabitants to kill the robins." + +A disgraceful carnival of slaughter immediately followed in which "about +all the male population" participated. Regarding this, Mayor Nooe later +on wrote to the editor of Bird Lore as follows: + +"Hearing of this, on my return, I went to the Aldermen, _all of whom +were guilty_, and told them that they and all others who were guilty +would have to be fined. Three out of the five submitted and paid up, but +they insisted that the ordinance be changed to read exactly as it is +written here, with the exception that _all could shoot_ robins in the +town until the first of March; whereupon I resigned, as was +stated."--(_Bird Lore,_ XIV, 2. p. 140.) + +The Mayor was quite right. The robin butchers of Pittsboro were not +worthy to be governed by him. + +THE MEADOW LARK is one of the most valuable birds that frequent farming +regions. Throughout the year insects make up 73 per cent of its food, +weed-seeds 12 per cent, and grain only 5 per cent. During the insect +season, insects constitute 90 per cent of its food. + +THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE is as valuable to man as it is beautiful. Its nest +is the most wonderful example of bird architecture in our land. In May +insects constitute 90 per cent of this bird's food. For the entire year, +insects and other animal food make 83.4 per cent and vegetable matter +16.6 per cent. + +THE CROW BLACKBIRD feeds as follows, throughout the whole year: insects, +26.9 per cent; other animal food 3.4; corn 37.2; oats, 2.9; wheat, 4.8; +other grain, 1.6; fruits, 5; weed seeds and mast 18.2! This report was +based on the examination (by the Biological Survey) of 2,346 stomachs, +and "the charge that the blackbird is an habitual robber of birds' nests +was disproved by the examinations." (F.E.L. Beal.) + +FLYCATCHERS.--The high-water mark in insect-destruction by our birds is +reached by the flycatchers,--dull-colored, modest-mannered little +creatures that do their work so quietly you hardly notice them. All you +see in your tree-tops is a two-foot flit or glide, now here and now +there, as the leaves and high branches are combed of their insect life. + +Bulletin No. 44 of the Department of Agriculture gives the residuum of +an exhausting examination of 3,398 warbler stomachs, from seventeen +species of birds, and the result is: 94.99 per cent of insect +food,--mostly bad insects, too,--and 5.01 per cent vegetable food. What +more can any forester ask of a bird? + +[Illustration: THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK +"The Potato-bug Bird," Greatest Enemy of the Potato Beetles +From the "American Natural History"] + +THE SPARROWS.--All our sparrows are great consumers of weed seeds. +Professor Beal has calculated the total quantity consumed in Iowa in one +year,--in the days when sparrows were normally numerous,--at 1,750,000 +pounds. + +THE AMERICAN GOLDFINCH as a weed destroyer has few equals. It makes a +specialty of the seeds of the members of the Order Compositae, and is +especially fond of the seeds of ragweed, thistles, wild lettuce and wild +sunflower. But, small and beautiful as this bird is, there are hundreds +of thousands of grown men in America who would shoot it and eat it if +they dared! + +THE HAWKS AND OWLS.--Let no other state repeat the error that once was +made in Pennsylvania when that state enacted in 1885, her now famous +hawk-and-owl bounty law. In order to accomplish the wholesale +destruction of her birds of prey, a law was passed providing for the +payment of a bounty of fifty cents each for the scalps of hawks and +owls. Immediately the slaughter began. In two years 180,000 scalps were +brought in, and $90,000 were paid out for them. It was estimated that +the saving to the farmers in poultry amounted to one dollar for each +$1,205 paid out in bounties. + +The awakening came even more swiftly than the ornithologists expected. +By the end of two years from the passage of "the hawk law," the farmers +found their fields and orchards thoroughly overrun by destructive rats, +mice and insects, and they appealed to the legislature for the quick +repeal of the law. With all possible haste this was brought about; but +it was estimated by competent judges that in damages to their crops the +hawk law cost the people of Pennsylvania nothing less than two million +dollars. + +Moral: Don't make any laws providing for the destruction of hawks and +owls until you have exact knowledge, and know in advance what the +results will be. + +In the space at my disposal for this subject, it is impossible to treat +our species of hawks and owls separately. The reader can find in the +"American Natural History" fifteen pages of text, numerous illustrations +and many figures elucidating this subject. Unfortunately Dr. Fisher's +admirable work on "The Hawks and Owls" has long been out of print, and +unobtainable. There are, however, a few observations that must be +recorded here. + +Each bird of prey is a balanced equation. Each one, I think without a +single exception, does _some_ damage, chiefly in the destruction of +valuable wild birds. The value of the poultry destroyed by hawks and +owls is very small in comparison with their killing of wild prey. _Many +of the species do not touch domestic poultry_! At the same time, when a +hawk of any kind, or an owl, sets to work deliberately and persistently +to clean out a farmer's poultry yard, and is actually doing it, that +farmer is justified in killing that bird. But, the _occasional_ loss of +a broiler is not to be regarded as justification for a war of +extermination on _all_ the hawks that fly! Individual wild-animal +nuisances can occasionally become so exasperating as to justify the use +of the gun,--when scarecrows fail; but in all such circumstances the +greatest judgment, and much forbearance also, is desirable and +necessary. + +The value of hawks and owls rests upon their perpetual warfare on the +millions of destructive rats, mice, moles, shrews, weasels, rabbits and +English sparrows that constantly prey upon what the farmer produces. On +this point a few illustrations must be given. One of the most famous +comes via Dr. Fisher, from one of the towers of the Smithsonian +buildings, and relates to + +THE BARN OWL, (_Strix flammea_).--Two hundred pellets consisting of +bones, hair and feathers from one nesting pair of these birds were +collected, and found to contain 454 skulls, of which 225 were of meadow +mice, 179 of house mice, 2 of pine mice, 20 were of rats, 6 of jumping +mice, 20 were from shrews, 1 was of a mole and 1 a vesper sparrow. _One_ +bird, and 453 noxious mammals! Compare this with the record of any cat +on earth. Anything that the barn owl wants from me, or from any farmer, +should at once be offered to it, on a silver tray. This bird is often +called the Monkey-Faced Owl, and it should be called the Farmer's-Friend +Owl. + +THE LONG-EARED OWL, (_Asio wilsonianus_) has practically the same kind +of a record as the barn owl,--scores of mice, rats and shrews +destroyed, and only an occasional small bird. Its nearest relative, the +_Short-eared Owl (A. accipitrinus_) may be described in the same words. + +[Illustration: THE BARN OWL +Wonderfully Destructive of Rats and Mice, and +Almost Never Touches Birds] + +The GREAT HORNED OWL fills us with conflicting passions. For the long +list of dead rats and mice, pocket gophers, skunks, and weasels to his +credit, we think well of him, and wish his prosperity. For the +song-birds, ruffed grouse, quail, other game birds, domestic poultry, +squirrels, chipmunks and hares that he kills, we hate him, and would +cheerfully wring his neck, wearing gauntlets. He does an unusual amount +of good, and a terrible amount of harm. It is impossible to strike a +balance for him, and determine with mathematical accuracy whether he +should be shot or permitted to live. At all events, whenever _Bubo_ +comes up for trial, we must give the feathered devil his due. + +The names "CHICKEN HAWK or HEN HAWK" as applied usually refer to the +RED-SHOULDERED or RED-TAILED species. Neither of these is really very +destructive to poultry, but both are very destructive to mice, rats and +other pestiferous creatures. Both are large, showy birds, not so very +swift in flight, and rather easy to approach. Neither of them should be +destroyed,--not even though they do, once in a great while, take a +chicken or wild bird. They pay for them, four times over, by +rat-killing. Mr. J. Alden Loring states that he once knew a pair of +red-shouldered hawks to nest within fifty rods of a poultry farm on +which there were 800 young chickens and 400 ducks, not one of which was +taken. (See the American Natural History, pages 229-30.) + +HAWKS THAT SHOULD BE DESTROYED.--There are two small, fierce, daring, +swift-winged hawks both of which are so very destructive that they +deserve to be shot whenever possible. They are COOPER'S HAWK _(Accipiter +cooperi_) and the SHARP-SHINNED HAWK _(A. velox_). They are closely +related, and look much alike, but the former has a rounded tail and the +latter a square one. In killing them, _please do not kill any other hawk +by mistake_; and if you do not positively recognize the bird, don't +shoot. + +THE GOSHAWK is a bad one, and so is the PEREGRINE FALCON, or DUCK HAWK. +Both deserve death, but they are so rare that we need not take them into +account. + +Some of the hawks and owls are very destructive to song-birds, and +members of the grouse family. In 159 stomachs of sharp-shinned hawks, 99 +contained song-birds and woodpeckers. In 133 stomachs of Cooper's hawks, +34 contained poultry or game birds, and 52 contained other birds. The +game birds included 8 quail, 1 ruffed grouse and 5 pigeons. + +THE WOODPECKERS.[I]--These birds are the natural guardians of the trees. +If we had enough of them, our forests would be fairly safe from insect +pests. Of the six or seven North American species that are of the most +importance to our forests, the DOWNY WOODPECKER, (_Dryobates pubescens_) +is accorded first rank. It is one of the smallest species. The contents +of 140 stomachs consisted of 74 per cent insects, 25 per cent vegetable +matter and 1 per cent sand. The insects were ants, beetles, bugs, flies, +caterpillars, grasshoppers and a few spiders. + +[Footnote I: The reader is advised to consult Prof. F.E.L. Beale's +admirable report on "The Food of Woodpeckers," Bulletin No. 7, U.S. +Department of Agriculture.] + +THE HAIRY WOODPECKER, (_Dryobates villosus_), a very close relation of +the preceding species, is also small, and his food supply is as follows: +insects, 68 per cent, vegetable matter 31, mineral 1. + +THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER, (_Colaptes auratus_), is the largest and +handsomest of all the woodpeckers that we really see in evidence. The +Pileated is one of the largest, but we never see it. This bird makes a +specialty of ants, of which it devours immense numbers. Its food is 56 +per cent animal matter (three-fourths of which is ants), 39 per cent is +vegetable matter, and 5 per cent mineral matter. + +THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER is a serious fruit-eater, and many complaints +have been lodged against him. Exactly one-half his food supply consists +of vegetable matter, chiefly wild berries, acorns, beechnuts, and the +seeds of wild shrubs and weeds. We may infer that about one-tenth of his +food, in summer and fall, consists of cultivated fruit and berries. His +proportion of cultivated foods is entirely too small to justify any one +in destroying this species. + +In view of the prevalence of insect pests in the state of New York, I +have spent hours in trying to devise a practical plan for making +woodpeckers about ten times more numerous than they now are. +Contributions to this problem will be thankfully received. Yes; we _do_ +put out pork fat and suet in winter, quantities of it; but I grieve to +say that to-day in the Zoological Park there is not more than one +woodpecker for every ten that were there twelve years ago. Where have +they gone? Only one answer is possible. They have been shot and eaten, +by the guerrillas of destruction. + +[Illustration: GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER +A Bird of Great Value to Orchards and Forests, now +Rapidly Disappearing, Undoubtedly Through Slaughter as "Food"] + +Surely no man of intelligence needs to be told to protect woodpeckers to +the utmost, and to _feed them in winter_. Nail up fat pork, or large +chunks of suet, on the south sides of conspicuous trees, and encourage +the woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and titmice to remain in your +woods through the long and dreary winter. + +THE ENGLISH SPARROW is a nuisance and a pest, because it drives away +from the house and the orchard the house wren, bluebird, phoebe, purple +martin and swallow, any one of which is more valuable to man than a +thousand English sparrows. I never yet have seen one of the pest +sparrows catch an insect, but Chief Forester Merkel says that he has +seen one catching and eating small moths. + +There is one place in the country where English sparrows have not yet +come; and whenever they do appear there, they will meet a hostile +reception. I shall kill every one that comes,--for the sake of retaining +the wrens, catbirds, phoebes and thrushes that now literally make home +happy for my family. A good way to discourage sparrows is to shoot them +en masse when they are feeding on road refuse, such as the +white-throated, white-crowned and other sparrows never touch. Persistent +destruction of their nests will check the nuisance. + +THE SHORE BIRDS.--Who is there who thinks of the shore-birds as being +directly beneficial to man by reason of their food habits? I warrant not +more than one man in every ten thousand! We think of them only as +possible "food." The amount of actual cash value benefit that the +shore-birds confer upon man through the destruction of bad things is, in +comparison with the number of birds, enormous. + +The Department of Agriculture never publishes and circulates anything +that has already been published, no matter how valuable to the public at +large. Our rules are different. Because I know that many of the people +of our country need the information, I am going to reprint here, as an +object lesson and a warning, the whole of the Biological Survey's +valuable and timely circular No. 79, issued April 11, 1911, and written +by Prof. W.L. McAtee. It should open the eyes of the American people to +two things: the economic value of these birds, and the fact that they +are everywhere far on the road toward extermination! + + * * * * * + +OUR VANISHING SHOREBIRDS + +By Prof. W.L. McAtee + +The term shorebird is applied to a group of long-legged, slender-billed, +and usually plainly colored birds belonging to the order Limicolae. More +than sixty species of them occur in North America. True to their name +they frequent the shores of all bodies of water, large and small, but +many of them are equally at home on plains and prairies. + +Throughout the eastern United States shorebirds are fast vanishing. +While formerly numerous species swarmed along the Atlantic coast and in +the prairie regions, many of them have been so reduced that +extermination seems imminent. The black-bellied plover or beetlehead, +which occurred along the Atlantic seaboard in great numbers years ago, +is now seen only as a straggler. The golden plover, once exceedingly +abundant east of the Great Plains, is now rare. Vast hordes of +long-billed dowitchers formerly wintered in Louisiana; now they occur +only in infrequent flocks of a half dozen or less. The Eskimo curlew +within the last decade has probably been exterminated and the other +curlews greatly reduced. In fact, all the larger species of shorebirds +have suffered severely. + +So adverse to shorebirds are present conditions that the wonder is that +any escape. In both fall and spring they are shot along the whole route +of their migration north and south. Their habit of decoying readily and +persistently, coming back in flocks to the decoys again and again, in +spite of murderous volleys, greatly lessens their chances of escape. + +The breeding grounds of some of the species in the United States and +Canada have become greatly restricted by the extension of agriculture, +and their winter ranges in South America have probably been restricted +in the same way. + +Unfortunately, shorebirds lay fewer eggs than any of the other species +generally termed game birds. They deposit only three or four eggs, and +hatch only one brood yearly. Nor are they in any wise immune from the +great mortality known to prevail among the smaller birds. Their eggs and +young are constantly preyed upon during the breeding season by crows, +gulls, and jaegers, and the far northern country to which so many of +them resort to nest is subject to sudden cold storms, which kill many of +the young. In the more temperate climate of the United States small +birds, in general, do not bring up more than one young bird for every +two eggs laid. Sometimes the proportion of loss is much greater, actual +count revealing a destruction of 70 to 80 per cent of nests and eggs. +Shorebirds, with sets of three or four eggs, probably do not on the +average rear more than two young for each breeding pair. + +It is not surprising, therefore, that birds of this family, with their +limited powers of reproduction, melt away under the relentless warfare +waged upon them. Until recent years shorebirds have had almost no +protection. Thus, the species most in need of stringent protection have +really had the least. No useful birds which lay only three or four eggs +should be retained on the list of game birds. The shorebirds should be +relieved from persecution, and if we desire to save from extermination a +majority of the species, action must be prompt. + +The protection of shorebirds need not be based solely on esthetic or +sentimental grounds, for few groups of birds more thoroughly deserve +protection from an economic standpoint. Shorebirds perform an important +service by their inroads upon mosquitoes, some of which play so +conspicuous a part in the dissemination of diseases. Thus, nine species +are known to feed upon mosquitoes, and hundreds of the larvae or +"wigglers" were found in several stomachs. Fifty-three per cent of the +food of twenty-eight northern phalaropes from one locality consisted of +mosquito larvae. The insects eaten include the salt-marsh mosquito +(_Aedes sollicitans_), for the suppression of which the State of New +Jersey has gone to great expense. The nine species of shorebirds known +to eat mosquitoes are: + +Northern phalarope (_Lobipes lobatus_). +Semipalmated sandpiper (_Ereunetes pusillus_). +Wilson phalarope (_Steganopus tricolor_). +Stilt sandpiper (_Micropalama himantopus_). +Killdeer (_Oxyechus vociferus_). +Pectoral sandpiper (_Pisobia maculata_). +Semipalmated plover (_Aegialitis semipalmata_). +Baird sandpiper (_Pisobia bairdi_). +Least sandpiper (_Pisobia minutilla_). + +Cattle and other live stock also are seriously molested by mosquitoes as +well as by another set of pests, the horse-flies. Adults and larvae of +these flies have been found in the stomachs of the dowitcher, the +pectoral sandpiper, the hudsonian godwit, and the killdeer. Two species +of shorebirds, the killdeer and upland plover, still further befriend +cattle by devouring the North American fever tick. + +Among other fly larvae consumed are those of the crane flies +(leather-jackets) devoured by the following species: + +Northern phalarope (_Lobipes lobatus_). +Pectoral sandpiper (_Pisobia maculata_). +Wilson phalarope (_Steganopus tricolor_). +Baird sandpiper (_Pisobia bairdi_). +Woodcock (_Philohela minor_). +Upland plover (_Bartramia longicauda_). +Jacksnipe (_Gallinago delicata_). +Killdeer (_Oxyechus vociferus_). + +Crane-fly larvae are frequently seriously destructive locally in grass +and wheat fields. Among their numerous bird enemies, shorebirds rank +high. + +Another group of insects of which the shorebirds are very fond is +grasshoppers. Severe local infestations of grasshoppers, frequently +involving the destruction of many acres of corn, cotton, and other +crops, are by no means exceptional. Aughey found twenty-three species +of shorebirds feeding on Rocky Mountain locusts in Nebraska, some of +them consuming large numbers, as shown below. + + 9 killdeer stomachs contained an average of 28 locusts each. +11 semipalmated plover stomachs contained an average of 38 locusts each. +16 mountain plover stomachs contained an average of 45 locusts each. +11 jacksnipe stomachs contained an average of 37 locusts each. +22 upland plover stomachs contained an average of 36 locusts each. +10 long-billed curlew stomachs contained an average of 48 locusts each. + +[Illustration: TWO MEMBERS OF THE GROUP OF SHORE-BIRDS +The Killdeer Plover The Jacksnipe +These, with 28 other species, destroy enormous numbers of locusts, +grasshoppers, crane-fly larvae, mosquito larvae, army-worms, cut-worms, +cotton-worms, boll-weevils, curculios, wire-worms and clover-leaf +weevils. It is insane folly to shoot any birds that do such work! Many +species of the shore-birds are rapidly being exterminated.] + +Even under ordinary conditions grasshoppers are a staple food of many +members of the shorebird family, and the following species are known to +feed on them: + +Northern phalarope (_Lobipes lobatus_). +Avocet (_Recurvirostra americana_). +Black-necked stilt (_Himantopus mexicanus_). +Woodcock (_Philohela minor_). +Jacksnipe (_Gallinago delicata_). +Dowitcher (_Macrorhamphus griseus_). +Robin snipe (_Tringa canutus_). +White-rumped sandpiper (_Pisobia fuscicollis_). +Baird sandpiper (_Pisobia bairdi_). +Least sandpiper (_Pisobia minutilla_). +Buff-breasted sandpiper (_Tryngites subruficollis_). +Spotted sandpiper (_Actitis macularia_). +Long-billed curlew (_Numenius americanus_). +Black-bellied plover (_Squatarola squatarola_). +Golden plover (_Charadrius dominicus_). +Killdeer (_Oxyechus vociferus_). +Semipalmated plover (_Aegialitis semipalmata_). +Marbled godwit _(Limosa fedoa)_. +Ringed plover _(Aegialitis hiaticula)_. +Yellowlegs _(Totanus flavipes)_. +Mountain plover _(Podasocys montanus)_. +Solitary sandpiper _(Helodromas solitarius)_. +Turnstone _(Arenaria interpres)_. +Upland plover _(Bartramia longicauda)_. + +Shorebirds are fond of other insect pests of forage and grain crops, +including the army worm, which is known to be eaten by the killdeer and +spotted sandpiper; also cutworms, among whose enemies are the avocet, +woodcock, pectoral and Baird sandpipers, upland plover, and killdeer. +Two caterpillar enemies of cotton, the cotton worm and the cotton +cutworm, are eaten by the upland plover and killdeer. The latter bird +feeds also on caterpillars of the genus _Phlegethontius_, which +includes, the tobacco and tomato worms. + +The principal farm crops have many destructive beetle enemies also, and +some of these are eagerly eaten by shorebirds. The boll weevil and +clover-leaf weevil are eaten by the upland plover and killdeer, the rice +weevil by the killdeer, the cowpea weevil by the upland plover, and the +clover-root curculio by the following species of shorebirds: + +Northern phalarope _(Lobipes lobatus)_. +White-rumped sandpiper _(Pisobia fuscicollis)_. +Pectoral sandpiper _(Pisobia maculata_). +Upland plover _(Bartramia longicauda)_. +Baird sandpiper _(Pisobia bairdi)_. +Killdeer _(Oxyechus vociferus)_. + +The last two eat also other weevils which attack cotton, grapes and +sugar beets. Bill-bugs, which often do considerable damage to corn, seem +to be favorite food of some of the shorebirds. They are eaten by the +Wilson phalarope, avocet, black-necked stilt, pectoral sandpiper, +killdeer, and upland plover. They are an important element of the latter +bird's diet, and no fewer than eight species of them have been found in +its food. + +Wireworms and their adult forms, click beetles, are devoured by the +northern phalarope, woodcock, jacksnipe, pectoral sandpiper, killdeer, +and upland plover. The last three feed also on the southern corn +leaf-beetle and the last two upon the grapevine colaspis. Other +shorebirds that eat leaf-beetles are the Wilson phalarope and dowitcher. + +Crayfishes, which are a pest in rice and corn fields in the South and +which injure levees, are favorite food of the black-necked stilt, and +several other shorebirds feed upon them, notably the jacksnipe, robin +snipe, spotted sandpiper, upland plover, and killdeer. + +Thus it is evident that shorebirds render important aid by devouring the +enemies of farm crops and in other ways, and their services are +appreciated by those who have observed the birds in the field. Thus W.A. +Clark, of Corpus Christi, Tex., reports that upland plovers are +industrious in following the plow and in eating the grubs that destroy +garden stuff, corn, and cotton crops. H.W. Tinkham, of Fall River, +Mass., says of the spotted sandpiper: "Three pairs nested in a young +orchard behind my house and adjacent to my garden. I did not see them +once go to the shore for food (shore about 1,500 feet away), but I did +see them many times make faithful search of my garden for cutworms, +spotted squash bugs, and green flies. Cutworms and cabbage worms were +their special prey. After the young could fly, they still kept at work +in my garden, and showed no inclination to go to the shore until about +August 15th. They and a flock of quails just over the wall helped me +wonderfully." + +In the uncultivated parts of their range also, shorebirds search out and +destroy many creatures that are detrimental to man's interest. Several +species prey upon the predaceous diving beetles _(Dytiscidae),_ which +are a nuisance in fish hatcheries and which destroy many insects, the +natural food of fishes. The birds now known to take these beetles are: + +Northern phalarope _(Lobipes lobatus)_. +Dowitcher _(Macrorhamphus griseus)_. +Wilson phalarope _(Steganopus tricolor)_. +Robin snipe _(Tringa canutus)_. +Avocet _(Recurvirostra americana)_. +Pectoral sandpiper _(Pisobia maculata)_. +Black-necked stilt _(Himantopus mexicanus_). +Red-backed sandpiper _(Pelidna alpina sakhalina)_. +Jacksnipe _(Gallinago delicata)_. +Kill deer _(Oxyechus vociferus)_. + +Large numbers of marine worms of the genus _Nereis_, which prey upon +oysters, are eaten by shorebirds. These worms are common on both the +Atlantic and Gulf coasts and are eaten by shorebirds wherever they +occur. It is not uncommon to find that from 100 to 250 of them have been +eaten at one meal. The birds known to feed upon them are: + +Northern phalarope _(Lobipes lobatus)_. +White-rumped sandpiper _(Pisobia fuscicollis)_. +Dowitcher _(Macrorhamphus griseus_). +Stilt sandpiper _(Micropalama himantopus)_. +Red-backed sandpiper _(Pelidna alpina sakhalina)_. +Robin snipe _(Tringa canutus)_. +Purple sandpiper _(Arquatella maritima_). +Killdeer _(Oxyechus vociferus)_. + +The economic record of the shorebirds deserves nothing but praise. These +birds injure no crop, but on the contrary feed upon many of the worst +enemies of agriculture. It is worth recalling that their diet includes +such pests as the Rocky Mountain locust and other injurious +grasshoppers, the army worm, cutworms, cabbage worms, cotton worm, +cotton cutworm, boll weevil, clover leaf weevil, clover root curculio, +rice weevil, corn bill-bugs, wireworms, corn leaf-beetles, cucumber +beetles, white grubs, and such foes of stock as the Texas fever tick, +horseflies, and mosquitoes. Their warfare on crayfishes must not be +overlooked, nor must we forget the more personal debt of gratitude we +owe them for preying upon mosquitoes. They are the most important bird +enemies of these pests known to us. + +Shorebirds have been hunted until only a remnant of their once vast +numbers is left. Their limited powers of reproduction, coupled with the +natural vicissitudes of the breeding period, make their increase slow, +and peculiarly expose them to danger of extermination. + +In the way of protection a beginning has been made, and a continuous +close season until 1915 has been established for the following birds: +The killdeer, in Massachusetts and Louisiana; the upland plover, in +Massachusetts, and Vermont; and the piping plover in Massachusetts. But, +considering the needs and value of these birds, this modicum of +protection is small indeed. + +The above-named species are not the only ones that should be exempt +from persecution, for all the shorebirds of the United States are in +great need of better protection. They should be protected, first, to +save them from the danger of extermination, and, second, because of +their economic importance. So great, indeed, is their economic value, +that their retention on the game list and their destruction by sportsmen +is a serious loss to agriculture.--(End of the circular.) + + * * * * * + +The following appeared in the _Zoological Society Bulletin_, for +January, 1909, from Richard Walter Tomalin, of Sydney, N.S.W.: + +"In the subdistricts of Robertson and Kangaloon in the Illawarra +district of New South Wales, what ten years ago was a waving mass of +English cocksfoot and rye grass, which had been put in gradually as the +dense vine scrub was felled and burnt off, is now a barren desert, and +nine families out of every ten which were renting properties have been +compelled to leave the district and take up other lands. This is through +the grubs having eaten out the grass by the roots. Ploughing proved to +be useless, as the grubs ate out the grass just the same. Whilst there +recently I was informed that it took three years from the time the grubs +were first seen until to-day, to accomplish this complete devastation;. +in other words, three years ago the grubs began work in the beautiful +country of green mountains and running streams. + +"The birds had all been ruthlessly shot and destroyed in that district, +and I was amazed at the absence of bird life. The two sub-districts I +have mentioned have an area of about thirty square miles, and form a +table-land about 1200 feet above sea level." + +The same kind of common sense that teaches men to go in when it rains, +and keep out of fiery furnaces, teaches us that as a business +proposition it is to man's interest to protect the birds. Make them +plentiful and keep them so. When we strike the birds, we hurt ourselves. +The protection of our insect-eating and seed-eating birds is a cash +proposition,--protect or pay. + +Were I a farmer, no gun ever should be fired on my premises at any bird +save the English sparrow and the three bad hawks. Any man who would kill +my friend Bob White I would treat as an enemy. The man who would shoot +and eat any of the song-birds, woodpeckers, or shorebirds that worked +for me, I would surely molest. + +_Every farmer should post every foot of his lands, cultivated and not +cultivated_. The farmer who does not do so is his own enemy; and he +needs a guardian. + +At this stage of wild life extermination, it is impossible to make our +bird-protection laws too strict, or too far-reaching. The remnant of our +birds should be protected, with clubs and guns if necessary. All our +shore birds should be accorded a ten-year close season. Don't ask the +gunners whether they will _agree_ to it or not. _Of course they will not +agree to it,--never_! But our duty is clear,--to go ahead and _do it_! + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXIV + +GAME AND AGRICULTURE; AND DEER AS A FOOD SUPPLY + + +As a state and county asset, the white-tailed deer contains +possibilities that as yet seem to be ignored by the American people as a +whole. It is quite time to consider that persistent, prolific and +toothsome animal. + +The proposition that large herds of horned game can not becomingly roam +at will over farms and vineyards worth one hundred dollars per acre, +affords little room for argument. Generally speaking, there is but one +country in the world that breaks this well-nigh universal rule; and that +country is India. On the plains between and adjacent to the Ganges and +the Jumna, for two thousand years herds of black-buck, or sasin +antelope, have roamed over cultivated fields so thickly garnished with +human beings that to-day the rifle-shooting sportsman stands in hourly +peril of bagging a five-hundred-rupee native every time he fires at an +antelope. + +Wherever rich agricultural lands exist, the big game must give +way,--_from those lands_. To-day the bison could not survive in Iowa, +eastern Nebraska or eastern Kansas, any longer than a Shawnee Indian +would last on the Bowery. It was foredoomed that the elk, deer, bear and +wild turkey should vanish from the rich farming regions of the East and +the middle West. + +To-day in British East Africa lions are being hunted with dogs and shot +wholesale, because they are a pest to the settlers and to the surviving +herds of big game. At the same time, the settlers who are striving to +wrest the fertile plains of B.E.A, from the domain of savagery declare +that the African buffalo, the zebra, the kongoni and the elephant are +public nuisances that must be suppressed by the rifle. + +Even the most ardent friend of wild life must admit that when a settler +has laboriously fenced his fields, and plowed and sowed, only to have +his whole crop ruined in one night by a herd of fence-breaking zebras, +the event is sufficient to abrade the nerves of the party most in +interest. While I take no stock in stories of dozens of "rogue" +elephants that require treatment with the rifle, and of grown men being +imperiled by savage gazelles, we admit that there are times when wild +animals can make nuisances of themselves. Let us consider that subject +now. + +WILD ANIMAL NUISANCES.--Complaints have come to me, at various times, of +great destruction of lambs by eagles; of trout by blue herons; of crops +(on Long Island) by deer; of pears destroyed by birds, and of valuable +park trees by beavers that chop down trees not wisely but too well. I do +not, however, include in this category any cherries eaten by robins, or +orioles, or jays; for they are of too small importance to consider in +this court. + +[Illustration: A FOOD SUPPLY OF WHITE-TAILED DEER +The Killing of the Does was Wrong] + +To meet the legitimate demands for the abatement of unbearable +wild-animal nuisances, I recommend the enactment of a law similar to +Section 158 of the Game laws of New York, which provides for the safe +and legitimate abatement of unbearable wild creatures as follows: + + Section 158. _Power to Take Birds and Quadrupeds_. In the event that + any species of birds protected by the provisions of section two + hundred and nineteen of this article, or quadrupeds protected by + law, shall at any time, in any locality, become destructive of + private or public property, the commission shall have power in its + discretion to direct any game protector, or issue a permit to any + citizen of the state, to take such species of birds or quadrupeds + and dispose of the same in such manner as the commission may + provide. Such permit shall expire within four months after the date + of issuance. + +This measure should be adopted by every state that is troubled by too +many, or too aggressive, wild mammals or birds. + +But to return to the subject of big game and farming. We do not complain +of the disappearance of the bison, elk, deer and bear from the farms of +the United States and Canada. The passing of the big game from all such +regions follows the advance of real civilization, just so surely and +certainly as night follows day. + +But this vast land of ours is not wholly composed of rich agricultural +lands; not by any means. There are millions of acres of forest lands, +good, bad and indifferent, worth from nothing per acre up to one hundred +dollars or more. There are millions of acres of rocky, brush-covered +mountains and hills, wholly unsuited to agriculture, or even +horticulture. There are other millions of acres of arid plains and +arboreal deserts, on which nothing but thirst-proof animals can live and +thrive. The South contains vast pine forests and cypress swamps, +millions of acres of them, of which the average northerner knows less +than nothing. + +We can not stop long enough to look it up, but from the green color on +our national map that betokens the forest reserves, and from our own +personal knowledge of the deserts, swamps, barrens and rocks that we +have seen, we make the estimate that _fully one-third_ of the total area +of the United States is incapable of supporting the husbandman who +depends for his existence upon tillage of the soil. People may talk and +write about "dry farming" all they please, but I wish to observe that +from Dry-Farming to Success is a long shot, with many limbs in the way. +When it rains sufficiently, dry farming is a success; but otherwise it +is not; and we heartily wish it were otherwise. + +The logical conclusion of our land that is utterly unfit for agriculture +is a great area of land available for occupancy by valuable wild +animals. Every year the people of the United States are wasting +uncountable millions of pounds of venison, because we are neglecting our +opportunities for producing it practically without cost. Imagine for a +moment bestowing upon land owners the ability to stock with white-tailed +and Indian sambar deer all the wild lands of the United States that are +suitable for those species, and permitting only bucks over one year of +age to be shot. With the does even reasonably protected, the numerical +results in annual pounds of good edible flesh fairly challenges the +imagination. + +About six years ago, Mr. C.C. Worthington's deer, in his fenced park, at +Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania, became so numerous and so burdensome +that he opened his fences and permitted about one thousand head to go +free. + +We are losing each year a very large and valuable asset in the +intangible form of a million hardy deer that we might have raised but +did not! Our vast domains of wooded mountains, hills and valleys lie +practically untenanted by big game, save in a few exceptional spots. We +lose because we are lawless. We lose because we are too improvident to +conserve large forms of wild life unless we are compelled to do so by +the stern edict of the law! The law-breakers, the game-hogs, the +conscienceless doe-and-fawn slayers are everywhere! Ten per cent of all +the grown men now in the United States are to-day poachers, thieves and +law-breakers, or else they are liable to become so to-morrow. If you +doubt it, try risking your new umbrella unprotected in the next mixed +company of one hundred men that you encounter, in such a situation that +it will be easy to "get away" with it. + +We could raise two million deer each year on our empty wild lands; but +without fences it would take half a million real game-wardens, on duty +from dawn until dark, to protect them from destructive slaughter. At +present our land of liberty contains only 9,354 game wardens.[J] The +states that contain the greatest areas of wild lands naturally lack in +population and in tax funds, and not one such state can afford to put +into the field even half enough salaried game wardens to really protect +her game from surreptitious slaughter. The surplus of "personal liberty" +in this liberty-cursed land is a curse to the big game. The average +frontiersman never will admit the divine right of kings, but he does +ardently believe in the divine right of settlers,--to reach out and take +any of the products of Nature that they happen to fancy. + +[Footnote J: Of this force, there are only 1,200 salaried wardens. The +most of those who serve without salaries naturally render but little +continuous or regular service.] + +WILD MEAT AS A FOOD SUPPLY.--We hear much these days about the high cost +of living, but thus far we have made no move to mend the situation. With +coal going straight up to ten dollars per ton, beef going up to fifteen +dollars per hundred on the hoof and wheat and hay going-up--heaven alone +knows where, it is time for all Americans who are not rich to arouse and +take thought for the morrow. _What are we going to do about it_? The +tariff on the coarser necessities of life is now booked to come down; +but what about the fresh meat supply? + +I desire to point out that between Bangor and San Diego and from Key +West to Bellingham, our country contains millions of acres of wild, +practically uninhabited forests, rough foot-hills, bad-lands and +mountains that could produce two million deer each year, without +deducting $50,000 a year from the wealth of the country. I grant that in +the total number of deer that would be necessary to produce two million +deer per annum, the farms situated on the edges of forests, and actually +within the forests, would suffer somewhat from the depredations of those +deer. As I will presently show by documentary records, every one of +those individual damages that exceeds two dollars in value could be +compensated in cash, and afterward leave on the credit side of the deer +account an enormous annual balance. + +Stop for a moment, you enterprising and restless men and women who +travel all over the United States, and think of the illimitable miles of +unbroken forest that you have looked upon from your Pullman windows in +the East, in the South, in the West and in southern Canada. Recall the +wooded mountains of the Appalachian system, the White Mountain region, +the pine forests of the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf States, the forests +of Tennessee, Arkansas and southern Missouri; of northern Minnesota, and +every state of the Rocky Mountain region. Then, think of the silent and +untouched forests of the Pacific Coast and tell me whether you think +five million deer scattered through all those forests would make any +visible impression upon them. That would be only about twenty-five times +as many as are there now! I think the forests would not be over +populated; and they would produce _two million killable deer each year_! + +Last year, 11,000 deer were forced down out of their hiding places in +the Rocky Mountains, and were killed in Montana. Even the natives had +not dreamed there were so many available; and they were slaughtered not +wisely but too ill. It is not right that six members of one family +should "hog" twelve deer in one season. At present no deer supply can +stand such slaughter. + +Assuming that the people of the United States _could_ be educated into +the idea of so conserving deer that they could draw two million head per +year from the general stock, what would it be worth? + +It is not very difficult to estimate the value of a deer, when the whole +animal can be utilized. In various portions of the United States, deer +vary in size, but I shall take all this into account, and try to strike +a fair average. In some sections, where deer are large and heavy, a +full-grown buck is easily worth twenty-five dollars. Let him who doubts +it, try to replace those generous pounds of flesh with purchased beef +and mutton and veal, and see how far twenty-five dollars will go toward +it. Every man who is a householder knows full well how little meat one +dollar will buy at this time. + +I think that throughout the United States as a whole every full-grown +deer, male or female contains on an average ten dollars worth of good +meat. I know of one large preserve which annually sells its surplus of +deer at that price, wholesale, to dealers; and in New York City +(doubtless in many other cities, also) venison often has sold in the +market at one dollar per pound! + +Two million deer at $10 each mean $20,000,000. The licenses for the +killing of two million deer should cost one million men one dollar each; +and that would pay 1,666 new game wardens each fifty dollars per month, +all the year round. The damages that would need to be paid to farmers, +on account of crops injured by deer, would be so small that each county +could take care of its own cases, from its own treasury, as is done in +the State of Vermont. + +There are certain essentials to the realization of a dream of two +million deer per year that are absolutely required. They are neither +obscure nor impossible. + +Each state and each county proposing to stock its vacant woods with deer +must resolutely educate its own people in the necessity of playing fair +about the killing of deer, and giving every man and every deer a square +deal. This is _not_ impossible! Not as a general thing, even though it +may be so in some specially lawless communities. If the _leading men_ of +the state and the county will take this matter seriously in hand, it can +be done in two years' time. The American people are not insensible to +appeals to reason, when those appeals are made by their own "home +folks." The governors, senators, assemblymen, judges, mayors and +justices of the peace could, _if they would_, make a campaign of +education and appeal that would result in the creation of an immense +volume of free wild food in every state that possesses wild lands. + +When the shoe of Necessity pinches the People hard enough, remember the +possibilities in deer. + +[Illustration: WHITE-TAILED DEER +If Honestly and Intelligently Conserved, this Species could be made to +Produce on our Wild Lands Two Million Deer per annum, as a new Food Supply +From the "American Natural History"] + +The best wild animal to furnish a serious food supply is the +white-tailed deer. This is because of its persistence and fertility. The +elk is too large for general use. An elk carcass can not be carried on a +horse; it is impossible to get a sled or a wagon to where it lies; and +so, fully half of it usually is wasted! The mule deer is good for the +Rocky Mountains, and can live where the white-tail can not; but it is +_too easy to shoot_! The Columbian black-tail is the natural species for +the forests of the Pacific states; but it is a trifle small in size. + +THE EXAMPLE OF VERMONT.--In order to show that all the above is not +based on empty theory,--regarding the stocking of forests with deer, +their wonderful powers of increase, and the practical handling of the +damage question,--let us take the experience and the fine example of +Vermont. + +In April, 1875, a few sportsmen of Rutland, of whom the late Henry W. +Cheney was one, procured in the Adirondacks thirteen white-tailed deer, +six bucks and seven does. These were liberated in a forest six miles +from Rutland, and beyond being protected from slaughter, they were left +to shift for themselves. They increased, slowly at first, then rapidly, +and by 1897, they had become so numerous that it seemed right to have a +short annual open season, and kill a few. From first to last, many of +those deer have been killed contrary to law. In 1904-5, it was known +that 294 head were destroyed in that way; and undoubtedly there were +others that were not reported. + + ACCOUNT OF DEER KILLED IN VERMONT, OF RECORD SINCE KILLING + BEGAN, IN 1897 + +_From John W. Titcomb, State Game Commissioner, Lyndonville, Vt., + Aug. 23, 1912_ + + By By By Wounded By By Average Gross +Year Hunters, Hunters, Dogs Deer Railroad Various Weight Weight + Legally Illegally Killed Trains Accidents (lbs.) (lbs.) + +1897* 103 47 +1898 131 30 40 3 +1899 90 +1900 123 +1901 211 +1902 403 81 50 13 14 171 68,747 +1903 753 199 190 142,829 +1904 541 +1905 497 163 74 22 18 17 198 +1906 634 200 127,193 +1907 991 287 208 62 31 21 196 134,353 +1908 2,208 207 457,585 +1909 4,597 381 168 69 24 72 155 716,358 + + * First open season after deer restored to state in 1875. + +DAMAGES TO CROPS BY DEER.--For several years past, the various counties +of Vermont have been paying farmers for damages inflicted upon their +crops by deer. Clearly, it is more just that counties should settle +these damages than that they should be paid from the state treasury, +because the counties paying damages have large compensation in the value +of the deer killed each year. The hunting appears to be open to all +persons who hold licenses from the state. + +In order that the public at large may know the cost of the Vermont +system, I offer the following digest compiled from the last biennial +report of the State Fish and Game Commissioner: + +DAMAGES PAID FOR DEER DEPREDATIONS IN VERMONT DURING + TWO YEARS + +Total damages paid from June 8, 1908, to June 22, 1910 $4,865.98 +Total number of claims paid 311 +Total number of claims under $5 80 +Number between $5 and $10, inclusive 102 +Number over $25 and under $51 23 +Number between $50 and $100 11 +Number in excess of $100 4 +Number in excess of $200 1 +Largest claim paid $326.50 + +VALUE OF WHITE-TAILED DEER.--Having noted the fact that in two years +(1908-9), the people of Vermont paid out $4,865 in compensation for +damages inflicted by deer, it is of interest to determine whether that +money was wisely expended. In other words, did it pay? + +We have seen that in the years 1908 and 9, the people of Vermont killed, +legally and illegally, and converted to use, 7,186 deer. This does not +include the deer killed by dogs and by accidents. + +Regarding the value of a full-grown deer, it must be remembered that +much depends upon the locality of the carcass. In New York or Pittsburg +or Chicago, a whole deer is worth, at wholesale, at least twenty-five +dollars. In Vermont, where deer are plentiful, they are worth a less +sum. I think that fifteen dollars would be a fair figure,--at least low +enough! + +Even when computed at fifteen dollars per carcass, those deer were worth +to the people of Vermont $107,790. It would seem, therefore, that the +soundness of Vermont's policy leaves no room for argument; and we hope +that other states, and also private individuals, will profit by +Vermont's very successful experiment in bringing back the deer to her +forests, and in increasing the food supply of her people. + +KILLING FEMALE DEER.--To say one word on this subject which might by any +possibility be construed as favoring it, is like juggling with a lighted +torch over a barrel of gunpowder. Already, in Pennsylvania at least one +gentleman has appeared anxious to represent me as favoring the killing +of does, which in nine hundred and ninety-nine cases out of every +thousand I distinctly and emphatically do not. The slaughter of female +hoofed game animals is necessarily destructive and reprehensible, and +not one man out of every ten thousand in this country ever will see the +place and time wherein the opposite is true. + +At present there are just two places in America, and I think only two, +wherein there exists the slightest exception on this point. The state of +Vermont is becoming overstocked with deer, and the females have in +_some_ counties (not in all), become so tame and destructive in +orchards, gardens and farm crops as to constitute a great annoyance. For +this reason, the experiment is being made of permitting does to be +killed under license, until their number is somewhat reduced. + +The first returns from this trial have now come in, from the county game +wardens of Vermont to the state game warden. Mr. John W. Titcomb. I will +quote the gist of the opinion of each. + +The State Commissioner says: "This law should remain in force at least +until there is some indication of a decrease in the number of deer." +Warden W.H. Taft (Addison County) says: "The killing of does I believe +did away with a good many of these tame deer that cause most of the +damage to farmers' crops." Harry Chase (Bennington County) says the +doe-killing law is "a good law, and I sincerely trust it will not be +repealed." Warden Hayward of Rutland County says: "The majority of the +farmers in this county are in favor of repealing the doe law.... A great +many does and young deer (almost fawns) were killed in this county +during the hunting season of 1909." R.W. Wheeler, of Rutland County +says: "Have the doe law repealed! We don't need it!" H.J. Parcher of +Washington County finds that the does did more damage to the crops than +the bucks, and he thinks the doe law is "a just one." R.L. Frost, of +Windham County, judicially concludes that "the law allowing does to be +killed should remain in force one or two seasons more." C.S Parker, of +Orleans County, says his county is not overstocked with deer, and he +favors a special act for his county, to protect females. + +A summary of the testimony of the wardens is easily made. When deer are +too plentiful, and the over-tame does become a public nuisance too great +to be endured, the number should be reduced by regular shooting in the +open season; but, + +As soon as the proper balance of deer life has been restored, protect +the does once more. + +The pursuit of this policy is safe and sane, provided it can be wrought +out without the influence of selfishness, and reckless disregard for the +rights of the next generation. On the whole, its handling is like +playing with fire, and I think there are very, very few states on this +earth wherein it would be wise or safe to try it. As a wise friend once +remarked to me, "Give some men a hinch, and they'll always try to take a +hell." In Vermont, however, the situation is kept so well in hand we may +be sure that at the right moment the law providing for the decrease of +the number of does will be repealed. + +HIPPOPOTAMI AND ANTELOPES.--Last year a bill was introduced in the lower +House of Congress proposing to provide funds for the introduction into +certain southern states of various animals from Africa, especially +hippopotami and African antelopes. The former were proposed partly for +the purpose of ridding navigation of the water hyacinths that now are +choking many of the streams of Louisiana and Mississippi. The antelopes +were to be acclimatized as a food supply for the people at large. + +This measure well illustrates the prevailing disposition of the American +people to-day,--to ignore and destroy their own valuable natural stock +of wild birds and mammals, and when they have completed their war of +extermination, reach out to foreign countries for foreign species. +Instead of preserving the deer of the South, the South reaches out for +the utterly impossible antelopes of Africa, and the preposterous +hippopotamus. The North joyously exterminates her quail and ruffed +grouse, and goes to Europe for the Hungarian partridge. That partridge +is a failure here, and I am _heartily glad of it_, on the ground that +the exterminators of our native species do not deserve success in their +efforts to displace our finest native species with others from abroad. + +The hippo-antelope proposition is a climax of absurdity, in proposing +the replacing of valuable native game with impossible foreign species. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXV + +LAW AND SENTIMENT AS FACTORS IN PRESERVATION + + +There is grave danger that through ignorance of the true character of +about 80 per cent of the men and boys who shoot wild creatures, a great +wrong will be done the latter. Let us not make a fatal mistake. + +After more than thirty years of observation among all kinds of +sportsmen, hunters and gunners, I am convinced that it is utterly futile +and deadly dangerous to rely on humane, high-class sentiment to diminish +the slaughter of wild things by game-hogs and pot-hunters. + +In some respects, the term "game-hog" is a rude, rough word; but it is +needed in the English language, and it has come to stay. It is a +disagreeable term, but it was brought into use to apply to a class of +very disagreeable persons. + +A "game-hog" is a hunter of game who knows no such thing as sentiment or +conscience in the killing of game, so long as he keeps within the limit +of the law. Regardless of the scarcity of game, or of its hard struggle +for existence, he will kill right up to the bag limit every day that he +goes out, provided it is possible to do so. He uses the "law" as a salve +for the spot where his conscience should be. He will shoot with any +machine gun, or gun of big calibre, in every way that the law allows, +and he knows no such thing as giving the game a square deal. He brags of +his big bags of game, and he loves to be photographed with a wagon-load +of dead birds as a background. He believes in automatic and pump guns, +spring shooting, longer open seasons and "more game." He is quite +content to shoot half tame ducks in a club preserve as they fly between +coop and pond, whenever he secures an opportunity. He will gladly sell +his game whenever he can do so without being found out, and sometimes +when he is. + +Often a true sportsman drifts without realizing it into some one way of +the confirmed game-hog; but the moment he is made to realize his +position, he changes his course and his standing. The game-hog is +impervious to argument. You can shame a horse away from his oats more +easily than you can shame him from doing "what the Law allows." + +There are hundreds of thousands of gentlemen and gentlewomen who never +once have come in touch with real cloven-footed game-hogs, who do not +understand the species at all, and do not recognize its ear-marks. +Thousands of such persons will tell you: "In my opinion, the best way to +save the wild life is to _educate the people_!" I have heard that, many, +many times. + +For right-hearted people, a little law is quite sufficient; and the best +people need none at all! But the game-hogs are different. For them, the +strict letter of the law, backed up by a strong-arm squad, is the only +controlling influence that they recognize. To them it is necessary to +say: "You shall!" and "You shall not!" + +Only yesterday the latest game-hog case was related to me by a +game-protector from Kansas. Into a certain county of southern Kansas, +from which the prairie-chicken had been totally gone for a dozen years +or more, a pair of those birds entered, settled down and nested. Their +coming was to many habitants a joyous event. "Now," said the People, "we +will care for these birds, and they will multiply, and presently the +county will be restocked." + +But Ahab came! Two men from another county, calling themselves sportsmen +but not entitled to that name, heard of those birds, and resolved to +"get them." They waited until the young were just leaving the nest: and +they went down and camped near by. On the first day they killed the two +parent birds and half the flock of young birds, and the next day they +got all the rest. + +But there is a sequel to this story. One of those men was a dealer in +guns and ammunition; and when his customers heard what he had done, +"they simply put him out of business, by refusing to trade with him any +more." He is now washing dirty dishes in a restaurant; but at heart he +is a game-hog, just the same. + +Near Bridgeport, Connecticut, a gentleman of my acquaintance owns a fine +estate which is adorned with a trout stream and a superfine trout pond. +Once he invited a business man of Bridgeport to be his guest, and fish +for trout in his pond. On that guest, during a visit of three days all +the finest forms of hospitality were bestowed. + +Two weeks later, my friend's game-warden caught that guest, early on a +Sunday morning, _poaching_ on the trout-pond, and spoiled his carefully +arranged get-away. + +In his book "Saddle and Camp in the Rockies," Mr. Dillon Wallace tells a +story of a man from New York who in the mountains of Colorado +deliberately corrupted his guides with money or other influences, shot +mountain sheep _in midsummer_, and "got away with it." + +In northern Minnesota, George E. Wood has been having a hand-to-hand +fight with the worst community of game-hogs and alien-born poachers of +which I have heard. There appears to be no game law that they do not +systematically violate. The killers seem determined to annihilate the +last head of game, in spite of fines and imprisonments. The foreigners +are absolutely uncontrollable. The latest feature of the war is the +discovery of a tannery in the woods, where the hides of +illegally-slaughtered deer and moose are dressed. Apparently the only +kind of a law that will save the game of northern Minnesota is one that +will totally disarm the entire population. + +In Pennsylvania, there exists an association which was formed for the +express purpose of fighting the State Game Commission, preventing the +enactment of a hunter's license law and repealing the law against the +killing of female deer and hornless fawns. The continued existence of +that organization on that basis would be a standing disgrace to the fair +name of Pennsylvania. I think, however, that that organization was +founded on secret selfish purposes, and that ere long the general body +of members will awaken to a realizing sense of their position, and range +themselves in support of the excellent policies of the commission. + +A POT-HUNTER is a man or boy who kills game as a business, for the money +that can be derived from its sale, or other use. Such men have the same +feelings as butchers. From their point of view, they can see no reason +why all the game in the world should not be killed and marketed. Like +the feather-dealers, they wish to get out of the wild life all the money +there is in it; that is all. Left to themselves, with open markets they +would soon exterminate the land fauna of the habitable portions of the +globe. + +No one can "educate" such people. For the gunners, game-hogs and +pot-hunters, there is no check, save specific laws that sternly and +amply safeguard the rights of the wild creatures that can not make laws +for themselves. + +Nor can anyone educate the heartless woman of fashion who is determined +to wear aigrettes as long as her money can buy them. The best women of +the world have _already been educated_ on the bird-millinery subject, +and they are already against the use of the gaudy badges of slaughter +and extermination. But in the great cities of the world there are +thousands of women who are at heart as cruel as Salome herself, and +whose vicious tastes can be curbed only by the strong hand of the law. +"Sentiment" for wild birds is not in them. + +Because of the vicious and heartless elements among men and women, we +say, Give us _far-reaching, iron-bound_ LAWS for the protection of wild +life, _and plenty of courageous men to enforce them_. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE ARMY OF THE DEFENSE + + +It now seems that the friends of wild life who themselves are not on the +firing-line should be afforded some definite information regarding the +Army of the Defense, and its strength and weakness. It is an interesting +subject, but the limitations of space will not permit an extended +treatment. + +Over the world at large, I think the active Destroyers outnumber the +active Defenders of wild life at least in the ratio of 500 to 1; and the +money available to the Destroyers is to the funds of the Defenders as +500 is to 1. The _average_ big-game sportsman cheerfully expends from +$500 to $1,000 on a hunting trip, but resents the suggestion that he +should subscribe from $50 to $100 for wild life preservation. If he puts +down $10, he thinks he has done a Big Thing. Worse than this, I am +forced to believe that at least 75 per cent of the big-game sportsmen of +the world never have contributed one dollar in money, or one hour of +effort, to that cause. But there are exceptions; and I can name at least +fifty sportsmen who have subscribed $100 each to campaign funds, and +some who have given as high as $1,000. + +Once I sat down beside a financially rich slaughterer of game, and asked +him to subscribe a sum of real money in behalf of a very important +campaign. I needed funds very much; and I explained, exhorted and +besought. I pointed out his duty--_to give back something_ in return for +all the game slaughter that he had _enjoyed_. For ten long minutes he +stood fire without flinching, and without once opening his lips to +speak. He made no answer no argument, no defense and finally he never +gave up one cent. + +Wherever the English language is spoken, from Tasmania to Scotland, and +from Porto Rico to the Philippines, the spirit of wild life protection +exists. Elsewhere there is much more to be said on this point. To all +cosmopolitan sportsmen, the British "Blue Book" on game protection, the +annual reports of the two great protective societies of London, and the +annual "Progress" report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture are +reassuring and comforting. It is good to know that Uganda maintains a +Department of Game Protection (A.L. Butler, Superintendent), that so +good a man as Maj. J. Stevenson-Hamilton is in control of protection in +the Transvaal, and that even the native State of Kashmir officially +recognizes the need to protect the Remnant. + +There are of course many parts of the world in which game laws and +limits to slaughter are quite unknown: all of which is entirely wrong, +and in need of quick correction. No state or nation can be accounted +wholly civilized that fails to recognize the necessity to protect wild +life. I am tempted to make a list of the states and nations that were at +latest advices destitute of game laws and game protectors, but I fear to +do injustice through lack of the latest information. However, the time +has come to search out delinquents, and hold up to each one a mirror +that will reflect its shortcomings. + +Naturally, we are most interested in our own contingent of the Army of +the Defense. + +THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.--To-day the feeling in Congress, toward +the conservation of wild life and forests is admirable. Both houses are +fully awake to the necessity of saving while there is yet something to +be saved. The people of the United States may be assured that the +national government is active and sympathetic in the prosecution of such +conservation measures as it might justly be expected to promote. For +example, during the past five years we have seen Congress take favorable +action on the following important causes, nearly every one of which cost +money: + +The saving of the American bison, in four National ranges. + +The creation of fifty-eight bird refuges. + +The creation of five great game preserves. + +The saving of the elk in Jackson Hole. + +The protection of the fur seal. + +The protection of the wild life of Alaska. + +There are many active friends of wild life who confidently expect to see +this fine list gloriously rounded out by the passage in 1913 of an ideal +bill for the federal protection of all migratory birds. To name the +friends of wild life in Congress would require the printing of a list of +at least two hundred names, and a history of the rise and progress of +wild life conservation by the national government would fill a volume. +Such a volume would be highly desirable. + +When the story of the national government's part in wild-life protection +is finally written, it will be found that while he was president, +THEODORE ROOSEVELT made a record in that field that is indeed enough to +make a reign illustrious. He aided every wild-life cause that lay within +the bounds of possibility, and he gave the vanishing birds and mammals +the benefit of every doubt. He helped to establish three national bison +herds, four national game preserves, fifty-three federal bird refuges, +and to enact the Alaska game laws of 1902 and 1907. + +It was in 1904 that the national government elected to accept its share +of the white man's burden and enter actively into the practical business +of wild life protection. This special work, originally undertaken and +down to the present vigorously carried on by Dr. Theodore S. Palmer, has +considerably changed the working policy of the Biological Survey of the +Department of Agriculture, and greatly influenced game protection +throughout the states. The game protection work of that bureau is alone +worth to the people of this country at least twenty times more per annum +than the entire annual cost of the Bureau. Next to the splendid services +of Dr. Palmer, all over the United States, one great value of the Bureau +is found in the fact-and-figure ammunition that it prepares and +distributes for general use in assaults on the citadels of Ignorance and +Greed. The publications of the Bureau are of great practical value to +the people of the United States. + +[Illustration: NOTABLE PROTECTORS OF WILD LIFE (1) +MADISON GRANT +Secretary and Chairman Executive Committee, New York Zoological Society + +HENRY FAIRFIELD OSBORN +President, New York Zoological Society + +JOHN F. LACEY +Ex-Member of Congress; Author of the "Lacey Bird Law" + +WILLIAM DUTCHER +Founder and President, National Association of Audubon Societies] + +Dr. Palmer is a man of incalculable value to the cause of protection. +No call for advice is too small to receive his immediate attention, no +fight is too hot and no danger-point too remote to keep him from the +fray. Wherever the Army of Destruction is making a particularly +dangerous fight to repeal good laws and turn back the wheels of +progress, there will he be found. As the warfare grows more intense, +Congress may find it necessary to enlarge the fighting force of the +Biological Survey. + +The work that has been done by the Bureau in determining the economic +value or lack of value of our most important species of insectivorous +birds, has been worth millions to the agricultural interests of the +United States. Through it we know where we stand. The reasons why we +need to strive for protection can be expressed in figures and +percentages; and it seems to me that they leave the American people no +option but to _protect_! + +STATE GAME COMMISSIONS.--Each of our states, and each province of +Canada, maintains either a State Game Commission of several persons, one +Commissioner, or a State Game Warden. All such officers are officially +charged with the duty of looking after the general welfare of the game +and other wild life of their respective states. Theoretically one of the +chief duties of a State Game Commission is to initiate new legislative +bills that are necessary, and advocate their translation into law. The +official standing of most game commissioners is such that they can +successfully do this. In 1909 Governor Hughes of New York went so far as +to let it be known that he would sign no new game bill that did not meet +the approval of State Game Commissioner James S. Whipple. As a general +working principle, and quite aside from Mr. Whipple, that was wrong; +because even a State game commissioner is not necessarily infallible, or +always on the right side of every wild-life question. + +As a rule, state commissioners and state wardens are keenly alive to the +needs of their states in new game protective legislation, and a large +percentage of the best existing laws are due to their initiative. Often, +however, their usefulness is limited by the trammels of public office, +and there are times when such officers can not be too aggressive without +the risk of arousing hostile influences, and handicapping their own +departmental work. For this reason, it is often advisable that bills +which propose great and drastic reforms, and which are likely to become +storm-centers, should originate outside the Commissioner's office, and +be pushed by men who are perfectly free to abide the fortunes of open +warfare. It should be distinctly understood, however, that lobbying in +behalf of wild-life measures is _an important part of the legitimate +duty of every state game commissioner_, and is a most honorable calling. + +[Illustration: NOTABLE PROTECTORS OF WILD LIFE (II) +EDWARD HOWE FORBUSH +Massachusetts State Ornithologist + +T. GILBERT PEARSON +Secretary, National Association of Audubon Societies + +JOHN B. BURNHAM +President, American Game Protective and Propagation Association + +ERNEST NAPIER +President, Fish and Game Commission of New Jersey] + +Of the many strong and aggressive state game commissions that I would +like to mention in detail, space permits the naming of only a very few, +by way of illustration. + +NEW YORK.--Thanks to the great conservation Governor of this state, John +A. Dix, the year 1911 saw our forest, fish and game business established +on an ideal business basis. Realizing the folly of requiring a single +man to manage those three great interests, and render to each the +attention that it deserves and requires, by a well-studied legislative +act a State Conservation Commission was created, consisting of three +commissioners, one for each of the three great natural departments. +These are salaried officers, who devote their entire time to their work, +and are properly equipped with assistants. The state force of game +wardens now consists of 125 picked men, each on a salary of $900 per +year, and through a rigid system of daily reports (inaugurated by John +B. Burnham) the activities and results of each warden promptly become +known in detail at headquarters. + +Fortunately, New York contains a very large number of true sportsmen, +who are ever ready to come forward in support of every great measure for +wild-life protection. The spirit of real protection runs throughout the +state, and in time I predict that it will result in a great recovery of +the native game of the commonwealth. That will be after we have stopped +all shooting of upland game birds and shore birds for about eight years. +Even the pinnated grouse could be successfully introduced over one-third +of the state, if the people would have it so. It was our great body of +conscientious sportsmen who made possible the Bayne-Blauvelt law, and +the new codification of the game laws of the state. + +TENNESSEE.--Clearly, Honorable Mention belongs to the unsalaried State +Commissioner of Tennessee, Col. J.H. Acklen, "than whom," says Dr. +Palmer, "there is no more active and enthusiastic game protectionist in +this country. Whatever has been accomplished in that state is due to his +activity and public spirit. Col. Acklen, who is now president of the +National Association of Game Commissioners, is a prominent lawyer, and +enjoys the distinction of being the only commissioner in the country who +not only serves without pay, but also defrays a large part of the +expenses of game protection out of his own pocket." + +Surely the Commonwealth of Tennessee will not long permit this +unsupported condition of such a game commissioner to endure. That state +has a wild fauna worth preserving for her sons and grandsons, and it is +inconceivable that the funds vitally necessary to this public service +can not be found. + +ALABAMA.--I cite the case of Alabama because, in view of its position in +a group of states that until recently have cared little about game +protection, it may be regarded as an unusual case. Commissioner John H. +Wallace, Jr., has evolved order out of chaos,--and something approaching +a reign of law out of the absence of law. To-day the State of Alabama +stands as an example of what can be accomplished by and through one +clear-headed, determined man who is right, and knows that he is right. + +NEW JERSEY.--Alabama reminds one of New Jersey, and of State Game +Commissioner Ernest Napier. I have seen him on the firing-line, and I +know that his strong devotion to the interests of the wild life of his +state, his determination to protect it at all costs, and his resistless +confidence in asking for what is right, have made him a power for good. +The state legislature believes in him, and enacts the laws that he says +are right and necessary. He serves without salary, and gives to the +state time, labor and money. It is a pleasure to work with such a man. +In 1912 Commissioner Napier won a pitched battle with the makers of +automatic and pump guns, both shotguns and rifles, and debarred all +those weapons from use _in hunting_ in New Jersey unless satisfactorily +reduced to two shots. + +MASSACHUSETTS.--The state of Massachusetts is fortunate in the +possession of a very fine corps of ornithologists, nature lovers, +sportsmen and leading citizens who on all questions affecting wild life +occupy high ground and are not afraid to maintain it. It would be a +pleasure to write an entire chapter on this subject. The record of the +Massachusetts Army of the Defense is both an example and an inspiration +to the people of other states. Not only is the cause of protection +championed by the State Game Commission but it also receives constant +and powerful support from the State Board of Agriculture, which +maintains on its staff Mr. E.H. Forbush as State Ornithologist. The +bird-protection publications of the Board are of great economic value, +and they are also an everlasting credit to the state. The very latest is +a truly great wild-life-protection volume of 607 pages, by Mr. Forbush, +entitled "_Game Birds, Wild-Fowl and Shore Birds_." It is a publication +most damaging to the cause of the Army of Destruction, and I heartily +wish a million copies might be printed and placed in the hands of +lawmakers and protectors. + +The fight last winter and spring for a no-sale-of-game law was the +Gettysburg for Massachusetts. The voice of the People was heard in no +uncertain tones, and the Destroyers were routed all along the line. The +leaders in that struggle on the protection side were E.H. Forbush, +William P. Wharton, Dr. George W. Field, Edward N. Goding, Lyman E. +Hurd, Ralph Holman, Rev. Wm. R. Lord and Salem D. Charles. With such +leaders and such supporters, any wild-life cause can be won, anywhere! + +PENNSYLVANIA.--The case of Pennsylvania is rather peculiar. As yet there +is no large and resistless organized body of real sportsmen to rally to +the support of the State Game Commission in great causes, as is the case +in New York. As a result, with a paltry fund of only $20,000 for annual +maintenance, and much opposition from hunters and farmers, the situation +is far from satisfactory. Fortunately Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, Secretary of +the Commission and chief executive officer, is a man of indomitable +courage and determination. But for this state of mind he would ere this +have given up the fight for the hunter's license law (of one dollar per +year), which has been bitterly opposed by a very aggressive and noisy +group of gunners who do not seem to know that they are grievously +misled. + +Fortunately, Commissioner John M. Phillips, of Pittsburgh is the ardent +supporter of Dr. Kalbfus and a vigorous fighter for justice to wild +life. He devotes to the cause a great amount of time and effort, and in +addition to serving without salary he pays all his campaign expenses out +of his own pocket. His only recompense for all this is the sincere +admiration of his friends, and the consciousness of having done his full +duty toward the wild life and the people of his native state. + +THE STATE AUDUBON SOCIETIES.--It is impossible to estimate the full +value of the influence and work of the State Audubon Societies of the +United States. Thus far these societies exist in thirty-nine states. +From the beginning, their efforts have tended especially toward the +preservation of the non-game birds, and it is well that the song and +other insectivorous birds have thus been specially championed. +Unfortunately, however, if that policy is pursued exclusively, it leaves +154 very important species of game birds practically at the mercy of the +Army of Destruction! It would seem that the time has come when all +Audubon Societies should take up, as a part of their work, active +co-operation in helping to save the game birds from extermination. + + * * * * * + +THE NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS OF NEW YORK CITY + +On January 1, 1895, the United States of America contained, so far as I +am aware, not one organization of national scope which was devoting any +large amount of its resources and activities to the protection of wild +life. At that time the former activities of the A.O.U. Committee on Bird +Protection had lapsed. To-day the city of New York contains six national +organizations, and it is now a great center of nation-wide activities in +behalf of preservation. Furthermore, these activities are steadily +growing, and securing practical results. + +THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY.--In 1895 there was born into the world +a scientific organization having for its second declared object "the +preservation of our native animals." It was the first scientific society +or corporation ever formed, so far as I am aware, having a specifically +declared object of that kind. It owes its existence and its presence in +the field of wild-life conservation to the initiative and persistence of +Mr. Madison Grant and Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn. For sixteen years +these two officers have worked together virtually as one man. It is not +strange to find a sportsman like Mr. Grant promoting the wild-life +cause, but it is a fact well worthy of note that of all the zoologists +of the world, Professor Osborn is the only one of real renown who has +actively and vigorously engaged in this cause, and taken a place in the +front rank of the Defenders. + +Mr. Grant's influence on the protection cause has been strong and +far-reaching,--far more so than the majority of his own friends are +aware. He has promoted important protectionist causes from Alaska to +Louisiana and Newfoundland, and helped to win many important victories. + +THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB.--This organization of big game sportsmen +was founded in 1885, and is the oldest of its kind in the United +States. Its members always have supported the cause of protection, by +law and by the making of game preserves. In all this work Mr. George +Bird Grinnell, for twenty-five years editor of _Forest and Stream_, +has been an important factor. As stated elsewhere, the club's written +and unwritten code of ethics in big-game hunting is very strict. In +course of time a Committee on Game Protection was formed, and it +actively entered that field. + +[Illustration: NOTABLE PROTECTORS OF WILD LIFE (III) +JOSEPH KALBFUS +Chief Game Protector and Secretary, Pennsylvania Board of Game +Commissioners + +JOHN M. PHILLIPS +Member, Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners + +EDWARD A. McILHENNY +Founder of Wild-Fowl Preserves in Louisiana + +CHARLES WILLIS WARD +Founder of Wild-Fowl preserves in Louisiana] + +THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES.--This organization was +founded by William Dutcher, in 1902, and in 1906 it was endowed to the +extent of $322,000 by the bequest of Albert Wilcox. Subsequent +endowments, together with the annual contributions of members and +friends, now give the Association an annual income of $60,000. It +maintains eight widely-separated field agents and lecturers and forty +special game wardens of bird refuges. It maintains Secretary T. Gilbert +Pearson and a number of other good men constantly on the firing-line; +and these forces have achieved many valuable results. After years of +stress and struggle, it now seems almost certain that this organization +will save the two white egrets,--producers of "the white badge of +cruelty,"--to the bird fauna of the United States, as in a similar +manner it has saved the gulls, terns and other sea birds of our lakes +and coast line. + +This splendid organization is one of the monuments to William Dutcher. +More than two years ago he was stricken with paralysis, and now sits in +an invalid's chair at his home in Plainfield, New Jersey. His mind is +clear and his interest in wild-life protection is keen, but he is unable +to speak or to write. While he was active, he was one of the most +resourceful and fearless champions of the cause of the vanishing birds. +To him the farmers of America owe ten times more than they ever will +know, and a thousand times more than they ever will repay, either to him +or to his cause. + +THE CAMP-FIRE CLUB OF AMERICA.--Although founded in 1897, this +organization did not, as an organization, actively enter the field of +protection until 1909. Since that time its work has covered a wide +field, and enlisted the activities of many of its members. In order to +provide a permanent fund for its work, each year the club members pay +special annual dues that are devoted solely to the wild-life cause. The +Committee on Game Protective Legislation and Preserves is a strong, +hard-working body, and it has rendered good service in the lines of +activity named in its title. + +THE AMERICAN GAME PROTECTIVE AND PROPAGATION ASSOCIATION.--This is the +youngest protective organization of national scope, having been +organized in 1911. Its activities are directed by John B. Burnham, for +five years Chief Game Protector of the State of New York, and a man +thoroughly conversant with the business of protection. The organization +is financed chiefly by means of a large annual fund contributed by +several of the largest companies engaged in manufacturing firearms and +ammunition, whose directors feel that the time has come when it is both +wise and necessary to take practical measures to preserve the remnant of +American game. Already the activities of this organization cover a wide +range, and it has been particularly active in enlisting support for the +Weeks bill for the federal protection of migratory birds. + +THE WILD LIFE PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION came into existence in 1910, rather +suddenly, for the purpose of promoting the cause of the Bayne +no-sale-of-game bill, and other measures. It raised the fund that met +the chief expenses of that campaign. Since that time it has taken an +important part in three other hotly contested campaigns in other states, +two of which were successful. + +At the present moment, and throughout the future, these New York +organizations need _large sums of money_ with which to meet the +legitimate expenses of active campaigns for great measures. They need +_some_ money from outside the state of New York! _Too much of the burden +of national campaigning has been and is being left to be borne by the +people of New York City_. This policy is growing monotonous. There is +every reason why Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, +Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston should each year turn $100,000 into +the hands of these well-equipped and well managed national organizations +whose officers know _how to get results_, all over our country. + +Such organizations as these do not exist in other cities; and this is +very unfortunate. New Orleans should be a center of protectionist +activity for the South, San Francisco for the Pacific slope, and Chicago +for the Middle West. Will they not become so? + +TWO INDEPENDENT WORKERS.--At the western edge of the delta of the +Mississippi there have arisen two men who loom up into prominence at an +outpost of the Army of Defense which they themselves have established. +For what they already have done in the creation of wild-fowl preserves +in Louisiana, Edward A. McIlhenny and Charles Willis Ward deserve the +thanks of the American People-at-large. An account of their splendid +activities, and the practical results already secured, will be found in +Chapter XXXVIII, on "Private Game Preserves," and in the story of Marsh +Island. Already the home of these gentlemen, Avery Island, Louisiana, +has become an important center of activity in wild-life protection. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXVII + +HOW TO MAKE A NEW GAME LAW + + +THE LINE OF ACTION.--In the face of a calamity, the saving of life and +property and the check of fire and flood depends upon good judgment and +quick action at the critical moment. In emergencies, the slow and +academic method will not serve. It is the run, the jump, the short cut +and the violent method that saves life. If a woman is drowning, the +sensible man does not wait for an introduction to her; nor does he run +to an acquaintance to borrow his boat, or stop to put on a collar and +necktie. He seizes the first boat that he can find, and breaks its lock +and chain if necessary; or, failing that, he plunges in without one. +When he reaches the imperiled party, he doesn't say, "Will you kindly +let me save you?" He seizes her by the hair, and tries to keep her head +above water, without ceremony. + +That is to-day the condition and the treatment necessary regarding our +remnant of wild life. We are compelled to act quickly, directly, and +even violently at times, if we save anything worth while. + +There is _no time_ to depend upon the academic "education" of the public +by the seductive illustrated lecture on birds, or the article about the +habits of mammals. Those methods are all well enough in their places, +but we must not depend upon them in emergencies like the present, for +they do not pass laws or arrest lawbreakers. Give the public all of that +material that you can supply, and the more the better, but for heaven's +sake _do not_ depend upon the spread of bird-lore "education" to stop +the work of the game-hogs! If you do, all the wild life will be +destroyed while the educational work is going on. + +Often you can educate a gunner, and make him a protectionist; but you +never can do it by showing him pictures of birds. He needs strong +reasoning and exhortation, not bird-lore. To-day it is necessary to +employ the most direct, forceful and at times even rude methods. Where +slaughtering cannot be stopped by moral suasion, it must be stopped with +a hickory club. The thing to do is to _get results, and get them +quickly, before it is too late_! + +If the business section of a town is burning down, no one goes into the +suburbs to lecture on architecture, or exhibit pictures of fire +apparatus. The rush is for water, fire-engines, red-blooded men and +dynamite. When the birds all around you are being shot to death by +poachers who fear not God nor regard man, and you need help to stop it +on the instant, run to your neighbor's house, and ring his bell. If he +fails to hear the bell, pound on his door until you jar the whole house. + +When he comes down half-dressed, blinking and rubbing his eyes, shout +at him: + +"Come out! Your birds are all being shot to pieces!" + +"Are they?" he will say. "But what can _I_ do about it? I can't help it! +I'm no game warden." + +"Put on your clothes, get your shot-gun and come out and drive off the +killing gang." + +"But what good will that do? They will come back again." + +"Not if we do our duty. We must have them arrested, and appear against +them in court." + +"But," says the sleepy citizen, "That won't do much good. The laws are +not strict enough; and besides, they are not well enforced, even as they +are!" + +"Then let's make it our business to see that the present laws are +enforced, and go to our members of the legislature, and have them pass +some stronger laws." + +And this brings me to a very important subject: + + * * * * * + +HOW TO PASS A NEW LAW + +We venture to say that the average citizen little realizes how possible +it is to secure the passage of a law that is clearly necessary for the +better protection of wild life and forests. Because of this, and of the +necessity for exact knowledge, I shall here set down specific +instructions on this subject. + +THE PERSONAL EQUATION.--One determined man can secure the passage of a +good law, provided he is reasonably intelligent and sufficiently +determined. The man who starts a movement must make up his mind to +follow it up, direct its fortunes, stay with it when the storms of +opposition beat upon it, and never give up until it is signed by the +governor. He must be willing to sacrifice his personal convenience, many +of his pleasures, and work when his friends are asleep or pleasuring. + +In working for the protection of wild life there is one mighty and +unfailing source of consolation. It is this: + +_Your cause always gains in strength, and the cause of the destroyers +always loses strength!_ + +THE CHOICE OF A CAUSE.--Be broad-minded. Do not rush to the legislature +with a demand for a law to permit the taking of bull-heads with +June-bugs in the creeks of your township, or to give your county a +specially early open season on quail in order that your boy may try his +new gun before he goes back to college. _Don't propose any "local" +legislation_; for in progressive states, local game legislation is +coming strongly into disfavor,--just as it should! Legislate for your +whole state, and nothing less. + +Do not bother your legislature with a trivial bill. Choose a cause that +is worth while to grown men, and it shall be well with you. It takes no +more time to pass a large bill than a small one; and big men prefer to +be identified with big measures. + +Before you have a bill drawn, advise with men whose opinions are worth +having. If the end you have in mind is a great and good one, _go ahead_, +whether you secure support in advance or not. If the needs of the hour +clearly demand the measure, _go ahead_, even though you start absolutely +alone. A good measure never goes far without attracting company. + +DRAFTING A BILL.--As a rule, the members of a legislative body do not +have time to draft bills on subjects that are new or strange to them. A +short bill is easily prepared by your own representative; but a lengthy +bill, covering a serious reform, is a different matter. Hire a lawyer to +draft the bill for you. A really good lawyer will not charge much for +drafting a bill that is to benefit the public, and grind no private axe; +but if the bill is long, and requires long study, even the good citizen +must charge something. + +Your bill must fully recognize existing laws. It must be either +prohibitory or permissive; which means that it can say what shall not be +done, or else that which may be done according to law, all other acts +being forbidden. Your lawyer must decide which form is best. For my +part, I greatly prefer the prohibitive form, as being the stronger and +more impressive of the two. I think it is the province of the law _to +forbid_ the destruction of wild life and forests, under penalties. + +PENALTIES.--Every law should provide a penalty for its infringement; but +the penalty should not be out of all proportion to the offense. It is +just as unwise to impose a fine of one dollar for killing song-birds for +food as it is to provide for a fine of three hundred dollars. A fine +that is too small fails to impress the prisoner, and it begets contempt +for the law and the courts! A fine that is altogether too high is apt to +be set aside by the court as "excessive." In my opinion, the best fines +for wild life slaughter would be as follows: + +Shooting, netting or trapping song-birds, and other non-game + birds, each bird $5 to $25 +Killing game birds out of season, each bird 10 to 50 +Selling game contrary to law, each offense 100 to 200 +Dynamiting fish 100 to 200 +Seining or netting game fishes 50 to 200 +Shooting birds with unfair weapons 10 to 100 +Killing an egret, Carolina parakeet or whooping crane 100 to 200 +Killing a mountain sheep or antelope anywhere in the U.S. 500 +Killing an elk contrary to law 50 +Killing a female deer, or fawn without horns, each offense 50 +Trapping a grizzly bear for its skin 100 + +For killing a man "by mistake," the fine should be $500, payable in five +annual instalments, to the court, for the family of the victim. + +Whenever fines are not paid, the convicted party should be sentenced to +imprisonment at hard labor at the rate of one-half day for each dollar +of the fine imposed; and a sentence at hard labor should be the _first +option of the court_! Many a rich and reckless poacher snaps his fingers +at fines; but a sentence to hard labor would strike terror to the heart +of the most brazen of them. To all such men, "labor" is the twin terror +to "death." + +THE INTRODUCTION OF A BILL.--Much wisdom is called for in the selection +of legislative champions for wild-life bills. It is possible to state +here only the leading principles involved. + +Of course it is best to look for an introducer within the political +party that is in the majority. A man who has many important bills on his +hands is bound to give his best attention to his own pet measures; and +it is best to choose a man who is not already overloaded. If a man has a +host of enemies, pass him by. By all means choose a man whose high +character and good name will be a tower of strength to your cause; and +if necessary, _wait for him to make up his mind_. Mr. Lawrence W. +Trowbridge waited three long and anxious weeks in the hope that Hon. +George A. Blauvelt would finally consent to champion the Bayne bill in +the New York Assembly. At last Mr. Blauvelt consented to take it up; and +the time spent in waiting for his decision was a grand investment! He +was the Man of all men to pilot that bill through the Assembly. + +Very often the "quiet man" of a legislative body is a good man to +champion a new and drastic measure. The quiet man who makes up his mind +to take hold of "a hard bill to pass" often astonishes the natives by +his ability to get results. Representative John F. Lacey, of Iowa, made +his name a household word all over the United States by the quiet, +steady, tireless and finally resistless energy with which for three long +years in Congress he worked for "the Lacey bird bill." For years his +colleagues laughed at him, and cheerfully voted down his bill. But he +persisted. His cause steadily gained in strength; and his final triumph +laid the axe at the root of a thousand crimes against wild life, +throughout the length and breadth of this land. He rendered the people +of America a service that entitles him to our everlasting gratitude and +remembrance. + +AFTER THE INTRODUCTION OF A BILL.--As soon as a bill is introduced it is +referred to a committee, to be examined and reported upon. If there is +opposition,--and to every bill that really does something worth while +there always is opposition,--then there is a "hearing." The committee +appoints a day, when the friends and foes of the bill assemble, and +express their views. + +The week preceding a hearing is your busy week. You must plan your +campaign, down to the smallest details. Pick the men whom you wish to +have speak (for ten minutes each) on the various parts of your bill, and +divide the topics and the time between them. Call upon the friends of +the bill in various portions of the state to attend and "say something." +Go up with a strong body of fine men. _Have as many organizations +represented as you possibly can_! The "organizations" represent the +great mass of people, and the voters also. + +When you reach the hearing, hand to your bill's champion, who will be +floor manager for your side, a clear and concise list of your speakers, +carefully arranged and stating who's who. That being done, you have only +to fill your own ten minutes and afterward enjoy the occasion. + +THE VALUE OF ACCURACY.--It is unnecessary to say, in working for a +bill,--_always be sure of your facts_. Never let your opponents catch +you tripping in accuracy of statement. If you make one serious error, +your enemies will turn it against you to the utmost. Better understate +facts than overstate them. This shrewd old world quickly recognizes the +careful, conservative man whose testimony is so true and so rock-founded +that no assaults can shake it. Legislators are quick to rely on the +words and opinions of the man who can safely be trusted. If your enemies +try to overwhelm you with extravagant statements, that are unfair to +your cause, the chances are that the men who judge between you will +recognize them by their ear-marks, and discount them accordingly. + +WORK WITH MEMBERS.--Sometimes a subject that is put before a legislative +body is so new, and the thing proposed is so drastic, it becomes +necessary to take measures to place a great many facts before each +member of the body. Under such circumstances the member naturally +desires to be "shown." The cleanest and finest campaigning for a reform +measure is that in which both sides deal with facts, rather than with +personal importunities. With a good cause in hand, it is a pleasure to +prepare concise statements of facts and conditions from which a +legislator may draw logical conclusions. Whenever a bill can be won +through in that way, game protection work becomes a delight. + +In all important new measures affecting the rights and the property of +the whole people of a state, the conscientious legislator wishes to know +how the people feel about it. When you tell him that "The wild life +belongs to the whole people of the state; and this bill is in their +interest," he needs to know for certain that your proposition is true. +Sometimes there is only one way in which he can be fully convinced; and +that is by the people of his district. + +Then it becomes necessary to send out a general alarm, and call upon the +People to write to their representatives and express _their_ views. Give +them, in printed matter, the _latest facts_ in the case, forecast the +future as you think it should be forecast, then demand that the men and +women who are interested do write to their senators and assemblyman, and +express _their_ views, in _their own way!_ Let there be no "machine +letters" sent out, all ready for signature; for such letters are a waste +of effort, and belong in the waste baskets to which they are quickly +consigned. The members of legislative bodies hate them, and rightly, +too. They want to hear from men who can think for themselves, give +reasons of their own, and express their desires in their own way. + +THE PRESS AND THE NEWSPAPERS.--It is impossible to overestimate the +influence of the newspapers and the periodical press in general, in the +protection of wild life. But for their sympathy, their support and their +independent assaults upon the Army of Destruction, our game species +would nearly all of them have been annihilated, long ago. Editors are +sympathetic and responsive good-citizens, as keenly sensitive regarding +their duties as any of the rest of us are, and from the earliest times +of protection they have been on the firing line, helping to beat back +the destroyers. It is indeed a rare sight to see an editor giving aid, +comfort or advice to the enemy. I can not recall more than a score of +articles that I have seen or heard of during thirty years in this field +that opposed the cause of wild life protection.[K] At this moment, for +instance, I bear in particularly grateful remembrance the active +campaign work of the following newspapers: + +[Footnote K: Just one hour after the above paragraph was written, a long +telegram from San Francisco advised me that the _Examiner_ of that city +had begun an active and aggressive campaign for the sale of all kinds of +game.] + +The New York Times +The New York Tribune +The New York Herald +The New York Globe +The New York Mail and Express +The New York World +The New York Sun +The Springfield (Mass.) Republican +The Chicago Inter-Ocean +The San Francisco Call +The Rochester Union and Advertiser +The Victoria Colonist +The Brooklyn Standard-Union +The New York Evening Post +The New York Press +The Buffalo News +The Minneapolis Journal +The Pittsburgh Index-Appeal +The St. Louis Globe-Democrat +The Philadelphia North American +The Utica Observer +The Washington Star. + +These magazines have done good service in the cause; and some of them +have spent many years on the firing line: + +Forest and Stream +The American Field +Field and Stream +Recreation (old and new) +Rod and Gun in Canada +In the Open +Sports Afield +Western Field +Outdoor Life +Shield's Magazine +Sportsman's Review +Outing +Collier's Weekly +The Independent +Country Life +Outdoor World +Bird Lore + +In campaigning, always appeal for the help of the newspapers. If there +are no private axes to grind, they help generously. The weekly journals +are of value, but the monthlies are printed so long in advance of their +dates of issue that they seldom move fast enough to keep abreast of the +procession. Their mechanical limitations are many and serious. + +Every newspaper likes "exclusive" news, letters and articles. On that +basis they will print about all the live matter that you can furnish. +But at the same time, the important news of the campaign _must_ be sent +to the press broadcast, in the form of printed slips all ready for the +foreman. Many of these are never used, but the others are; and it pays. +The news in every slip must be vouched for by the sender, or it will not +be used. Often it will appear as a letter signed by the sender; which is +all right, only the news is most effective when printed without a +signature. Do not count on the Associated Press; because its peculiar +demands render it almost impossible for it to be utilized in game +protection work. + +HOW TO MEET OPPOSITION.--There is no rule for the handling of opposition +that is fair and open. For opposition that is unfair and under-handed, +there is one powerful weapon,--Publicity. The American people love fair +play, and there is nothing so fatal to an unfair fighter as a +searchlight, turned full on him without fear and without mercy. If it is +reliably and persistently reported that some citizen who ought to be on +the right side has for some dark reason become active on the wrong side, +print the reports in a large newspaper, and ask him publicly if they are +true. If the reports are false, he can quickly come out in a letter and +say so, and end the matter. If they are true, the public will soon know +it, and act accordingly. + +ETERNAL VIGILANCE.--The progress of a bill must be watched by some +competent person from day to day, and finally from hour to hour. I know +one bill that was saved from defeat only because its promoter dragged +it, almost by force, out of the hands of a tardy clerk, and accompanied +it in person to the senate, where it was passed in the last hour of a +session. + +A bill should not be left to a long slumber in the drawer of a +committee. Such delays nearly always are dangerous. + +SIGNING THE BILL.--The promoter of a great measure always seeks the +sympathy of the Chief Executive early in the day; but he should not make +the diplomatic error of trying to exact promises or pledges in advance. +Good judges do not give away their decisions in advance. + +Because a Chief Executive remarks after a bill has been sent to him for +signing that he "cannot approve it," it is no reason to give up in +despair. Many an executive approval has been snatched at the last +moment, as a brand from the burning. _Ask for a hearing before the bill +is acted upon_. At the hearing, and before it and after, the People who +wish the bill to become a law must express themselves,--by letter, by +telegram, and by appeal in person. If the governor becomes convinced +that an _overwhelming majority_ of his people desire him to sign the +bill, _he will sign it_, even though personally he is opposed to it! The +hall mark of a good governor is a spirit of obedience to the will of the +great majority. + +Not until your bill has been signed by the governor are you ready to go +home with a quiet mind, take off your armor, and put your ear to the +telephone while you hear some one say as your only reward,--"Well done, +good and faithful servant." + +AS TO "CREDIT."--Do not count upon receiving any credit for what you do +in the cause of game protection, outside the narrow circle of your own +family and your nearest friends. This is a busy world; and the human +mind flits like a restless bird from one subject to another. The men who +win campaigns are forgotten by the general public, in a few hours! There +is nothing more fickle or more fleeting than the bubble called "popular +applause." Judging by the experiences of great men, I should say that it +has no substance, whatever. The most valuable reward of the man who +fights in a great cause, and helps to win victories, is the profound +satisfaction that comes to every good citizen who bravely does his whole +duty, and leaves the world better than he found it, without the +slightest thought of gallery applause. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +NEW LAWS NEEDED: A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES + + +The principles of wild-life protection and encouragement are now so +firmly established as to leave little room for argument regarding their +value. When they are set forth before the people of any given state, the +only question is of willingness to do the right thing; of duty or a +defiance of duty; of good citizenship or the reign of selfishness. Men +who do not wish to do their duty purposely befog great issues by noisy +talk and tiresome academic discussions of trivial details; and such men +are the curse and scourge of reform movements. + +There are a very few persons who foolishly assert that "there are too +many game laws!" It is entirely wrong for any person to make such a +statement, for it tends to promote harmful error. The fact that our laws +are _too lenient_, or are not fully enforced, is no excuse for +denouncing their purposes. We have all along been too timid, too self +indulgent, and too much afraid of hurting the feelings of the game-hogs. + +Give me the power to make the game laws of any state or province and I +will guarantee to save the _non-migratory_ wild life of that region. I +will not only make adequate laws, but I will also provide means, men and +penalties by which _they will be enforced_! It is easy and simple, for +men who are not afraid. + +I have been at considerable pains to analyze the game laws of each +state, ascertain their shortcomings, and give a list of the faults that +need correction by new legislation. It has required no profound wisdom +to do this, because the principles involved are so plain that any +intelligent schoolboy fifteen years old can master them in one hour. I +have performed this task hopefully, in the belief that in many states +the real issues have not been plainly put before the people. Hereafter +no state shall destroy its wild life through ignorance of the laws that +would preserve it. + +Let no man say that "it is too late to save the wild life"; for +excepting the dead-and-gone species, that is not true. Let no man say +that "we can not save the wild life by law"; for that is not true, +either. As long as laws are lax, even law-abiding people will take +advantage of them. + +There are millions of men who think it is _right to kill all the game +that the law allows_! There are thousands of women who think it is right +to wear aigrettes as long as the law permits their sale! And yet, if we +are resolute and diligent there is plenty of hope for the future. During +the past three years, to go no farther back, we have seen the whole +state of New York swept clean of the traffic in native wild game by the +Bayne law, and of the traffic in wild birds' plumage on women's hats +through the Dutcher law. To-day, in this state, we find ninety-nine +women out of every one hundred wearing flowers, and laces, and plush and +satin on their hats, instead of the heads, bodies and feathers of wild +birds that were the regular thing until three years ago. The change has +been a powerful commentary on the value of good laws for the protection +of wild life. The Dutcher law has caused the plumage of wild birds +_almost wholly to disappear from the State of New York_! + +We shall here point out the plain duty of each state; and then it will +be up to them, individually, to decide whether they can stand the +blood-test or not. + +A state or a nation can be ungentlemanly, unfair or mean, just the same +as an individual. No state has a right to maintain shambles for the +slaughter of migratory game or song birds that belong in part to sister +states. _Every state holds its migratory bird life in trust, for the +benefit of the people of the nation at large_. A state is just as +responsible for its treatment of wild life as any individual; and it is +time to open books of account. + +It is robbery, as well as murder, for any southern state to slaughter +the robins of the northern states, where no robins may be killed. _No +southern gentleman can permit such doings, after the crime has been +pointed out to him_! In the North, the men who are caught shooting +robins are instantly haled to court, and fined or imprisoned. If we of +the North should kill for food the mockingbirds that visit us, the +people of the South instantly would brand us as monsters of greed and +meanness; and they would be perfectly justified in so doing. + +Let us at least be honest in "agreeing upon a state of fact," as the +lawyers say, whether we act sensibly and mercifully or not. Just so long +as there remains in this land of ours a fauna of game birds, and the +gunners of one-half the states are allowed to dictate the laws for the +slaughter of it, just so long will our present protection remain utterly +absurd and criminally inadequate. Look at these absurdities: + +New York, New Jersey and many other northern states rigidly prohibit the +late winter and spring shooting of waterfowl and shore birds, and limit +the bag; North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and other southern +states not only slaughter wild fowl and shore birds all winter and +spring, without limit, but several of them kill certain non-game birds +besides! + +All the northern states protect the robin, for the good that it does; +but in North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and some other +southern states, thousands of robins are shot for food. Minnesota has +stopped spring shooting; but her sister state on the south, Iowa, +obstinately refuses to do so. + +THE UNITED STATES AT LARGE.--There are two great measures that should be +carried into effect by the governing body of the United States. One is +the enactment of a law providing federal protection for all migratory +birds; and Canada and Mexico should be induced to join with the United +States _in an international treaty to that effect_. + +The other necessary measure is the passage of a joint resolution of +Congress _declaring every national forest and forest reserve also a game +preserve and general sanctuary for wild life_, in which there shall be +no hunting or killing of wild creatures of any kind save predatory +animals. + +The tendency of the times,--and the universal slaughter of wild life on +this continent,--point straight as an arrow flies in that direction. +Soon or late, we have GOT to come to it! If Congress does not take the +initiatory steps, _the People will_! Such a consummation is necessary; +it is justified by common sense and the inexorable logic of the +situation, and when done it will be right. + +The time was when the friends of wild life did not dare speak of this +subject in Washington save in whispers. That was in the days when the +Appalachian Park bill could not be passed, and when there were angry +mutterings and even curses leveled against Gifford Pinchot and the +Forestry Bureau because so many national forests were being set aside. +That was in the days when a few western sheep-men thought that they +owned the whole Rocky Mountains without having bought them. To-day, the +American people have grown accustomed to the idea of having the +resources of the public domain saved and conserved for the benefit of +the millions rather than lavished upon a favored few. To-day it is +perfectly safe to talk about making every national forest a first class +wild-life sanctuary, and it is up to the People to request Congress to +take that action, at once. + +The Weeks bill, the Anthony bill, and the McLean bill now before +Congress to provide federal protection for migratory birds are +practically identical. All three are good bills; and it matters not +which one finally becomes a law. Whichever is put forward finally for +passage should provide federal protection for _all_ migratory birds that +ever enter the United States, Alaska, or Porto Rico. Why favor the duck +and leave the robin to its fate, or vice versa? It will be just as easy +to do this task by wholes as by halves. The time to hesitate, to feel +timid, or to be afraid of the other fellow has gone by. To-day the +millions of honest and serious-minded Americans are ready to back the +most thorough and most drastic policy, because that has become the most +necessary and the best policy. Furthermore, it is the only policy worthy +of serious consideration. + +Some of our states have done rather well in wild-life +protection,--considering the absurdity of our national policy as a +whole; others have done indifferently, and some have been and still are +very remiss. Here is where we intend to hew to the line, and without +fear or favor set forth the standing of each state according to its +merits or its lack of merits. In a life-or-death matter such as now +confronts us regarding the wild life of our country, it is time to speak +plainly. + +In the following call of the States, the glaring deficiencies in state +game laws will be set forth in detail, in order that the sore spots may +be exposed to the view of the doctors. Conditions will be represented +_as they exist at the end of the summer of 1912_, and it is to be hoped +that these faults soon may be corrected. + + * * * * * + +A ROLL-CALL OF THE STATES + + +ALABAMA: + +It is a satisfaction to be able to open this list with the name of a +state that is entitled to a medal of honor for game protection. In this +particular field of progress and enlightenment, the state of Alabama is +the pioneer state of the South. New York now occupies a similar position +in the North; but New York is an older state, and stronger in her +general love of nature. The attainment of advanced protection in any +southern state is a very different matter from what it is in the North. + +Five years ago Alabama set her house in order. The slaughter of song and +insectivorous birds has been so far stopped as any Southern state can +stop it unaided by the federal government, and those birds are +recognized and treated as the farmers' best friends. The absurd system +of attempted protection through county laws has been abandoned. The sale +of game has been stopped, and since that stoppage, quail have increased. +The trapping and export of game have ceased, and wild turkeys and +woodcock are now increasing. It is unlawful to kill or capture non-game +birds. Bag limits have been imposed, but _the bag limit laws are all too +liberal, and should be reduced_. A hunter's license law is in force, and +the department of game and fish is self-supporting. Night hunting is +prohibited, and female deer may not be killed. A comprehensive warden +system has been provided. As yet, however, Alabama + + Permits the shooting of waterfowl to March 15, which is too late, by + one and one-half months. + + The use of automatic and pump guns in hunting should be suppressed. + + There should be a limit of two deer per year, and killing should be + restricted to deer with horns not less than three inches long. + +The story of game protection in Alabama began in 1907. Prior to that +time, the slaughter of wild life was very great. It is known that +enormous numbers of quail were annually killed by negro farm hands, who +hunted at least three days each week, regardless of work to be done. The +slaughter of quail, wild ducks, woodcock, doves, robins and snipe was +described as "nauseating." + +The change that has been wrought since 1907 is chiefly due to the +efforts of one man. Alabama owes her standing to-day to the admirable +qualities of John H. Wallace, Jr., her Game and Fish Commissioner, +author of the State's policy in wild-life conservation. His +broad-mindedness, his judgment and his success make him a living object +lesson of the power of one determined man in the conservation of wild +life. + +Commissioner Wallace is an ardent supporter of the Weeks and Anthony +bills for federal protection, and as a lawyer of the South, he believes +there is "no constitutional inhibition against federal legislation for +the protection of birds of passage." + +ALASKA: + + The sale of game must be absolutely prohibited, forever. + + The slaughter of big game by Indians, miners and prospectors should + now be limited, and strictly regulated by law, on rational lines. + + The slaughter of walrus for ivory and hides, both in the Alaskan and + Russian waters of Bering Sea, should be totally prohibited for ten + years. + + The game-warden service should be quadrupled in number of wardens, + and in general effectiveness. + + The game-warden service should be supplied with two sea-going + vessels, independent for patrol work. + + The bag limit on hoofed game is 50 per cent too large. + + To accomplish these ends, Congress should annually appropriate + $50,000 for the protection of wild life in Alaska. The present + amount, $15,000, is very inadequate, and the great wild-life + interests at stake amply justify the larger amount. + +It is now time for Alaska to make substantial advances in the protection +of her wild life. It is no longer right nor just for Indians, miners and +prospectors to be permitted by law to kill all the big game they please, +whenever they please. The indolent and often extortionate Indians of +Alaska,--who now demand "big money" for every service they perform,--are +not so valuable as citizens that they should be permitted to feed +riotously upon _moose, and cow moose at that_, until that species is +exterminated. Miners and prospectors are valuable citizens, but that is +no reason why they should forever be allowed to live upon wild game, any +more than that hungry prospectors in our Rocky Mountains should be +allowed to kill cattle. + +Alaska and its resources do not belong to the very few people from "the +States" who have gone there to make their fortunes and get out again as +quickly as possible. The quicker the public mind north of Wrangel is +disabused of that idea, the better. Its game belongs to the people of +this nation of ninety-odd millions, and it is a safe prediction that the +ninety millions will not continue to be willing that the miners, +prospectors and Indians shall continue to live on moose meat and caribou +tongues in order to save bacon and beef. + +Mr. Frank E. Kleinschmidt said to me that at Sand Point, Alaska, he saw +eighty-two caribou tongues brought in by an Indian, and sold at fifty +cents each, while (according to all accounts) most of the bodies of the +slaughtered animals became a loss. + +Governor Clark has recommended in his annual report for 1911 that the +protection now enjoyed by the giant brown bear _(Ursus middendorffi_) on +Kadiak Island be removed, for the benefit of settlers _and their stock_! +It goes without saying that no one proposes that predatory wild animals +shall be permitted to retard the development of any wild country that is +required by civilized man. All we ask in this matter is that, as in the +case of the once-proposed slaughter of sea-lions on the Pacific Coast, +_the necessity of the proposed slaughter shall be fully and adequately +proven before the killing begins_! It is fair to insist that the +sea-lion episode shall not be repeated on Kadiak Island. + +The big game of Alaska can not long endure against a "limit" of two +moose, three mountain sheep, three caribou and six deer per year, per +man. At that rate the moose and sheep soon will disappear. The limit +should be one moose, two sheep, two caribou and four deer,--unless we +are willing to dedicate the Alaskan big game to Commercialism. No +sportsman needs a larger bag than the revised schedule; and +commercialists should not be allowed to kill big game anywhere, at any +time. + +Let us bear in mind the fact that Alaska is being throughly "opened up" +to the Man with a Gun. Here is the latest evidence, from the new +circular of an outfitter: + +"I will have plenty of good horses, and good, competent and courteous +guides; also other camp attendants if desired. My intention is to +establish permanently at that point, as I believe it is the gateway to +the finest _and about the last_ of the great game countries of North +America." + +The road is open; the pack-train is ready; the guides are waiting. Go on +and slay the Remnant! + +ARIZONA: + + The band-tailed pigeons and all non-game birds should immediately be + given protection; and a salaried warden system should be established + under a Commissioner whose term is not less than four years. + + The use of automatic and pump guns, in hunting, should be + prohibited. + + Spring shooting should be prohibited. + +Arizona has good reason to be proud of her up-to-date position in the +ranks of the best game-protecting states. No other state or territory of +her age ever has made so good a showing of protective laws. The +enactment of laws to cover the points mentioned above would leave little +to be desired in Arizona. That state has a bird fauna well worth +protecting, and game wardens are extremely necessary. + +ARKANSAS: + + The enforcement of game laws should be placed in charge of a + salaried commissioner. + + Spring shooting of wildfowl should be stopped at once. + + A reasonable close season should be provided for water fowl, and + swans should be protected throughout the year. + + A bag-limit law should be enacted. + + A force of game wardens, salaried and unsalaried, should at once be + created. + + The killing of female deer and the hounding of deer, should be + stopped. + + No buck deer should be shot, unless horns three inches long are seen + before firing. + + A hunter's license law is necessary; and the fees should go to the + support of the game protection department. + + The local exemptions in favor of market hunters in Mississippi + county should be repealed. + +It appears that in Arkansas the laws for the protection and increase of +wild life are by no means up to the mark. At this moment, Arkansas is +next to Florida, the rearmost of all our states in wild-life protection. +Awake, Arkansas! Consider the peril that threatens your fauna. The Sunk +Lands, in your northeastern corner along the St. Francis River, are the +greatest wild-fowl refuge anywhere in the Mississippi Valley between the +Gulf Coast of Louisiana and the breeding-grounds of Minnesota. A duty to +the nation devolves upon you, to protect the migratory waterfowl that +visit your great bird refuge from the automatic and pump guns of the +pothunters who shoot for northern markets, and kill all that they can +kill. _Protect those Sunken Lands_! Confer a boon on all the people of +the Mississippi Valley by making that region a bird refuge in fact as +well as in name. + +Heretofore, you have permitted hired market gunners from outside your +borders to slaughter the wild-fowl of your Sunk Lands literally by +millions, and ship them to northern markets, with very little benefit to +your people. It is time for that slaughter to cease. Don't maintain a +duck and goose shambles in Mississippi County, year after year, as North +Carolina does! Do unto other states as you would have other states do +unto you. _Do not_ be afraid to pass nine good laws in one act. Clear +your record in the Family of States, and save your fauna before it is +too late. It is not fair for you to permit the slaughter of the +insectivorous birds that are like the blood of life to the farmer and +fruit grower. + +CALIFORNIA: + + The sale of all wild game should be forever prohibited. + + The use of automatic and pump shotguns, in hunting, should be + prohibited. + + The killing of pigeons and doves as "game" and "food" should be + stopped. + + The sage grouse and every other species of bird threatened with + extinction should be given ten year close seasons. + + The mule deer (if any remain) and the Columbian black-tailed deer in + the southern counties should be accorded a ten-year close season. + + A large state game preserve should be created immediately, on or + near Mount Shasta and abundantly stocked with nucleus herds of + antelope, black-tailed deer, bison and elk. + + A suitable preserve in the southern part of the state should be set + aside for the dwarf elk. + +As game laws are generally regarded, California has on her books a +series that look rather good to the eye, but which are capable of +considerable improvement. All along the line, the birds and quadrupeds +of the Golden State are vanishing! Under that heading, a vigorous +chapter could be written; but space forbids its development here. Just +fancy laws that permit gunning and hunting with dogs, from August until +January--one-half the entire year! Think of the nesting birds that are +disturbed or killed by dogs and gunners after other birds! + +California's wild ducks and geese have been slaughtered to an extent +almost beyond belief. The splendid sage grouse and the sharp-tailed +grouse are greatly reduced in numbers. Of her hundreds of thousands of +antelope, once the cheapest game in the market, scarcely "a trace" +remains. Her mountain sheep and mule deer are almost extinct. Her +grizzly bears are gone! + +The most terrible slaughter ever recorded for automatic guns occurred +in Glenn County, Cal., on Feb. 5, 1906, when two men (whose story was +published in _Outdoor Life_, xvii, p. 371, April, 1906), killed 450 +geese in one day, and actually bagged 218 of them in _one hour_! + +Every person who has paid attention to game protection on the Pacific +coast well knows that during the past eight years or more, the work of +game protection in California has been in a state of frequent turmoil. +At times the lack of harmony between the State Fish and Game Commission +and the sportsmen of the state has been damaging to the interests of +wild life, and deplorable. In the case of Warden Welch, in Santa Cruz +County, pernicious politics came near robbing the state of a splendid +warden, but the courts finally overthrew the overthrowers of Mr. Welch, +and reinstated him. + +The fish and game commissioners of any state should be broad-minded, +non-partisan, strictly honest and sincere. So long as they possess these +qualities, they deserve and should have the earnest and aggressive +support of all sportsmen and all lovers of wild life. The remnant of +wild life is entitled to a square deal, and harmony in the camp of its +friends. Fortunately California has an excellent force of salaried game +wardens (82 in all) and 577 volunteer wardens serving without salary. + +COLORADO: + + The State of Colorado should instantly stop the sale of native wild + game to be used as food. + + It should stop all late winter and spring shooting of native wild + birds. + + It should give the sage grouse, pinnated grouse and all shore birds + a ten year close season, remove the dove from the list of game + birds, and give it a permanent close season. + + It should remove the crane and the swan from the list of game birds. + +In twenty-five short years we have seen in Colorado a waste of wild life +and the destruction of a living inheritance that has few parallels in +history. Possibly the people of Colorado are satisfied with the +residuum; but some outsiders regard all Rocky Mountain shambles with a +feeling of horror. + +A brief quarter-century ago, Colorado was a zoological park of grand +scenery and big game. The scenery remains, but of the great wild herds, +only samples are left, and of some species not even that. + +The last bison of Colorado were exterminated in Lost Park by scoundrels +calling themselves "taxidermists," in 1897. Of the 200,000 mule deer +that inhabited Routt County and other portions of Colorado, not enough +now remain to make deer hunting interesting. A perpetual close season +was put on mountain sheep just in time to save a dozen small flocks as +seed stock. Those flocks have been permitted to live, and they have bred +until now there are perhaps 3,500 sheep in the state. Of elk, only a +remnant is left, now protected for fifteen years. + +The grizzly bear is so thoroughly gone that one is seen only by a rare +accident; but black bears and pumas are sufficiently numerous to afford +fair sport, provided the hunter has a fine outfit of dogs, horses and +guides. Of prong-horned antelope, several bands remain, but it is +reported that they are steadily diminishing. The herds and herders of +domestic sheep are blamed for the decrease, and I have no doubt they +deserve it. The sheep and their champions are the implacable enemies of +all wild game, and before them the game vanishes, everywhere. + +The lawmakers of Colorado have tried hard to provide adequate statutes +for the protection of the wild life of the state. In fact, I think that +no state has put forth greater or more elaborate efforts in that +direction. For example, in 1899, under the leadership of Judge D.C. +Beaman of Denver, Colorado initiated the "more game movement," by +enacting a very elaborate law providing for the establishment of private +game preserves and farms for the breeding of game under state license, +and the tagging and sale of preserve-bred game under state supervision. + +[Illustration: BAND-TAILED PIGEON +Often Mistaken for the Passenger Pigeon. The rapid Slaughter +of this Species has Alarmed the Ornithologists of California, +who now fear its Extinction] + +The history of game destruction in Colorado is a repetition of the old, +old story,--plenty of laws, but a hundred times too many hunters, +killing the game both according to law and contrary to it, and doing it +five times as fast as the game could breed. That combination can safely +be warranted to wipe out the wild life of any country in the world, and +accomplish it right swiftly. + +As a big-game country, Colorado is distinctly out of the running. Her +people are too lawless, and her frontiersmen are, in the main, far too +selfish to look upon plenteous game without going after it. Some of +these days, a new call of the wild will arise in Colorado, demanding an +open season on mountain sheep. Those who demand it will say, "What harm +will it do to kill a few surplus bucks? It will improve the breed, and +make the herds increase faster!" + +By all means, have an "open season" on the Colorado big-horn and the +British Columbia elk. It will "do them good." The excitement of ram +slaughter will be good for the females, will it not? Of course, they +will breed faster after that,--with all the big rams dead. Any "surplus" +wild life is a public nuisance, and should promptly be shot to pieces. + +In Colorado there is some desire that Estes Park should be acquired as a +national park, and maintained by the government; but the strong reasons +for this have not yet appeared. As yet we have not heard any reason why +the State of Colorado should not herself take it and make of it a state +park and game preserve. If done, it could be offered as a partial +atonement for her wastefulness in throwing away her inheritance of grand +game. + +Colorado has work to do in the preservation of her remnant of bird life. +In several respects she is behind the times. The present is no time to +hesitate, or to ask the gunners what _they_ wish to have done about new +laws for the saving of the remnant of game. The dictates of common sense +are plain, and inexorable. Let the lawmakers do their whole duty by the +remnant of wild life, whether the game killers like it or not. + +_The Curse of Domestic Sheep Upon Game and Cattle_.--Much has been said +in print and out of print regarding the extent to which domestic sheep +have destroyed the cattle ranges and incidentally many game ranges of +the West; but the half hath not been told. The American people as a +whole do not realize that the domestic sheep has driven the domestic +steer from the free grass of the wild West, with the same speed and +thoroughness with which the buffalo-hunters of the 70's and 80's swept +away the bison. I have seen hundreds of thousands of acres of what once +were beautiful and fertile cattle-grazing lands in Montana, that has +been left by grazing sheep herds looking precisely as if the ground had +been shaven with razors and then sandpapered. The sheep have driven out +the cattle, and the price of beef has gone up accordingly. Neither +cattle, horses nor wild game can find food on ground that has been +grazed over by sheep. + +The following is the testimony of a reliable eye witness, Mr. Dillon +Wallace, and the full text appears in his book, "_Saddle and Camp in the +Rockies_," (page 169):-- + + Domestic sheep and sheep herders are the greatest enemies of the + antelope, as well as of other game animals and birds in the regions + where herders take their flocks. The ranges over which domestic + sheep pasture are denuded of forage and stripped of all growth, and + antelope will not remain upon a range where sheep have been. + + Thus the sheep, sweeping clean all before them and leaving the + ranges over which they pass unproductive, for several succeeding + seasons, of pasturage for either wild or domestic animals, together + with the destructive shepherds, are the worst enemies at present of + Utah's wild game, particularly of antelope, sage hens, and grouse. + + In Iron county, which has already become an extensive sheep region, + settlers tell us that before the advent of sheep, grass grew so + luxuriously that a yearling calf lying in it could not be seen. Not + only has the grass here been eaten, but the roots tramped out and + killed by the hoofs of thousands upon thousands of sheep, and now + wide areas, where not long since grass was so plentiful, are as bare + and desolate as sand-piles. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXIX + +NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES +(Continued) + +CONNECTICUT: + + The sale of all native wild game, regardless of its source, should + be prohibited at all times. Enact at once a five-year close season + law on the remnant of ruffed grouse, quail, woodcock, snipe, and all + shore birds. + + Even in the home of the newest and deadliest "autoloading" shotgun, + those guns and pump guns should be prohibited in hunting. + + The enormous bag limits of 35 rail and 50 each per day of plover, + snipe and shore birds is a crime! They should be replaced by a + ten-year close season law for all of those species. + + The terms of the game commissioners should be not less than four + years. + +Like so many other states, Connecticut has recklessly wasted her +wild-life inheritance. During the fifteen years preceding the year 1898, +the bird life of that state had decreased 75 per cent. On March 6, 1912, +Senator Geo. P. McLean, of Connecticut stated at the hearing held by his +Committee on Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game this fact: +"We have more cover than there was thirty or forty years ago, more brush +probably, but there is not one partridge [ruffed grouse] today where +there were twenty ten years ago!" + +First of all, Connecticut needs a ten-year close season law to save her +remnant of shore birds before it is completely annihilated. Then she +needs a Bayne law, and needs it badly. Under such a law, and the tagging +system that it provides, the state game wardens would have so strong a +grip on the situation that the present unlawful sale of game would be +completely stopped. Half-way measures in preventing the sale of game +will not answer. Already Connecticut has wasted thousands of dollars in +fruitless efforts to restock her desolated woodlands and farms with +quail, and to introduce the Hungarian partridge; but even yet she _will +not_ protect her own native species! + +Men of Connecticut, save the last remnants of your native game birds +before they are all utterly exterminated within your borders! Don't ask +the killers of game what _they_ will agree to, but make the laws what +_you know_ they should be! If you want a gameless state, let the +destruction go on as it now is going, with _16,000 licensed gunners_ in +the field each year, and you will surely have it, right soon. + + +DELAWARE: + + Stop all spring shooting, at once; stop killing shore birds for ten + years, and protect swans indefinitely. + + Enact bag-limit laws, in very small figures. + + Stop the sale of all native wild game, regardless of its use, by + enacting a Bayne law. + + Enact a resident license law, and provide for a force of paid game + wardens. + + Stop the use of machine shot-guns in killing your birds. + +The state of Delaware is nearly twenty years behind the times. Can it be +possible that her Governor and her people are really satisfied with that +position? We think not. I dare say they are afflicted with apathy, and +game-hogs. The latter can easily back up General Apathy to an extent +that spells "no game laws." In one act, and at one bold stroke, Delaware +can step out of her position at the rear of the procession of states, +and take a place in the front rank. Will she do it? We hope so, for her +present status is unworthy of any right-minded, red-blooded state this +side of the Philippines. + +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: + + The sale of all native wild game, regardless of its source, should + be stopped immediately, by the enactment of a complete Bayne law. + + If game-shooting within the District is continued, on the marshes of + the Eastern Branch and on the Potomac River, common decency demands + the enactment of bag-limit laws and long close-season laws of the + most modern pattern. + +Just why it is that gross abuses against wild life have so long been +tolerated in the territorial center of the American nation, remains to +be ascertained. But, whatever the reason the situation is absurd and +intolerable, and Congress should terminate it immediately. As late as +1897, and I think for two or three years thereafter, thousands of +_robins_ were sold every year in the public markets of Washington as +food! As a spectacle for gods and men, behold to-day the sale of quail, +ruffed grouse, wild turkeys and other American game, half way between +the Capitol and the White House! Look at Center Market as a national +"fence" for the sale of game stolen by market gunners from Maryland, +Virginia, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania. + +It is time for Congress to bring the District of Columbia sharply into +line; for Washington must be made to toe the mark beside New York. The +reputation of the national capital demands it, whether the gods of the +cafes will consent or not. + +FLORIDA: + + Shooting shore birds and waterfowl in late winter and spring should + be stopped. + + The sale of all native wild game should be prohibited. + + A State Game Commissioner whose term of office should be not less + than four years, and a force of salaried game wardens, should be + appointed. + + A general resident license should be required for hunting. + + The killing of does and fawns should be stopped, and no deer should + be killed save bucks with horns at least three inches long. + + The bag limit of five deer per year should be two deer; of twenty + quail, and two turkeys per day should be ten quail and one turkey. + + The open season on all game birds should end on February 1, for + domestic reasons. + + Protection should be accorded doves, and robins should be removed + from the game list. + +In the destruction of wild life, I think the backwoods population of +Florida is the most lawless and defiant that can be found anywhere in +the United States. The "plume-hunters" have practically exterminated the +plume-bearing egrets, wholly annihilated the roseate spoonbill, the +flamingo, and also the Carolina parrakeet. On July 8, 1905, one of them +killed an Audubon Association Warden, Guy M. Bradley, whose business it +was to enforce the state laws protecting the egret rookeries. The people +really to blame for the shooting of Guy Bradley, and the extermination +of the egrets by lawless and dangerous men, are the vain and merciless +women who wear the "white badges of cruelty" as long as they can be +purchased! They have much to answer for! + +Originally, Florida was alive with bird life. For number of species, +abundance of individuals, and general dispersal throughout the whole +state, I think no other state in America except possibly California ever +possessed a bird fauna quite comparable with it. Once its bird life was +one of the wonders of America. But the gunners began early to shoot, and +shoot, and shoot. During the fifteen years preceding 1898, the general +bird life of Florida decreased in volume 77 per cent. In 1900 it was at +a very low point, and it has steadily continued to decrease. The +rapidly-growing settlement and cultivation of the state has of course +had much to do with the disappearance of wild life generally, and the +draining and exploitation of the Everglades will about finish the birds +of southern Florida. + +The brown pelicans' breeding-place on Pelican Island, in Indian River, +has been taken in hand by the national government as a bird refuge, and +its marvelous spectacle of pelican life is now protected. Nine other +islands on the coast of Florida have been taken as national bird +refuges, and will render posterity good service. + +The great private game and bird preserve of Dr. Ray V. Pierce, at +Apalachicola, known as St. Vincent Island, containing twenty square +miles of wonderful woods and waters, is performing an important function +for the state and the nation. + +The Florida bag limit on quail is entirely too liberal. I know one man +who never once exceeded the limit of twenty birds per day, but in the +season of 1908-9 he killed _865 quail_! Can the quail of any state long +endure such drains as that? + +From a zoological point of view, Florida is in bad shape. A great many +of her people who shoot are desperately lawless and uncontrollable, and +the state is not financially able to support a force of wardens +sufficiently strong to enforce the laws, even as they are. It looks as +if the slaughter would go on until nothing of bird life remains. At +present I can see no hope whatever for saving even a good remnant of the +wild life of the state. + +The present status of wild-life protective laws in Florida was made the +subject of an article in _Forest and Stream_ of August 10, 1912, by John +H. Wallace, Jr., Game Commissioner of the State of Alabama, in an +article entitled "The Florida Situation." In view of his record, no one +will question either the value or the honest sincerity of Mr. Wallace's +opinions. The following paragraphs are from that article: + + The enactment of a model and modern game law for the State of + Florida is absolutely imperative in order to save many of the most + valuable species of birds and game of that State from certain + depletion and threatened extinction. The question of the protection + of the birds and game in Florida is not a local one, but is national + in its scope. Birds know no state lines, and while practically all + the States lying to the north of Florida protect migratory birds and + waterfowl, yet these are recklessly slaughtered in that state to + such an extent as to be appalling to all sportsmen and bird lovers. + + So alarming has become the decrease of the birds and game of Florida + that unless a halt is called on the campaign of reckless + annihilation that has been ceaselessly waged in that state, the + sport and recreation enjoyed by primeval nimrods will linger only in + history and tradition. + + It is the sincerest hope of all lovers of wild life of the American + continent that a strong and invincible sentiment, relative to the + imperative necessity of real conservation legislation, be + crystallized in the minds of the members elect of the Florida + Legislature, to the end that the next Legislature will spread upon + the statute books of the State of Florida a model and modern law for + the preservation and protection of the birds and game of that State, + which when put into practical operation will elicit the thanks of + all good citizens, and likewise the gratitude of future generations. + +GEORGIA: + + Prohibit late winter and spring shooting, and provide rational + seasons for wild fowl. + + Reduce the limit on deer to two bucks a season, with horns not less + than three inches long. + + Protect the meadow lark and stop forever the killing of doves and + wood-ducks. + + Prohibit the use of automatic and pump shot-guns in hunting. + + Extend the term of the game commissioner to four years. + +We are glad to report that Georgia has already begun to take up the +white man's burden. The protection of wild life is now a gentleman's +proposition, and in it every real man with red blood in his veins has a +duty to perform. The state of Georgia has recently awakened, and under +the comprehensive law of 1911 has resolutely undertaken to do her whole +duty in this matter. + + +IDAHO: + +The imperative duties of Idaho are as follows: + + Stop all hunting of mountain sheep, mountain goat and elk. + + Give the sage grouse and sharp-tail ten-year close seasons, at once, + to forestall their extermination. + + Stop the killing of doves as "game." + + Stop the killing of female deer, and of bucks with horns less than + three inches long. + + Enact the model law to protect non-game birds. + + Prohibit the use of machine shot-guns in hunting. + + Extend the State Warden's term to four years. + +Like Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, the state of Idaho has wasted her +stock of game, and it is to be feared that several species are now about +to disappear from that state. I am told that the sage grouse is almost +"gone"; and I think that the antelope, caribou, and mountain sheep are +in the same condition of scarcity. + +If the people of Idaho wish to save their wild fauna, they must be up +and doing. The time to temporize, theorize, be conservative and +easy-going has gone by. It is that fatal policy that causes men to +slumber until it is too late to act; and we will watch with keen +interest to see whether the real men of Idaho are big enough to do their +whole duty in time to benefit their state. + +In 1910, Dr. T.S. Palmer credited Idaho with the possession of about +five hundred moose and two hundred antelope. + +There is one feature of the Idaho game law that may well stand +unchanged. The open season on "ibex," of which one per year may be +killed, may as well be continued. One myth per year is not an +extravagant bag for any intelligent hunter; and it seems that the "ibex" +will not down. Being officially recognized by Idaho, its place in our +fauna now seems assured. + +ILLINOIS: + + Enact a Bayne law, and stop the sale of all native wild game, + regardless of source, and regardless of the gay revelers of Chicago. + + In Illinois the bag limits on birds are nearly all at least 50 per + cent too high. They should be as follows: No squirrels, doves or + shore birds; six quail, five woodcock, ten coots, ten rail, ten + ducks, three geese and three brant, with a total limit of ten + waterfowl per day. + + Doves should be removed from the game list. + + All tree squirrels and chipmunks should be perpetually protected, as + companions to man, unfit for food. + + The sale of aigrettes should be stopped, and Chicago placed in the + same class as Boston, New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. + + The use of all machine shotguns in hunting should be prohibited. + +The chief plague-spots for the grinding up of American game are Chicago, +Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans and San Francisco. St. Louis +cleared her record in 1909. New York thoroughly cleaned her Augean +stable in 1911, and Massachusetts won her Bayne law by a desperate +battle in 1912. In 1913, Pennsylvania probably will enact a Bayne law. + +Fancy a city in the center of the United States sending to Norway for +1,500 ptarmigan, to eat, as Chicago did in 1911; and that was only one +order. + +For forty years the marshes, prairies, farms and streams of the whole +upper Mississippi Valley have been combed year after year by the guns of +the market shooters. Often the migratory game was located by telegraphic +reports. Game birds were slain by the wagon-load, boat-load, barrel, and +car-load, "for the Chicago market." And the fool farmers of the Middle +West stolidly plowed their fields and fed their hogs, and permitted the +slaughter to go on. To-day the sons of those farmers go to the museums +and zoological parks of the cities to see specimens of pinnated grouse, +crane, woodcock, ducks and other species that the market shooters have +"wiped out"; and their fathers wax eloquent in telling of the flocks of +pigeons that "darkened the sky," and the big droves of prairie chickens +that used to rise out of the corn-fields "with a roar like a coming +storm." + +To-day, Chicago stands half-way reformed. Her markets are open to only +one-half the game killable in Illinois, but they are wide open to all +"_legally_ killed game imported from other states, from Oct. 1 to Feb. +1." Through that hole in her game laws any game-dealer can drive a +moving-van! Of course, any game offered in Chicago has been "legally +killed in some other state!" Who can prove otherwise? + +In addition to the imported game illegally killed in other states, the +starving population of Chicago may also buy for cash, and consume with +their champagne in November and December, all the Illinois doves that +can be combed out by the market-gunners. + +After the awful Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago, in 1903, the game +dealers reported a heavy falling off in the consumption of game! The +tragedy caused the temporary closing of the theaters, and the falling +off in after-theater suppers may be said to have taken away the +appetites of thousands of erstwhile consumers of game. Incidentally it +showed who consumes purchased game. + +The people of Illinois should now enact a full-fledged Bayne law, +without changing a single word, and bring Chicago up to the level of New +York, St. Louis and Boston. + +The present bag limits on Illinois game birds are fatally high. As they +stand, with 190,000 licensed gunners in the field each year, what else +do they mean than extermination? The men of Illinois have just two +alternatives between which to choose: drastic and immediate +preservation, or a gameless state. Which shall it be? + + +INDIANA: + + Indiana should hasten to stop spring shooting. + + She should enact a law, prohibiting the sale for millinery purposes + of the plumage of all wild birds save ducks killed in their open + season. + + A Bayne law, absolutely prohibiting the sale of all native wild + game, should be enacted at once. + + The killing of squirrels should be prohibited; because they are not + white men's game. + + Ruffed grouse and quail should have five year close seasons. + + The use of pump and autoloading guns in hunting should be + prohibited. + +In Indiana the white-tailed deer is extinct. This means very close +hunting, and a bad outlook for all other game larger than the sparrow. +On October 2, 1912, eleven heads of greater bird of paradise, with +plumes attached, were offered for sale within one hundred feet of the +headquarters of the Fourth National Conservation Congress. The prices +ranged from $35 to $47.50; and while we looked, two ladies came up, one +of whom pointed to a bird-of-paradise corpse and said: "There! I want +one o' them, an' I'm a-goin' to _have_ it, too!" + + +IOWA: + + Spring shooting should be stopped, at once and forever. + + The killing of all tree squirrels and chipmunks should cease. + + All shore birds that visit Iowa deserve a five-year close season. + + Especially is the shooting of plover, sandpiper, marsh and beach + birds, rail, duck, geese and brant from September 1, to April 15, an + outrage. + + Iowa should prohibit the use of the machine guns, and it is to be + hoped that she will awaken sufficiently to do so. + +It is said that the Indian word "Iowa" means "the drowsy, or sleepy +ones." Politically, and educationally, Iowa is all right, but in the +protection of wild life she is ten years behind the times, in almost +everything save the prohibition of the sale of game. _Iowa knows better +than to pursue the course that she does_! She boasts about her corn and +hogs, but she is deaf to the appeals of the states surrounding her on +the subject of spring shooting. For years Minnesota has set her a good +example; but nothing moves her to step up where she belongs in the +phalanx of intelligent game-protecting states. + +The foregoing may sound harsh, but in view of what other states have +endured from Iowa's stubbornness regarding migratory game, the time for +silent treatment of her case has gone by. She is to-day in the same +class as North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland,--at the tail end +of the procession of states. She cares everything for corn and hogs, but +little for wild life. + + +KANSAS: + + Spring shooting should be stopped, at once: with apologies for not + having done so long ago. + + The continued shooting of prairie chickens when the species is near + extermination is outrageous, and should be prohibited for ten years. + + Doves should be removed permanently from the game list, partly as a + measure of self respect. + + Kansas should treat herself to a force of salaried game wardens + rendering real service. + + She should bar out the machine guns as unfit for use in a + well-regulated State. + +Kansas has calmly witnessed the extermination of her bison, elk, deer, +antelope, wild turkeys, sage grouse, whooping cranes, and the beginning +of the end of her pinnated grouse, without a pang. What is wild game in +comparison with fat hogs, and seventy-bushels-to-the-acre! + +Draw a line around the hog-and-corn area of the United States, and +within it you will find more spring shooting, more sale of game and more +extermination of species than in any other area in the United States. I +refer to Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky and Tennessee. In not one of these states except Missouri is +there any big game hunting, and in the majority of them spring shooting +is lawful! + +In the Island of Mauritius, it was swine that exterminated the dodo. In +the United States, hogs and game extermination still go hand in hand. +Since the days of the dodo, however, a new species of swine has been +developed. It is now widely known as the "game-hog," and it has been +officially recognized by both bench and bar. + +KENTUCKY: + +Nearly everything that a state should maintain in the line of wild life +protection _Kentucky lacks_! It is easier to tell what she has than to +recite what she should have. Kentucky _permits spring shooting_; she has +_no bag limits_, and she has _long open seasons_ on everything save +introduced pheasants; She protects from sale only quail, grouse and wild +turkey _killed within her own borders_. This means that her markets are +practically wide open. + +Until recently the people of Kentucky have been very indifferent to the +value of her wild-life; but with the new law enacted this year providing +for a game commission and a game protection fund, surely every member of +the Army of the Defense will wish God-speed to her efforts in game +conservation, and stand ready to lend a helping hand whenever help can +be utilized. + +Kentucky should at one grand coup _stop spring shooting and all sale of +wild game, accord long close seasons to all species that are verging on +extinction, protect doves, establish moderate bag limits and stop the +use of machine guns_. If she takes up these measures at the rate of only +one at each legislative session, by the time her laws are perfect _all +her game will be gone_! + + +LOUISIANA: + +On more counts than one, Louisiana is in the list of Great Delinquents; +for behold the things that she needs to do: + + Protect deer for five years. + + Instantly take the robin, red-winged black-bird, dove, grosbeak, + wood-duck and gull off the list of birds that may be killed as + "game." + + Stop all late winter and spring shooting. + + Stop the sale of all native game, and the possession and + transportation of game sold or intended for sale. In short, + + Enact a Bayne law. + + Re-establish a game warden system. + +In legally permitting the slaughter of the robin, red-winged blackbird, +dove, grosbeak, wood-duck and gull the state of Louisiana is very +culpable. + +For good reasons, forty states of the American Union strictly prohibit +the killing of song and insectivorous birds. The duty of every state to +protect those birds is not a debatable proposition. I put this question +to the people of Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and +other states where the robin is treated as a game bird: Is it fair of +you to kill and eat robins when that species is carefully protected by +forty other states of our country for grave economic reasons? What would +you say of the people of the North if they slaughtered your mockingbird +_to eat_! + +Remember this proportion: + +The Robin : The North :: The Mockingbird : The South. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXX + +NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES +(Continued) + + +MAINE: + +There are reasons for the belief that Maine is conserving her large game +better than any other state or province in North America. One glance +over her laws is sufficient to convince anyone that instead of studying +the clamor of her shooting population, Maine has actually been studying +the needs of her game, and providing for those needs. If all other +states were doing equally well, the task of writing a book of admonition +would have been unnecessary. The proof of Maine's alertness is to be +found in the number of her extra short, or entirely closed, seasons on +game. For example: + + Cow and calf moose are permanently protected. + + Only bull moose, with at least two 3-inch prongs on its horns, may + be killed. + + Caribou have had a close season since 1899. + + On gray and black squirrels, doves and quail, there is no open + season. + + The open season for deer varies from ten weeks to four weeks, and in + parts of three counties there is no open season at all. + + Silencers are prohibited, and firearms in forests may be prohibited + by the Governor during droughts. + + Nearly all wild-fowl shooting ends January 1, but in two places, on + December 1. + +People who have not learned the facts habitually think of Maine as a +vast killing-ground for deer; and it is well for it to be known that the +hunting-grounds have been carefully designated, according to the +abundance or scarcity of game. + +Maine has wisely chosen to regard her hunting-grounds and her deer as a +valuable asset, and she manages them accordingly. To be a guide in that +state is to be a good citizen, and a protector of game from illegal +slaughter. No non-resident may hunt without a licensed guide. The +licenses for the thousands of deer killed in Maine each year, and the +expenses of the visiting sportsmen who hunt them, annually bring into +the state and leave there a huge sum of money, variously estimated at +from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. One can only guess at the amount from the +number of non-resident licenses issued; but certainly the total can not +be less than $1,000,000. + +Although Mr. L.T. Carleton is no longer chairman of the Commission of +Inland Fisheries and Game, the splendid services that he rendered the +state of Maine during his thirteen years of service, especially in the +creation of a good code of game laws, constitute an imperishable +monument to his name and fame. + +There is very little that Maine needs in the line of new legislation, +or better protection to her game. With the enactment of a resident +license law and a five-year close season for woodcock, plover, snipe and +sandpipers, I think her laws for the protection of wild life would be +sufficiently perfect for all practical purposes. The Pine-Tree State is +to be congratulated upon its wise and efficient handling of the +wild-life situation. + +MARYLAND: + +How has it come to pass that Maryland _lacks_ more good wild-life laws +than any other state in the Union except North Carolina? Of the really +fundamental protective laws, embracing the list that to every +self-respecting state seems indispensable, Maryland has almost none save +certain bag-limit laws! Otherwise, the state is wide open! It is indeed +high time that she should abandon her present attitude of hostility to +wild life, and become a good neighbor. She should do what is _fair_ and +_right_ about the protection of the migratory game and bird life that +annually passes twice through her territory! + +At the last session of the Maryland legislature, the law preventing the +use of power boats in wild-fowl shooting was repealed. That was a step +ten years backward; and Maryland should be ashamed of it! + +The list of things that Maryland must do in order to clear her record is +a long one. Here it is: + + Local regulations should be replaced by a uniform state law. + + The sale of all native wild game should be stopped. + + Spring and late winter shooting of game should be stopped. + + All non-game birds not already included under the statutes should be + protected. + + The exportation of all game should be prohibited, unless accompanied + by the man who shot it, bearing his license, and the law should be + state-wide instead of depending upon a separate enactment for each + county. + + There should be a hunter's license law for all who hunt. + + The use of machine shotguns in hunting should be stopped, at once. + + Stop the use of power boats in wild-fowl shooting. + +MASSACHUSETTS: + +In 1912 the state of Massachusetts moved up into the foremost rank of +states, where for one year New York had stood alone. She passed a +counterpart of the New York law, absolutely prohibiting the sale of all +wild American game in Massachusetts, but providing for the sale of game +that has been reared in preserves and tagged by state officers. This +victory was achieved only after three months of hard fighting. The +coalition of sportsmen, zoologists and friends of wild life in general +proved irresistible, just as a similar union of forces accomplished the +Bayne law in New York in 1911. The victory is highly instructive, as +great victories usually are. It proves once more that whenever the +American people can be aroused from their normal apathy regarding wild +life, _any good conservation legislation can be enacted!_ The prime +necessities to success are good measures, good management, a reasonable +campaign fund, and tireless energy and persistence. Massachusetts is to +be roundly congratulated on having so thoroughly cleaned up her +sale-of-game situation. + +Incidentally, five bills for the repeal of the Massachusetts law against +spring shooting were introduced, and each one went down to the defeat +that it deserved. _The repeal of a spring-shooting law, anywhere, is a +step backward ten years!_ + +Massachusetts needs a bag-limit law more in keeping with her small +remnant of wild life; and that she will have ere long. Very soon, also, +her sportsmen will raise the standard of ethics in shotgun shooting, by +barring out the automatic and pump shotguns so much beloved by the +market shooters. As matters stand at this date (1912) the Old Bay State +needs the following new laws: + + Low bag limits on all game. + + Five-year close seasons on all shore birds, snipe and woodcock. + + Expulsion of the automatic and pump shotguns, in hunting. + +MICHIGAN: + +On the whole, the game laws of Michigan are in excellent shape, and +leave little to be desired in the line of betterment except to be +simplified. All the game protected by the laws of the state is debarred +from sale; squirrels, pinnated grouse, doves and wild turkeys enjoy long +close seasons; the bag limits on deer and game birds are reasonably low; +spring shooting still is possible on nine species of ducks; and this +should be stopped without delay. + +Only three or four suggestions are in order: + + All spring shooting should be prohibited. + + All shore birds should have a five-year close season. + + The use of the machine shotguns in hunting should be stopped. + + The laws should permit the sale, under tag, of all species of game + that can successfully be reared in preserves on a commercial basis. + + Two or three state game preserves, for deer, each at least four + miles square, should be established without delay. + +MINNESOTA: + + This state should at once enact a bag-limit law that will do some + good, instead of the statutory farce now on the books. Make it + fifteen birds per day of waterfowl, all species combined, and no + grouse or quail. + + There should be five-year close seasons enacted for quail, grouse, + plover, woodcock, snipe, and all other shore birds. + + A law should be enacted prohibiting the use of firearms by + unnaturalized aliens, and a $20 license for all naturalized aliens. + + Provision should be made for a large state game refuge in southern + Minnesota. + + The state should prohibit the use of machine guns in hunting. + +To-day, direct and reliable advices show that the game situation in +Minnesota is far from encouraging. Several species are threatened with +extinction at an early date. In northern Minnesota it is reported that +much game is surreptitiously trapped and slaughtered. The bob white is +reported as threatened with total extinction at an early date; but I +think the prairie chicken will be the first bird species to go. Moose +will soon be extinct everywhere in Minnesota except in the game +preserves. Apparently there is now about one duck in Minnesota for every +ten ducks that were there only ten years ago. + +Now, what is Minnesota going to do about all this? Is she willing +through Apathy to become a gameless state? Her people need to arouse +themselves _now_, and pass several _strong_ laws. Her bag limit of +forty-five birds _per day_ of quail, grouse, woodcock and plover, and +_fifty_ per day of the waterbirds, is a joke, and nothing more; but it +is no laughing matter. It spells extermination. + +MISSISSIPPI: + + The legalized slaughter of robins, cedar birds, grosbeaks and doves + should cease immediately, on the basis of economy of resources and a + square deal to all the states lying northward of Mississippi. + + The shooting of all water-fowl should cease on January 1. + + A reasonable limit should be established on deer. + + A hunting license law should be passed at once, fixing the fee at $1 + and devoting the revenue to the pay of a corps of non-political game + wardens, selected on a basis of ability and fitness. + + The administration of the game laws should be placed in charge of a + salaried game commissioner. + +It is seriously to the discredit of Mississippi that her laws actually +classify robins, cedar-birds, grosbeaks and doves as "game," and _make +them killable as such from Sept. 1 to March 1!_ I should think that if +no economic consideration carried weight in Mississippi, state pride +alone would be sufficient to promote a correction of the evil. If we of +the North were to slaughter mockingbirds for food, when they come North +to visit us, the men of the South would call us greedy barbarians; and +they would be quite right. + +MISSOURI: + + The Missouri bag limits that permit the killing or possession of + fifty birds per day are absurd, and fatally liberal. The utmost + should be twenty-five; and even that is too high. + + Doves should be taken off the list of game birds, and protected + throughout the year; and so should all tree squirrels. + + Spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl should be prohibited + without delay. + + A law against automatic and pump guns should be enacted at the next + legislative session, as a public lesson on the raising of the + standard of ethics in shooting. + +The state of Missouri is really strong in her position as a +game-protecting state. She perpetually protects such vanishing species +as the ruffed grouse, prairie chicken (pinnated grouse), woodcock, and +all her shore birds save snipe and plover. She prohibits the sale of +native game and the killing of female deer; but she wisely permits the +sale of preserve-bred elk and deer under the tags of the State Game +Commission. For nearly all the wild game that is accessible, her markets +are tightly closed. + +We heartily congratulate Missouri on her advanced position on the sale +of game, and we hope that the people of Iowa will even yet profit by her +good example. + +MONTANA: + +Like Colorado and Wyoming, Montana is wasting a valuable heritage of +wild game while she struggles to maintain the theory that she still is +in the list of states that furnish big-game hunting. It is a fact that +ten years ago most sportsmen began to regard Montana as a has-been for +big game, and began to seek better hunting-grounds elsewhere. British +Columbia, Alberta and Alaska have done much for the game of Montana by +drawing sportsmen away from it. Mr. Henry Avare, the State Game Warden, +is optimistic regarding even the big game, and believes that it is +holding its own. This is partially true of white-tailed deer, or it was +up to the time of great slaughter. It is said that in 1911, 11,000 deer +were killed in Montana, all in the western part of the state, seventy +per cent of which were white-tails. The deep snows and extreme cold of a +long and unusually severe winter drove the hungry deer down out of the +mountains into the settlements, where the ranchmen joyously slaughtered +them. The destruction around Kalispell was described by Harry P. +Stanford as "sickening." + +Mr. Avare estimates the prong-horned antelope in Montana at three +thousand head, of which about six hundred are under the quasi-protection +of four ranches. + + The antelope need three or four small ranges, such as the Snow Creek + Antelope Range, where the bad lands are too rough for ranchmen, but + quite right for antelopes and other big game. + + All the grouse and ptarmigan of Montana need a five-year close + season. The splendid sage grouse is now extinct in many parts of its + previous range. Fifty-eight thousand licensed gunners are too many + for them! + + The few mountain sheep and mountain goats that survive should have a + five-year close season, at once. + + The killing of female hoofed animals should be prohibited by law. + + Montana has not yet adopted the model law for the protection of + non-game birds. Only seven states have failed in that respect. + + The use of automatic and pump shotguns, and silencers, should + immediately be prohibited. + +Montana's bag-limits are not wholly bad; but the grizzly bear has almost +been exterminated, save in the Yellowstone Park. Some of these days, if +things go on as they are now going, the people of Montana will be rudely +awakened to the fact that they have 50,000 licensed hunters but no +longer any killable game! And then we will hear enthusiastic talk about +"restocking." + +NEBRASKA: + +No other state has bestowed close seasons upon as many extinct species +of game as Nebraska. Behold how she has resolutely locked the doors of +her empty cage after all these species have flown: Elk, antelope, wild +turkey, passenger pigeon, whooping crane, sage grouse, ptarmigan and +curlew. In a short time the pinnated grouse can be added to the list of +has-beens. + +There is little to say regarding the future of the game of Nebraska; for +its "future" is now history. + + Provision should be made for one or more state game preserves. + + Spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl should be prohibited. + + A larger and more effective warden service should be provided. + + Doves should be removed from the game list. + +NEVADA: + + The sage grouse should be given a ten-year close season, for + recuperation. + + All non-game birds should have perpetual protection. + + The cranes, now verging on extinction, and the pigeons and doves + should at once be taken out of the list of game birds, and forever + protected. + + All the shore birds need five years of close protection. + + A State Game Warden whose term of office is not less than four years + should be provided for. + + A corps of salaried game protectors should be chosen for active and + aggressive game protection. + + Nevada's bag limits are among the best of any state, the only + serious flaw being "10 sage grouse" per day: which should be 0! + +Nevada still has a few antelope; and _we beg her to protect them all +from being hunted or killed!_ It is my belief that if the antelope is +really saved anywhere in the United States outside of national parks and +preserves, it will be in the wild and remote regions of Nevada, where it +is to be hoped that lumpy-jaw has not yet taken hold of the herds. + +NEW HAMPSHIRE: + +Speaking generally, the New Hampshire laws regulating the killing and +shipment of game are defective for the reason that on birds, and in fact +all game save deer, there appear to be no "bag" limits on the quantity +that may be killed in a day or a season. The following bag limits are +greatly needed, forthwith: + + Gray Squirrel, none per day, or per year; duck (except wood-duck), + ten per day, or thirty per season; ruffed grouse, four per day, + twelve per season; hare and rabbit, four per day, or twelve per + season. + + Five-year close seasons should immediately be enacted for the + following species: quail, woodcock, jacksnipe and all species of + shore or "beach" birds. + + The sale of all native wild game should be prohibited; and + game-breeding in preserves, and the sale of such game under state + supervision, should be provided for. + + The use of automatic and pump guns in hunting should be + barred,--through state pride, if for no other reason. + +NEW JERSEY: + +New Jersey enjoys the distinction of being the second state to break +the strangle-hold of the gun-makers of Hartford and Ilion, and cast out +the odious automatic and pump guns. It was a pitched battle,--that of +1912, inaugurated by Ernest Napier, President of the State Game and Fish +Commission and his fellow commissioners. The longer the contest +continued, the more did the press and the people of New Jersey awaken to +the seriousness of the situation. Finally, the gun-suppression bill +passed the two houses of the legislature with a total of only fourteen +votes against it, and after a full hearing had been granted the +attorneys of the gunmakers, was promptly signed by Governor Woodrow +Wilson. _Governor Wilson could not be convinced that the act was +"unconstitutional," or "confiscatory" or "class legislation."_ + +This contest aroused the whole state to the imperative necessity of +providing more thorough protection for the remnant of New Jersey game, +and it was chiefly responsible for the enactment of four other excellent +new protective laws. + +New Jersey always has been sincere in her desire to protect her wild +life, and always has gone _as far as the killers of game would permit +her to go!_ But the People have made one great mistake,--common to +nearly every state,--of permitting the game-killers to dictate the game +laws! _Always and everywhere, this is a grievous mistake_, and fatal to +the game. For example: In 1866 New Jersey enacted a five-year +close-season law on the "prairie fowl" (pinnated grouse); but it was too +late to save it. Now that species is as dead to New Jersey as is the +mastodon. The moral is: Will the People apply this lesson to the ruffed +grouse, quail and the shore birds generally before they, too, are too +far gone to be brought back? If it is done, it must be done _against the +will of the gunners;_ for they prefer to shoot,--and shoot they will if +they can dictate the laws, until the last game bird is dead. + +In 1912, New Jersey is spending $30,000 in trying to restock her +birdless covers with foreign game birds and quail. In brief, here are +the imperative duties of New Jersey: + + Provide eight-year close seasons for quail, ruffed grouse, woodcock, + snipe, all shore birds and the wood-duck. + + Prohibit the sale of all native wild game; but promote the sale of + preserve-bred game. + + Prevent the repeal of the automatic gun law, which surely will be + attempted, each year. + + Prohibit all bird-shooting after January 10, each year, until fall. + + Prohibit the killing of squirrels as "game." + +NEW MEXICO: + +All things considered, the game laws of New Mexico are surprisingly up +to date, and the state is to be congratulated on its advanced position. +For example, there are long close seasons on antelope, elk (now +extinct!), mountain sheep, bob white quail, pinnated grouse, wild pigeon +and ptarmigan,--an admirable list, truly. It is clear that New Mexico is +wide awake to the dangers of the wild-life situation. On two counts, her +laws are not quite perfect. There is no law prohibiting spring shooting, +and there is no "model law" protecting the non-game birds. The sale of +game will not trouble New Mexico, because the present laws prevent the +sale of all protected game except plover, curlew and snipe,--all of them +species by no means common in the arid regions of the Southwest. + + A law prohibiting spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl + should be passed at the next session of the legislature. + + The enactment of the "model law" should be accomplished without + delay to put New Mexico abreast of the neighboring states of + Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. + + The term of the State Warden should be extended to four years. + +NEW YORK: + +In the year of grace, 1912, I think we may justly regard New York as the +banner state of all America in the protection of game and wild life in +general. This proud position has been achieved partly through the +influence of a great conservation Governor, John A. Dix, and the State +Conservation Commission proposed and created by his efforts. In these +days of game destruction, when our country from Nome to Key West is +reeking with the blood of slaughtered wild creatures, it is a privilege +and a pleasure to be a citizen of a state which has thoroughly cleaned +house, and done well nigh the utmost that any state can do to clear her +bad record, and give all her wild creatures a fair chance to survive. +The people of the Empire State literally can point with pride to the +list of things accomplished in the discharge of good-citizenship toward +the remnant of wild life, and toward the future generations of New +Yorkers. That we of to-day have borne our share of the burden of +bringing about the conditions of 1912, will be a source of satisfaction, +especially when the sword and shield hang useless upon the walls of Old +Age. + +New York began to protect her deer in 1705 and her heath hens in 1708. +In 1912 she stopped the killing of female deer, and of bucks having +horns less than three inches in length. Spring shooting was stopped in +1903. A comprehensive law protecting non-game birds was enacted in 1862. +New York's first law against the sale of certain game during close +seasons was enacted in 1837. + +In 1911 New York enacted, with only one adverse vote, a law prohibiting +the sale of all native wild game throughout the state, no matter where +killed, and providing liberally for the encouragement of game-breeding, +and the sale of preserve-bred game. + +In 1912 a new codification of the state game laws went into effect, +through the initiative of Governor Dix and Conservation Commissioners +Van Kennen, Moore and Fleming, assisted (as special counsel) by Marshall +McLean, George A. Lawyer and John B. Burnham. This code contains many +important new provisions, one of the most valuable of which is a clause +giving the Conservation Commission power, at its discretion, to shorten +or to close any open season on any species of game in any locality +wherein that species seems to be threatened with extermination. This +very valuable principle should be enacted into law in every state! + +In 1910, William Dutcher and T. Gilbert Pearson and the National +Association of Audubon Societies won, after a struggle lasting five +years, the passage of the "Shea plumage bill," prohibiting the sale of +aigrettes or other plumage of wild birds belonging to the same families +as the birds of New York (Chap. 256). This law _should be duplicated in +every state._ + +_Two things_ remain to be done in the state of New York. + + All the shore birds, quail and gray squirrels of the state should be + given five-year close seasons, by the action of the State + Conservation Commission. + + For the good name of the state, and the ethical standing of its + sportsmen, as an example to other states, and the last remaining + duty toward our wild life, the odious automatic and pump shotguns + should be barred from use in hunting, unless their capacity is + reduced to two shots without reloading. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXI + +NEW LAWS NEEDED IN THE STATES +(Concluded) + + +NORTH CAROLINA: + +The game laws of North Carolina form a droll crazy-quilt of local and +state measures, effective and ineffective. In 1909, a total of 77 local +game laws were enacted, and only two of state-wide application. During +the ten years ending in 1910, a total of 316 game laws were enacted! She +sedulously endeavors to protect her quail, which do not migrate, but in +Currituck County she persistently maintains the bloodiest slaughter-pen +for waterfowl that exists anywhere on the Atlantic Coast. There is no +bag limit on waterfowl, and unlimited spring shooting. So far as +waterfowl are concerned, conditions could hardly be worse, except by the +use of punt guns. Doves, _larks_ and _robins_ are shot and eaten as +"game" from November 1 to March 1! Twenty-one counties have local +restrictions on the sale of game, but the state at large has only +one,--on quail. + +The market gunners of Currituck Sound are a scourge and a pest to the +wild-fowl life of the Atlantic Coast. For their own money profit, they +slaughter by wholesale the birds that annually fly through twenty-two +states. It is quite useless to suggest anything to North Carolina in +modern game laws. As long as a killable bird remains, she will not stop +the slaughter. Her standing reply is "It brings a lot of money into +Currituck County; and the people want the money." Even the members of +the sportsmen's clubs can shoot wild fowl in Currituck County, quite +without limit; and I am told that the privilege often is abused. Quite +recently I heard of a member of one of the clubs who shot 164 ducks and +geese in two days! + +Apparently any suggestions made to North Carolina would not be treated +seriously, especially if they would tend really to elevate the sport of +game shooting, or better protect the game. There is, however, a +melancholy interest attached to the framing of good game laws, whether +they ever are likely to be adopted or not. Here is the duty of North +Carolina: + + Stop the killing of robins, doves and larks for food, absolutely and + forever. This measure is necessary to agriculture and to the good + name of the state. + + Stop the shooting of any game for sale, prohibit the possession of + game for sale, and the sale of wild native game. + + Establish bag limits on all waterfowl, and on all other game birds + and mammals. + + Prepare to protect, at an early date, the wild turkey and quail; + for soon they will need it. Moreover, enact a law prohibiting the + use of automatic and pump guns in hunting, covering the entire + state. + + Provide a resident-license system and thereby make the game + department self-sustaining, and render it possible to employ a + salaried State Game Commissioner. + +It is quite wrong for the people of North Carolina to hold grudges +against northern members of the ducking clubs of Currituck for the +passage of the Bayne law. They had nothing whatever to do with it, and I +can say this because I was in a position which enabled me to know. + +NORTH DAKOTA: + +In 1911, this sovereign state enacted a law _prohibiting the use of +automobiles_ in hunting wild-fowl; also rifles. North Dakota was the +first state to recognize officially the fact that the use of automobiles +in hunting is a serious menace to some forms of wild life. Beyond all +question, the machines do indeed bring an extra number of birds within +reach of the gun! They increase the annual slaughter; and it is right +and necessary to prohibit by law their use in hunting game of any kind. + +In Putman County, New York, I have seen them in action. A load of three +or four gunners is whirled up to a likely mountain-side for ruffed +grouse, and presently the banging begins. After an hour or so spent in +combing out the birds, the hunters jump in, whirl away in a dust-cloud +to another spot two miles away, and "bang-bang-bang" again. After that, +a third locality; and so on, covering six or eight times the territory +that a man in a buggy, or on foot, could possibly shoot over in the same +time! + +North Dakota has done well, in the passage of that act. On certain other +matters, she is not so sound. + +For instance: + + The killing of pinnated grouse should be stopped for ten years; and + it should be done immediately. + + The killing of cranes as "game" should stop, instantly and forever. + It is barbarous. + + Fifty dead birds in possession at one time is fully thirty too many. + The game cannot stand such slaughter! + + All shore birds (_Order Limicolae_) should have at least a five-year + close season, before they are exterminated. + + The use of machine guns in hunting should be stopped, forever. + +It is to the credit of the state that antelope are absolutely protected +until 1920, and an unlimited close season has been accorded the quail, +dove and swan. + +OHIO: + +I think that Ohio comes the nearest of all the states to being gameless. +With but slight exceptions her laws are about as correct as those of +most other states, but the desire to "kill" is so strong, and the +majority of her gunners are so thoroughly selfish about their "rights" +that the game has ruthlessly been swept away _according to law!_ Ohio +is a striking example of the deplorable results of _legalized_ +slaughter. The spirit of Ohio is like that of North Carolina. Her +"sportsmen" will not have an automatic gun law! Oh, no! "Limit the bag, +shorten the season, and the gun won't matter!" + +To-day, the visible game supply of Ohio does not amount to anything; and +when the last game bird of that state falls before the greediest +shooter, we shall say, "A gameless state is just what you deserve!" + +It is useless to make any suggestions to Ohio. Her shooting Shylocks +want the last pound of flesh from wild life, and I think they will get +it very soon. Ohio is in the area of barren states. The seed stock has +been too thoroughly destroyed to be recuperated. I think that Ohio's +last noteworthy exploit in lawmaking for the preservation (!) of her +game was in 1904, when she put all her shore birds into the list of +killable game, and bravely prohibited the shooting of doves _on the +ground!_ Great is Ohio in game conservation! + +OKLAHOMA: + +For a state so young, the wild-life laws of Oklahoma are in admirable +shape; but it is reasonably certain that there, as elsewhere, the game +is being killed much faster than it is breeding. The new commonwealth +must arouse, and screw up the brakes much tighter. + +Recently, an observing friend told me that on a trip of 250 miles +westward from Lawton and back again, watching sharply for game all the +way, he saw only five pinnated grouse! And this in a good season for +"prairie chickens." + + Oklahoma must stop all spring shooting. + + The prairie chicken must have a ten-year close season, immediately. + + Next time, her legislature will pass the automatic gun bill that + failed last year only because the session closed too soon for its + consideration. + +Oklahoma is wise in giving long protection to her quail, and "wild +pigeon," and such protection should be made equally effective in the +case of the dove. She is wise in rigidly enforcing her law against the +exportation of game. + +The Wichita National Bison herd, near Cache, now contains forty head of +bison, all in good condition. The nucleus herd consisted of fifteen head +presented by the New York Zoological Society in 1907. + +OREGON: + +The results of the efforts that have been made by Oregon to provide +special laws for each individual shooter are painful to contemplate. +Like North Carolina, Oregon has attempted the impossible task of +pleasing everybody, and at the same time protecting her wild life. The +two propositions can be blended together about as easily as asphalt and +water. The individual shooter desires laws that will permit him to +shoot--_when_ he pleases, _where_ he pleases, and _what_ he pleases! If +you meet those conditions all over a great state, then it is time to bid +farewell to the game; for it surely is doomed. + +No, decidedly no! Do not attempt to pass game laws that will "please +everybody." The more the game-hogs are _displeased_, the better for the +game! The game-hogs form a very small and very insignificant minority of +the whole People. Why please one man at the expense of ninety-nine +others? The game of a state belongs to The People as a whole, not to the +gunners alone. The great, patient,--and sometimes sleepy,--majority has +vested rights in it, and it is for it to say how it shall and shall not +be killed. Heretofore the gunning minority has been dictating the game +laws of America, and the result is--progressive extermination. + + First of all, Oregon should bury the pernicious idea of individual + and local laws. + + She should enact a concise, clearly cut, and thoroughly effective + code of wild life laws, just as New York did last winter. + + Her game seasons should be uniform in application, all over the + state. + + Every species of bird, mammal or fish that is threatened with + extermination should be given a close season of from five to ten + years. + + It is now time to protect the white goose and brant. Squirrels, + band-tailed pigeons and doves should be perpetually protected. + + The State Game Commission should have power to close the shooting + seasons on any species of game in any locality, whenever a species + is threatened with extinction. + + The sale of native wild game, from all sources, should be + permanently stopped, by a Bayne law. + + The use of automatic, "autoloading" and pump shot guns in hunting + should be perpetually barred. + + +PENNSYLVANIA: + +As a game protecting state, Pennsylvania is a close second to New York +and Massachusetts. She protects all native game from sale; _she has the +courage to prohibit aliens from owning guns; she bars out automatic +shot-guns in hunting_; she makes refuges for deer, and feeds her quail +in winter, and she permits the killing of no female deer, or fawns with +horns less than three inches in length. Her splendid State Game +Commission is fighting hard for a hunter's license law, and will win the +fight for it at the next session of the legislature (1913). + +But there are certain things that Pennsylvania should do: + + She should stop all spring shooting. She must stop killing doves, + blackbirds, wild turkeys, sandpipers, and all the squirrels save the + red squirrel. + + She should give all her shore birds a rest of at least five years, + for recuperation. + + She should enact a comprehensive Dutcher plumage law, stopping the + sale of aigrettes. + + She should provide a resident license to furnish her Game Commission + with adequate funds to carry on its work and exterminate + game-killing vermin. + + +RHODE ISLAND: + + Little Rhody needs some good, small bag limits; for now (1912) she + has none! + + She should enact a Bayne law, a Pennsylvania law against aliens, + and a New Jersey law against the automatic and pump guns. + + She should stop killing the beautiful wood-duck, and gray squirrel. + + She should stop all spring shooting of waterfowl. + + +SOUTH CAROLINA: + + She should save her game while she still has some to save. + + First of all, stop spring shooting; secondly, enact a Bayne law. + + In the name of mystery, who is there in South Carolina who desires + to kill grackles? And why? + + And where is the gentleman sportsman who has come down to killing + foolish and tame little doves for "sport?" Stop it at once, for the + credit of the state. + + Enact a dollar resident license law and thus provide adequate funds + for game protection. + + South Carolina bag limits are all 50 per cent too high; and they + should be reduced. + +It is strange to see one of the oldest of the states lagging in game +protection, far behind such new states as New Mexico and Oklahoma; but +South Carolina does lag. It is time for her to consider her position, +and reform. + + +SOUTH DAKOTA: + + South Dakota should stop all spring shooting. + + Her game-bag limits are really no limits at all! They should be + reduced about 66 per cent without a moment's unnecessary delay. + + The two year term of the State Warden is too short for effective + work. It should be extended to four years. + +Unless South Dakota wishes to repeat the folly of such states as +Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio, she needs to be up and +doing. If her people want a gameless state, except for migratory +waterfowl, all they need do is to slumber on, and they surely will have +it. Why wait until greedy sportsmen have killed the last game bird of +the state before seriously taking the matter in hand? In one act, all +the shortcomings of the present laws can be corrected. + +South Dakota needs no Bayne law, because she prohibits at all times the +sale or exportation of all wild game. + + +TENNESSEE: + +In wild life protection, Tennessee has much to do. She made her start +late in life, and what she needs to do is to draft with care and enact +with cheerful alacrity certain necessary amendments. + +We notice that there are open seasons for _blackbirds, robins, doves and +squirrels_! It seems incredible; but it is true. + +Behold the blackbird as a "game" bird, with a lawful open season from +September 1 to January 1. Consider its stately carriage, its rapid +flight on the wing, its running and hiding powers when attacked. As a +test of marksmanship, as the real thing for the expert wing shot, is it +not great? Will not any self-respecting dog be proud to point or +retrieve them? And what flesh for the table! + +Fancy an able-bodied sportsman going out in a fifty-dollar hunting suit, +carrying a fifteen-dollar gun behind a seven-dollar dog, and returning +with a glorious bag of twenty-five blackbirds! Or robins! Or doves! +Proud indeed, would we be to belong (which we don't) to a club of +"sportsmen" who go out shooting blackbirds, and robins, and foolish +little doves, as "game!" "Game" indeed, are those birds,--for little +lads of seven who do not know better; but not for boys of twelve who +have in their veins any inheritance of sporting blood. (I am proud of +the fact that at twelve years of age,--and ever so keen to "go +hunting,"--I knew without being told that squirrels and doves were not +_real_ "game" for real boys.) + +The killers of doves, squirrels, blackbirds and robins belong in the +same class as the sparrow-and-linnet-killing Italians of Venice, Milan +and Turin, and in that company we will leave them. + +Tennessee needs: + + A resident license system to provide funds for game protection. + + A salaried warden force. + + A law prohibiting spring shooting of shore birds and waterfowl. + + A law protecting robins, doves and other non-game birds not covered + by the present statute. + + +TEXAS: + +I remember well when the great battle was fought in Texas by the gallant +men and women of the State Audubon Society, to compel the people of +Texas to learn the economic value to agriculture and cotton of the +insectivorous birds. The name of the splendid Brigadier-General who led +the Army of the Defense was Capt. M.B. Davis. That was in 1903. + +Since that great fight was won, Texas has been a partly reformed state, +at times quite jealous of her bird life; but still she tolerates spring +shooting and has not made adequate close seasons for her waterfowl; +which is wrong. To-day, the people of Texas do not need to be told that +forty-three species of birds feed on the cotton boll weevil; for they +know it. + +On the whole, and for a southern state, the wild-life laws of Texas are +in fairly good shape. On account of the absence of game-scourge markets, +a Bayne law is not so imperatively necessary there as in certain other +states. All the game of the state is protected from sale. + +We do assert, however, that if robins are slaughtered as F.L. Crow, the +former Atlantan asserts, all robin shooting should be forever stopped; +that the pinnated grouse should be given a seven-year close season, and +that doves should be taken off the list of game birds and perpetually +protected, both for economic and sentimental reasons, and also because +the too weak and confiding dove is not a "game" bird for red-blooded +men. + + Texas should enact without delay a law providing close seasons for + ducks, geese and other waterfowl; + + A law prohibiting spring shooting, and + + A provision reducing the limit on deer to two bucks a season. + +UTAH: + +The laws of Utah are far from being up to the requirements of the +present hour. One strange thing has happened in Utah. + +When I spent a week in Salt Lake City in 1888, and devoted some time to +inquiring into game conditions, the laws of the state were very bad. At +the mouth of Bear River, ducks were being slaughtered for the markets by +the tens of thousands. The cold-blooded, wide open and utterly shameless +way in which it was being done, right at the doors of Salt Lake City, +was appalling. + +At the same time, the law permitted the slaughter of _spotted fawns_. I +saw a huge drygoods box filled to the top with the flat skins of +slaughtered innocents, _260 in number_, that a rascal had collected and +was offering at fifty cents each. In reply to a question as to their +use, he said: "I tink de sportsmen like 'em for to make vests oud of." +He lived at Rawlins, Wyo. + +After a long and somnolent period, during which hundreds of thousands of +ducks, geese, brant and other birds had been slaughtered for market at +the Bear River shambles and elsewhere, the state awoke sufficiently to +abate a portion of the disgrace by passing a bag-limit law (1897). + +And then came Nature's punishment upon Utah for that duck slaughter. The +ducks of Great Salt Lake became afflicted with a terrible epidemic +disease (intestinal coccidiosis) which swept off thousands, and stopped +the use of Utah ducks as food! It was a "duck plague," no less. It has +prevailed for three years, and has not yet by any means been stamped +out. It seems to be due to the fact that countless thousands of ducks +have been feeding on the exposed alluvial flats at the mouth of the +creek that drains off the _sewage of Salt Lake City_. The conditions are +said to be terrible. + +To-day, Utah is so nearly destitute of big game that the subject is +hardly worthy of mention. Of her upland game birds, only a fraction +remains, and as her laws stand to-day, she is destined to become in the +near future a gameless state. In a dry region like this, the wild life +always hangs on by a slender thread, and it is easy to exterminate it! + + Utah should instantly stop the sale of game that she now legally + provides for,--twenty-five shore birds and waterfowl per day to + private parties! + + Deer should be given a ten-year close season, at once. All bag + limits should instantly be reduced one-half. The sage grouse, quail, + swans, woodcock, dove, and all shore birds should be given a + ten-year close season,--and rigidly protected,--before the stock is + all gone. + + The model law for the protection of non-game birds should be enacted + at once. + + The absolute protection of elk, antelope and sheep (until 1913) + should be extended for twenty years. + + Utah should create a big-game preserve, at once. + +If Utah proposes to save even a remnant of her wild life for posterity, +she must be up and doing. + +VERMONT: + +In view of all conditions, it must be stated that the game laws of +Vermont are, with but slight exceptions, in good condition. It is a +pleasure to see that there is no spring shooting; that there is no +"open" season of slaughter for the moose, caribou, wood-duck, swan, +upland plover, dove or rail; that no buck deer with antlers less than +three inches long may be killed; and that there is a law under which +damages by deer to growing crops may be assessed and paid for by the +county in which they occur. Moreover, if there is to be any killing of +game, her bag limits are not extravagant. All the game protected by the +state is immune from sale for food purposes, but preserve-reared game +may legally be sold. We recommend the following new measures: + + Absolute close seasons of five-years' duration for ruffed grouse, + quail, woodcock, snipe and all shore birds without a single + exception. + + The gray squirrel should be perpetually protected,--because he is + too beautiful, too companionable and too unfit for food to be + killed. Even the hungry savages of the East Indies do not eat + squirrels. + + Pass an automatic pump-gun law. + + Extend the term of the Fish and Game Commissioner to four years. + +Vermont's great success in introducing and colonizing deer is both +interesting and valuable. Fifty years ago, she had no wild deer, because +the species had been practically exterminated. In 1875, thirteen deer +were imported from the Adirondacks and set free in the mountains. The +increase has been enormous. In 1909 the number of deer killed for the +year was about 5,311, which was possible without adversely affecting the +herds. It is a striking object-lesson in restoring the white-tailed deer +to its own, and it will be found more fully described in chapter XXIV. + +VIRGINIA: + +Virginia is far below the position that she should occupy in wild-life +conservation. To set her house in order, and come up to the level of the +states that have been born during the past twenty years, she must bestir +herself in these ways: + + She must provide for a resident hunting license, a State Game + Commissioner and a force of salaried wardens. + + She must prohibit spring shooting. + + She must impose small bag limits on game-slaughter. + + She must resolutely stop the sale of all wild game. + + She must stop the killing of female deer, and of bucks with horns + under three inches long. + + She must stop killing gray squirrels and doves as "game." + + She should not permit the beautiful wood-duck to be killed as + "game." + + She should accord a five-year close season to grouse, and all shore + birds. + + She should rule out the machine shot-guns which gentlemen can no + longer use in hunting. + +She should adopt at once a comprehensive code of game laws, and clean +her house in one siege, instead of fiddling and fussing with all these +matters one by one, through a series of ten long, weary years. The time +for puttering with game protection has gone by. It is now time to make +short cuts to comprehensive results, and save the game before it is too +late. + + +WASHINGTON: + +The state of Washington still flatters herself that she has all kinds of +big game to kill,--moose, antelope, goat, sheep, caribou and deer. +Evidently this is on the theory that so long as a species is not +extinct, it is "legal" and right to pursue it with rifles during a +specified "open season." + +The people of Washington need to be told that conditions have greatly +changed, and it is now high time to put on the brakes. It is time for +them to realize that if they wait any longer for the sportsmen to take +the initiative in securing the enactment of really adequate preservation +laws, all their big game will be dead before those laws are born! Every +man shrinks from cutting off his own pet privilege. + +Some of the game laws of Washington are up to date; and her big-game +laws look all right to the unaided eye, but are not. Her bird laws are a +chaotic jumble of local exceptions and special privileges. As a net +result of all her shortcomings, the remnant of a once fine fauna of big +game and feathered game is surely being _exterminated according to law._ +A few local exceptions will not disprove the general truthfulness of +this assertion. + +Ten years ago a few men in Seattle resented the idea of outside +co-operation in the protection of Washington game. They said they were +abundantly able to take care of it; but the march of events has proven +that they overestimated their capacity. To-day the wild-life laws of +that state are only half baked. Come what may to me, I shall set down +without malice the things that the great and admirable State of +Washington should do to set her house in order. It is not good for the +resourceful and progressive men of the Great Northwest to be clear +behind the times in these matters. + +_Stop local game legislation, and enact a code of laws covering the +entire state, uniformly. County legislation is twenty years behind the +times!_ + + For ten (10) full years, stop the killing of elk, mountain sheep, + mountain goat, caribou, moose, and antelope. Regarding deer, I am in + doubt. + + Prohibit the sale of all wild game, no matter where killed, by the + enactment of a Bayne law, complete, which will also + + Promote the breeding, killing and sale of domestic game for food + purposes. + + Make a careful investigation of the present status of your sage + grouse, every other grouse, quail, and all species of shore birds, + then give a five-year close season, all over the state, to every + species that is "becoming scarce." This will embrace certainly + one-half of the whole number, if not two-thirds. + + Provide two bird refuges in the eastern portion of the state, where + they are very greatly needed to supplement the good effects of the + State Game Preserve established on Puget Sound in 1911. + + Bar the use in hunting of the odious automatic and pump shotguns + that are now so generally in use all over the United States to the + great detriment of the game and the people. + +WEST VIRGINIA: + +Considering the fact that West Virginia contains no plague-spot city for +the consumption of commercial wild game, that the sale of all game is +prohibited at all times, and the game of the state may not be exported +for sale elsewhere, the wild life of West Virginia is reasonably secure +from the market gunner,--if an adequate salaried warden force is +provided. Without such a force her game must continue to be destroyed in +the future as in the past to supply the markets of Pittsburgh, +Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. The deer law is excellent, and +the non-game birds, and the dove and wood-duck are perpetually +protected. + +One fly in the ointment is--spring shooting; which for ducks, geese and +brant continues from September 1 to April 20. Unfortunately the law +enacted in 1875 against spring shooting has been _repealed,_ and so has +the resident hunting license law (1911). + +In view of the impossibility of imagining a good reason for the repeal +of a good law, we recommend: + + That the law against spring shooting be re-enacted. + + That the resident hunter's license law be re-enacted, and the + proceeds specifically devoted to the preservation and increase of + game. + + That a force of regular salaried wardens be provided to enforce the + laws. + + That the bag limit on quail should be 10 per day or 40 per season, + instead of 12 and 96; and on ruffed grouse it should be 3 per day + (as in New York) or 12 per season. One wild turkey per day, or three + per season is quite enough for one man. The visible supply will not + justify the existing limit of two and six. + + +WISCONSIN: + +In spite of the fierce fight made in 1910-11 by the saloon-element +game-shooters of Milwaukee for the control of the wild-life situation, +and the repeal of the best protective laws of the state, the Army of +Defense once more defeated the Allied Destroyers, and drove them off the +field. Once more it was proven that when The People are aroused, they +are abundantly able to send the steam roller over the enemies of wild +life. + +Alphabetically, Wisconsin may come near the end of the roll-call; but by +downright merit in protection, she comes mighty close to the head of the +list of states. Her slate of "Work to be done" is particularly clean; +and she has our most distinguished admiration. Her force of game wardens +is not a political-machine force. It amounts to something. The men who +get within it undergo successfully a civil service examination that +certainly separates the sheep from the goats. For particulars address +Dr. T.S. Palmer, Department of Agriculture, Washington. + +According to the standards that have been dragging along previous to +this moment, Wisconsin has a good series of game laws. But the hour for +a Reformation of ideas and principles has struck. We heard it first in +April, 1911. The wild life of America must not be exterminated according +to law, contrary to law, or in the absence of law! Wisconsin must take +a fresh grip on her game situation, or it will get away from her, after +all. + + Not another prairie chicken or woodcock should be killed in + Wisconsin between 1912 and 1922. When any small bird becomes so + scarce that the bag limit needs to be cut down to five, as it now is + for the above in Wisconsin, it is time to stop for ten years, before + it is too late. + + Wisconsin should immediately busy herself about the creation of bird + and game preserves. + + For goodness sake, Wisconsin, stop killing squirrels as "game!" You + ought to know better--and you do! Leave that form of barbarism for + the Benighted States. + + And pass a law shutting out the machine guns. They are a disgrace to + our country, and a scourge to our game. Continually are they leading + good men astray. + + Extend the term of your State Warden to four years. + + +WYOMING: + +The State of Wyoming once had a magnificent heritage of game. It +embraced the Rocky Mountain species, and also those of the great plains. +First and last, the state has worked hard to protect her wild life, and +hold the killing of it down to a decent basis. + +As far back as 1889, I met on the Shoshone River a very wide-awake +warden, actually "on his job," who was maintained by a body of private +citizens headed by Col. Pickett and known as the Northern Wyoming Game +Protective Association. And even then we saw that the laws were too +liberal for the game. In one man's cold-storage dug-out we saw enough +sheep, deer and elk meat to subsist a company of hungry dragoons, all +killed and possessed according to law. + +In the protection of her mountain game, Wyoming has had a hard task. In +the Yellowstone Park between 1889 and 1894, the poachers for the +taxidermists of Livingston and elsewhere slaughtered 270 bison out of +300; and Howell was the only man caught. England can protect game in +far-distant mountains and wildernesses; but America can not,--or at +least _we don't!_ With us, men living in remote places who find wild +game about them say "To h--- with the law!" They kill on the sly, in +season and out of season, females and males; and the average local jury +simply _will not_ convict the average settler who is accused of such a +trifling indiscretion as killing game out of season when he "needs the +meat." + +And so, with laws in full force protecting females, the volume of big +game steadily disappears, _everywhere west of the Alleghanies where the +law permits big-game hunting!_ An interesting chapter might be written +on game exterminated according to law. + +The deadly defects in the protection of western big game are: + + Structural weakness in the enforcement of the laws; + + Collusion between offenders for the suppression of evidence; + + Perjury on the witness stand; + + Dishonesty and disloyalty on the part of local jurors when friends, + are on trial; + + Sympathy of judges for "the poor man" who wants to eat the game to + save his cattle and sheep. + +[Illustration: (Map of) STATES AND PROVINCES WHICH REQUIRE RESIDENTS TO +OBTAIN HUNTING LICENSES, 1912 + + In Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma and Rhode Island an + additional fee of 10 to 20 cents is charged for issuing the license. + + Inclosed names indicate States which permit residents to hunt on + their own land without license. Nova Scotia has a $5 resident + license and exempts landowners. + + Note that many of the States adopt the French method of exempting + landowners, while some, particularly in the West follow the English + method of requiring everyone who hunts to obtain a license. + +From Farmers' Bulletin No. 510, U-S. Dept. of Agriculture] + +Elsewhere there appears a statement regarding the elk of Jackson Hole, +and the efforts made and being made to save them. At this point we are +interested in the game of Wyoming as a whole. + + First of all, the killing of mountain sheep should absolutely cease, + for ten years. + + A similar ten-year close season should be accorded moose and + prong-horned antelope. + + All grouse should now be classed with doves and swans (no open + season), and kept there for ten years. + + Spring shooting is wrong in principle and vicious in practice; and + it should be stopped in Wyoming, as elsewhere. + + The automatic and pump shotguns when used in hunting are a disgrace + to Wyoming, as they are to other states, and should be suppressed; + and the silencer for use in hunting is in the black list. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXII + +NEED FOR A FEDERAL MIGRATORY BIRD LAW, NO-SALE-OF-GAME LAW, AND OTHERS + + +We are assuming that the American people sincerely desire the adequate +protection and increase of bird life, for reasons that are both +sentimental and commercial. Surely every good citizen dislikes to see +millions of dollar's worth of national wealth foolishly wasted, and he +dislikes to pay any unnecessary increased cost of living. There must be +several millions of Americans who feel that way, and who are disposed to +demand a complete revolution in bird protection. + +There are four needs of wild bird life that are fundamental, and that +can not be ignored, any more than a builder can ignore the four +cornerstones of his building. Listed in the order of their importance, +they are as follows: + + 1.--_The federal protection of all migratory birds._ + + 2.--_The total suppression of the sale of native wild game_. + + 3.--_The total suppression of spring shooting and of shooting in the + breeding season, and_ + + 4.--_Long close seasons for all species that are about to be "shot + out_." + +If the gunners of America wish to have a gameless continent, all they +need do to secure it is to oppose these principles, prevent their +translation into law, and maintain the status quo. If they do this, then +_all our best birds are doomed to swift destruction_. Let no man make a +mistake on that point. The "open seasons" and "bag limits" of the United +States to-day are just as deadly as the 5,000,000 sporting guns now in +use, and the 700,000,000 annual cartridges. It is only the ignorant or +the vicious who will seriously dispute this statement. + +THE FEDERAL PROTECTION OF MIGRATORY BIRDS.--The bill now before Congress +for the protection of all migratory birds by the national government is +the most important measure ever placed before that body in behalf of +wild life. A stranger to this proposition will need to pause for thought +in order to grasp its full meaning, and appreciate the magnitude of its +influence. + +The urgent necessity for a law of this nature is due to the utter +inadequacy of the laws that prevail throughout some portions of the +United States concerning the slaughter and preservation of birds. Any +law that is not enforced is a poor law. There is not one state in the +Union, nor a single province in Canada, in which the game birds, and +other birds criminally shot as game, are not being killed far faster +than they are breeding, and thereby being exterminated. + +Several states are financially unable to employ a force of salaried game +wardens; and wherever that is true, the door to universal slaughter is +wide open. Let him who questions this take Virginia as a case in point. +A loyal Virginian told me only this year that in his state the warden +system is an ineffective farce, and the game is not protected, because +the wardens can not afford to patrol the state for nothing. + +This condition prevails in a number of states, north and south, +especially south. It is my belief that throughout nine-tenths of the +South, the negroes and poor whites are slaughtering birds exactly as +they please. It is the _permanent residents_ of the haunts of birds and +game that are exterminating the wild life. + +The value of the birds as destroyers of noxious insects, has been set +forth in Chapter XXIII. Their total value is enormous--or it _would_ be +if the birds were alive and here in their normal numbers. To-day there +are about one-tenth as many birds as were alive and working thirty years +ago. During the past thirty years the destruction of our game birds has +been enormous, and the insectivorous birds have greatly decreased. + +The damages annually inflicted upon the farm, orchard and garden crops +of this country are very great. When a city is destroyed by earthquake +or fire, and $100,000,000 worth of property is swept away, we are racked +with horror and pity; and the cities of America pour out money like +water to relieve the resultant distress. We are shocked because we can +_see_ the flames, the smoke and the ruins. + +And yet, we annually endure with perfect equanimity (_because we can not +see it_?) a loss of nearly $400,000,000 worth of value that is destroyed +by insects. The damage is inflicted silently, insidiously, without any +scare heads or wooden type in the newspapers, and so we pay the price +without protest. We know--when we stop to think of it--that not all this +loss falls upon the producer. We know that every consumer of bread, +cereals, vegetables and fruit _pays his share of this loss_! To-day, +millions of people are groaning under the "increased cost of living." +The bill for the federal protection of all migratory birds is directly +intended to decrease the cost of living, by preventing outrageous waste; +but of all the persons to whom the needs of that bill are presented, how +many will take the time to promote its quick passage by direct appeals +to their members of Congress? We shall see. + +The good that would be accomplished, annually, by the enactment of a law +for the federal protection of all migratory birds is beyond computation; +but it is my belief that within a very few years the increase in bird +life would prevent what is now an annual loss of $250,000,000. It is +beyond the power of man to protect his crops and fruit and trees as the +bird millions would protect them--if they were here as they were in +1870. The migratory bird bill is of vast importance because it would +throw the strong arm of federal protection around 610 species of birds. +The power of Uncle Sam is respected and feared in many places where the +power of the state is ignored. + +The list of migratory birds includes most of the perching birds; all the +shore birds (_great_ destroyers of bad insects); all the swifts and +swallows; the goat-suckers (whippoorwill and nighthawk); some of the +woodpeckers; most of the rails; pigeons and doves; many of the hawks; +some of the cranes and herons and all the geese, ducks and swans. + +A movement for the federal protection of migratory game birds was +proposed to Congress by George Shiras, 3rd, who as a member of the House +in the 58th Congress introduced a bill to secure that end. An excellent +brief on that subject by Mr. Shiras appeared in the printed hearing on +the McLean bill, held on March 6, 1912, page 18. Omitting the bills +introduced in the 59th, 60th and 61st sessions, mention need be made +only of the measures under consideration in the present Congress. One of +these is a bill introduced by Representative J.W. Weeks, of +Massachusetts, and another is the bill of Representative D.R. Anthony, +Jr., of Kansas, of the same purport. + +Finally, on April 24, 1912, an adequate and entirely reasonable bill was +introduced in the Senate by Senator George P. McLean, of Connecticut, as +No. 6497 (Calendar No. 606). This bill provides federal protection for +_all_ migratory birds, and embraces all save a very few of the species +that are specially destructive to noxious insects. The bill provides +national protection to the farmer's and fruit-grower's best friends. It +is entitled to the enthusiastic support of 90,000,000 of people, native +and alien. Every producer of farm products and every consumer of them +owes it to himself to write at once to his member of Congress and ask +him (1) to urge the speedy consideration of the bill for the federal +protection of all migratory birds, (2) to vote for it, and (3) to work +for it until it is passed. It matters not which one of the three bills +described finally becomes a law. Will the American people act rationally +about this matter, and protect their own interests? + +SUPPRESS THE SALE OF ALL NATIVE WILD GAME.--The deadly effect of the +commercial slaughter of game and its sale for food is now becoming well +understood by the American people. One by one the various state +legislatures have been putting up the bars against the exportation or +sale of any "game protected by the state." The U.S. Department of +Agriculture says, through Henry Oldys, that "free marketing of wild game +leads swiftly to extermination;" and it is literally true. + +Up to March, 1911, it appears that several states prohibited the sale of +game, sixteen states permitted the sale of all unprotected game, and in +eight more there was partial prohibition. Unfortunately, however, many +of these states permitted the sale of _imported_ game. Now, since it +happened to be a fact that the vast majority of the states prohibit the +_export_ of their game, as well as the sale of it, a very large quantity +of such game as quail, ruffed grouse, snipe, woodcock and shore birds +was illegally shot for the market, exported in defiance both of state +laws and the federal Lacey Act, and sold to the detriment of the states +that produced it. In other words, in the laws of each state that merely +sought to protect _their own_ game, regardless of the game of +neighboring states, there was not merely a loop-hole, but there was a +gap wide enough to drive through with a coach and four. The ruffed +grouse of Massachusetts and Connecticut often were butchered to make +Gotham holidays in joyous contempt of the laws at both ends of the line. +As a natural result the game of the Atlantic coast was disappearing at a +frightful rate. + +[Illustration: EIGHTEEN STATES ENTIRELY PROHIBIT THE SALE OF GAME WHY DO +THE OTHERS LAG BEHIND?] + +In 1911, the no-sale-of-game law of New York was born out of sheer +desperation. The Army of Destruction went up to Albany well-organized, +well provided with money and attorneys, with three senators in the +Senate and two assemblymen in the lower house, to wage merciless warfare +on the whole wild-life cause. The market gunners and game dealers not +only proposed to repeal the law against spring shooting but also to +defeat all legislation that might be attempted to restrict the sale of +game, or impose bag limits on wild fowl. The Milliners' Association +proposed to wipe off the books the Dutcher law against the use of the +plumage of wild birds in millinery, and an assemblyman was committed to +that cause as its special champion. + +Then it was that all the friends of wild life in the Empire State +resolved upon a death grapple with the Destroyers, and a fight to an +absolute finish. The Bayne bill, entirely prohibiting the sale of all +native wild game throughout the state of New York, was drafted and +thrown into the ring, and the struggle began. At first the +no-sale-of-game bill looked like sheer madness, but no sooner was it +fairly launched than supporters came flocking in from every side. All +the organizations of sportsmen and friends of wild life combined in one +mighty army, the strength of which was irresistible. The real sportsmen +of the state quickly realized that the no-sale bill was _directly in the +interest of legitimate sport_. The great mass of people who love wild +life, and never kill, were quick to comprehend the far-reaching +importance of the measure, and they supported it, with money and +enthusiasm. + +The members of the legislature received thousands of letters from their +constituents, asking them to support the Bayne-Blauvelt bill. They did +so. On its passage through the two houses, only _one_ vote was recorded +against it! Incidentally, every move attempted by the Army of +Destruction was defeated and in the final summing up the defeat amounted +to an utter rout. + +In 1912, after a tremendous struggle, the legislature of Massachusetts +passed a counterpart of the Bayne law, and took her place in the front +rank of states. That was a great fight. The market-gunners of Cape Cod, +the game dealers and other interests entered the struggle with men in +the lower house of the legislature specially elected to look after their +interests. Just as in New York in 1911, they proposed to repeal the +existing laws against spring shooting and throw the markets wide open to +the sale of game. From first to last, through three long and stormy +months, the Destroyers fought with a degree of determination and +persistence worthy of a better cause. They contested with the Defenders +every inch of ground. In New York, the Destroyers were overwhelmed by +the tidal wave of Defenders, but in Massachusetts it was a prolonged +hand-to-hand fight on the ramparts. _Five times_ was a bill to repeal +the spring-shooting law introduced and defeated! + +Even after the bill had passed both houses by good majorities, the +Governor declared that he could not sign it. And then there poured into +the Executive offices such a flood of callers, letters, telegrams and +telephone calls that he became convinced that the People desired the +law; so he signed the bill in deference to the wishes of the majority. + +The principle that the sale of game is wrong, and fatal to the existence +of a supply of game, is as fixed and unassailable as the Rocky +Mountains. Its universal acceptance is only a question of intelligence +and common honesty. The open states owe it to themselves and each other +to enact both the spirit and the letter of the Bayne law, _and do it +quickly_, before it is too late to profit by it! Let them remember the +heath hen,--amply protected when entirely too late to save it from +extinction! + +It is fairly beyond question that the killing of wild game for the +market, and its sale in the "open season" _and out of it_, is +responsible for the disappearance of at least fifty per cent of our +stock of American feathered game. It is the market-gunner, the game-hog +who shoots "for sport" and sells his game, and the game dealer, who have +swept away the wild ducks, the ruffed grouse, the quail and the prairie +chickens that thirty years ago were abundant on their natural ranges. +The foolish farmers of the middle West permitted the market-hunters of +Chicago and the East to slaughter their own legitimate game by the +barrel and the car-load, and ship it "East," to market. To-day the +waters of Currituck Sound are a wholesale slaughter-place for migratory +wild fowl with which to supply the markets of Baltimore, Washington and +Philadelphia. Furthermore, the market gunners of Currituck are robbing +the people of 16 states of tens of thousands of wild-fowl that +legitimately belong to them, during the annual autumn flight. The +accompanying map shows how it is done. + +[Illustration: MAP USED IN THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE BAYNE LAW +This map shows how the sale of ducks killed on the Carrituck Sound +robs the people of 16 states, for the benefit of a few. +STOP THE SALE OF GAME! +(Signed W.T. Hornaday, March 6, 1911.)] + +To-day, the cash rewards of the market-hunter who can reach a large city +with his product are dangerously great. Observe the following +_wholesale_ prices that prevailed in New York city in 1910, just prior +to the passage of the Bayne law. They were compiled and published by +Henry Oldys, of the Biological Survey. + +Grouse, domestic per pair $3.00 +Grouse, foreign " " $1.25 to 1.75 +Partridge, domestic " " 3.50 " 4.00 +Woodcock, domestic " " 1.50 " 2.00 +Golden plover per dozen 2.50 " 3.50 +English snipe " " 2.00 " 3.00 +Canvasback duck per pair 2.25 " 3.00 +Redhead duck " " 1.50 " 2.50 +Mallard duck " " " 1.25 +Bluewing teal " " .75 " 1.00 +Greenwing teal " " .75 " .90 +Broadbill duck " " .50 " .75 +Rail, No. 1 per dozen " 1.00 +Rail, No. 2 " " " .60 +Venison, whole deer per pound .22 " .25 +Venison, saddle " " .30 " .35 + +All our feathered game is rapidly slipping away from us. _Are we going +to save anything from the wreck_? Will we so weakly manage the game +situation that later on there will be no legitimate bird-shooting for +our younger sons, and our grandsons? + +All laws that permit the killing of game for the market, and the sale of +it afterward, are class legislation of the worst sort. They permit a +hundred men selfishly to slaughter for their own pockets the game that +rightfully belongs to a hundred thousand men and boys who shoot for the +legitimate recreation that such field sports afford. Will any of the +sportsmen of America "stand for" this until the game is _all_ gone? + +The people who pay big prices for game in the hotels and restaurants of +our big cities are not men who _need_ that game as food. Far from it. +They can obtain scores of fine meat dishes without destroying the wild +flocks. In civilized countries wild game is no longer necessary as +"food," to satisfy hunger, and ward off starvation. In the United States +the day of the hungry Indian-fighting pioneer has gone by and there is +an abundance of food everywhere. + +The time to temporize and feel timid over the game situation has gone +by. The situation is desperate; and nothing but strong and vigorous +measures will avail anything worth while. The sale of all wild game +should be stopped, everywhere and at all seasons, throughout all North +America, and throughout the world. To-day this particular curse is being +felt even in India. + +It is the duty of every true sportsman, every farmer who owns a gun, and +every lover of wild life, to enter into the campaign for the passage of +bills absolutely prohibiting all traffic in wild game no matter what its +origin. Of course the market hunters, the game-hogs and the game dealers +will bitterly oppose them, and hire a lobby to attempt to defeat them. +But the fight for no-sale-of-game is now on, and it must not stop short +of complete victory. + + * * * * * + +REASONS WHY THE SALE OF WILD GAME SHOULD CEASE EVERYWHERE + + 1.--Because fully 95 per cent of our legitimate stock of feathered + game has already been destroyed. + + 2.--Because if market-gunning and the sale of game continue ten + years longer, all our feathered game will be swept away. + + 3.--Because when the sale of game was permitted one dealer was able + to sell 1,000,000 _game birds per year in New York City_, so he + himself said. + + 4.--Because it is a fixed fact that every wild species of mammal, + bird or reptile that is pursued for money-making purposes eventually + is wiped out of existence. Even the whales of the sea are no + exception. + + 5.--Because at least 50 per cent of the decrease in our feathered + game is due to market-gunning, and the sale of game. Look at the + prairie chicken of the Mississippi Valley, and the ruffed grouse of + New England. + + 6.--Because the laws that permit the commercial slaughter of wild + birds for the benefit of less than five per cent of the inhabitants + of any state are directly against the interest of the 95 per cent of + other people, to _whom that game partly belongs_. + + 7.--Because game killed "for sale" is not intended to satisfy + "hunger." The people who eat game in large cities do not know what + hunger is, save by hearsay. Purchased game is used chiefly in + over-feeding; and as a rule it does far more harm than good. + + 8.--Because the greatest value to be derived from any game bird is + in seeing it, and photographing it, and enjoying its living company + in its native haunts. Who will love the forests when they become + destitute of wild life, and desolate? + + 9.--Because stopping the sale of game _will help bring back the game + birds to us, in a few years_. + + 10.--Because the pace that New York and Massachusetts have set in + this matter will render it easier to procure the passage of Bayne + laws in other states. + + 11.--Because those who legitimately desire game for their tables can + be supplied from the game farms and preserves that now are coming + into existence. + +When New York's far-reaching Bayne bill became a law, the following dead +birds lay in cold storage in New York City: + +Wild duck 98,156 +Plover 48,780 +Quail 14,227 +Grouse 21,202 +Snipe 7,825 +Woodcock 767 +Rail 419 + ------- + 191,376 + +They represented the last slaughterings of American game for New York. +To-day the remaining plague-spots are Chicago, Philadelphia, San +Francisco, Baltimore, Washington and New Orleans; but in New Orleans the +brakes have at last (1912) been applied, and the market slaughter that +formerly prevailed in that state has at least been checked. + +As an instance of persistent market shooting on the greatest ducking +waters of the eastern United States, I offer this report from a +trustworthy agent sent to Currituck Sound, North Carolina, in March, +1911. + + I beg to submit the following information relative to the number of + wild ducks and geese shipped from this market and killed in the + waters of Back Bay and the upper or north end of Currituck Sound, + from October 20th to March 1st, inclusive. + + Approximately there were killed and shipped in the territory above + named, 130,000 to 135,000 wild ducks and between 1400 and 1500 wild + geese. From Currituck Sound and its tributaries there were shipped + approximately 200,000 wild ducks. + + You will see from the above figures that each year the market + shooter exacts a tremendous toll from the wild water fowl in these + waters, and it is only a question of a short time when the wild duck + will be exterminated, unless we can stop the ruthless slaughter. The + last few years I have noted a great decrease in the number of wild + ducks; some of the species are practically extinct. I have secured + the above information from a most reliable source, and the figures + given approximately cannot be questioned. + +The effect of the passage of the Bayne law, closing the greatest +American market against the sale of game was an immediate decrease of +fully fifty per cent in the number of ducks and geese slaughtered on +Currituck Sound. The dealers refused to buy the birds, and one-half the +killers were compelled to hang up their guns and go to work. The +duck-slaughterers felt very much enraged by the passage of the law, and +at first were inclined to blame the northern members of Currituck +ducking clubs for the passage of the measure; but as a matter of fact, +not one of the persons blamed took any part whatever in the campaign for +the new law. + +THE UNFAIRNESS OF SPRING SHOOTING.--The shooting of game birds in late +winter and spring is to be mentioned only to be condemned. It is grossly +unfair to the birds, outrageous in principle, and most unsportsmanlike, +no matter whether the law permits it or not. Why it is that any state +like Iowa, for example, can go on killing game in spring is more than I +can understand. I have endeavored to find a reason for it, in Iowa, but +the only real reason is:--"The boys want the birds!" + +I think we have at last reached the point where it may truthfully be +said that now no gentleman shoots birds in spring. If the plea is made +that "if we don't shoot ducks in the spring we can't shoot them at all!" +then the answer is--if you can't shoot game like high-minded, +red-blooded sportsman, _don't shoot it at all_! A gentleman can not +afford to barter his standing and his own self-respect for a few ducks +shot in the spring when the birds are going north to lay their eggs. And +the man who insists on shooting in spring may just as well go right on +and do various other things that are beyond the pale, such as shoot +quail on the ground, shoot does and fawns, and fish for trout with gang +hooks. + +There are no longer two sides to what once was the spring shooting +question. Even among savages, the breeding period of the wild creatures +is under taboo. Then if ever may the beasts and birds cry "King's +excuse!" It has been positively stated in print that high-class fox +hounds have been known to refuse to chase a pregnant fox, even when in +full view. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +BRINGING BACK THE VANISHED BIRDS AND GAME + + +The most charming trait of wild-life character is the alacrity and +confidence with which wild birds and mammals respond to the friendly +advances of human friends. Those who are not very familiar with the +mental traits of our wild neighbors may at first find it difficult to +comprehend the marvelous celerity with which both birds and mammals +recognize friendly overtures from man, and respond to them. + +At the present juncture, this state of the wild-animal mind becomes a +factor of great importance in determining what we can do to prevent the +extermination of species, and to promote the increase and return of wild +life. + +I think that there is not a single wild mammal or bird species now +living that can not, or does not, quickly recognize protection, _and +take advantage of it_. The most conspicuous of all familiar examples are +the wild animals of the Yellowstone Park. They embrace the elk, mountain +sheep, antelope, mule deer, the black bear and even the grizzly. No one +can say precisely how long those several species were in ascertaining +that it was safe to trust themselves within easy rifle-shot of man; but +I think it was about five years. Birds recognize protection far more +quickly than mammals. In a comparatively short time the naturally wild +and wary big game of the Yellowstone Park became about as tame as range +cattle. It was at least fifteen years ago that the mule deer began to +frequent the parade ground at the Mammoth Hot Springs military post, and +receive there their rations of hay. + +Whenever you see a beautiful photograph of a large band of big-horn +sheep or mule deer taken at short range amid Rocky Mountain scenery, you +are safe in labeling it as having come from the Yellowstone Park. The +prong-horned antelope herd is so tame that it is difficult to keep it +out of the streets of Gardiner, on the Montana side of the line. + +But the bears! Who has not heard the story of the bears of the +Yellowstone Park,--how black bears and grizzlies stalk out of the woods, +every day, to the garbage dumping-ground; how black bears actually have +come _into the hotels_ for food, without breaking the truce, and how the +grizzlies boldly raid the grub-wagons and cook-tents of campers, taking +just what they please, because they _know_ that no man dares to shoot +them! Indeed, those raiding bears long ago became a public nuisance, and +many of them have been caught in steel box-traps and shipped to +zoological gardens, in order to get them out of the way. And yet, +outside the Park boundaries, everywhere, the bears are as wary and wild +as the wildest. + +The arrogance of the bears that couldn't be shot once led to a droll +and also exciting episode. + +During the period when Mr. C.J. Jones ("Buffalo" Jones) was +superintendent of the wild animals of the Park, the indignities +inflicted upon tourist campers by certain grizzly bears quite abraded +his nerves. He obtained from Major Pitcher authority to punish and +reform a certain grizzly, and went about the matter in a thoroughly +Buffalo-Jonesian manner. He procured a strong lariat and a bean-pole +seven feet long and repaired to the camp that was troubled by too much +grizzly. + +The particular offender was a full-grown male grizzly who had become a +notorious raider. At the psychological moment Jones lassoed him in short +order, getting a firm hold on the bear's left hind leg. Quickly the end +of the rope was thrown over a limb of the nearest tree, and in a trice +Ephraim found himself swinging head downward between the heavens and the +earth. And then his punishment began. + +Buffalo Jones thrashed him soundly with the bean-pole! The outraged bear +swung to and fro, whirled round and round, clawing and snapping at the +empty air, roaring and bawling with rage, scourged in flesh and insulted +in spirit. As he swung, the bean-pole searched out the different parts +of his anatomy with a wonderful degree of neatness and precision. +Between rage and indignation the grizzly nearly exploded. A +moving-picture camera was there, and since that day that truly moving +scene has amazed and thrilled countless thousands of people. + +When it was over, Mr. Jones boldly turned the bear loose! Although its +rage was as boundless as the glories of the Yellowstone Park, it paused +not to rend any of those present, but headed for the tall timber, and +with many an indignant "Woof! Woof!" it plunged in and disappeared. It +was two or three years before that locality was again troubled by +impudent grizzly bears. + +And what is the mental attitude of _every_ Rocky Mountain black or +grizzly bear _outside_ of the Yellowstone Park? It is colossal suspicion +of man, perpetual fear, and a clean pair of heels the moment man-scent +or man-sight proclaims the proximity of the Arch Enemy of Wild +Creatures. And yet there are one or two men who tell the American public +that wild animals do not think, that they do not reason, and are +governed only by "instinct"! + +"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!" + +TAMING WILD BIRDS.--As incontestable proof of the receptive faculties of +birds, I will cite the taming of wild birds in the open, by friendly +advances. There are hundreds, aye, thousands, of men, women, boys and +girls who could give interesting and valuable personal testimony on this +point. + +My friend J. Alden Loring (one of the naturalists of the Roosevelt +African Expedition), is an ardent lover of wild birds and mammals. The +taming of wild creatures in the open is one of his pastimes, and his +results serve well to illustrate the marvelous readiness of our wild +neighbors to become close friends with man _when protected_. I will +quote from one of Mr. Loring's letters on this subject: + +"Taming wild birds is a new field in nature study, and one never can +tell what success he will have until he has experimented with different +species. Some birds tame much more easily than others. On three or four +occasions I have enticed a chickadee _to my hand_ at the first attempt, +while in other cases it has taken from fifteen minutes to a whole day. + +"Chipping sparrows that frequent my doorway I have tamed in two days. A +nuthatch required three hours before it would fly to my hand, although +it took food from my stick the first time it was offered. When you find +a bird on her nest, it is of course much easier to tame that individual +than if you had to follow it about in the open, and wait for it to come +within reach of a stick. By exercising extreme caution, and approaching +inch by inch, I have climbed a tree to the nest of a yellow-throated +vireo, and at the first attempt handed the bird a meal-worm with my +fingers. At one time I had two house wrens, a yellow-throated vireo, a +chipping sparrow and a flock of chickadees that would come to my hand." + +[Illustration: SIX WILD CHIPMUNKS DINE WITH MR. LORING] + + +It would be possible--and also delightful--to fill a volume with +citations of evidence to illustrate the quick acceptance of man's +protection by wild birds and mammals. Let me draw a few illustrations +from my own wild neighbors. + +On Lake Agassiz, in the N.Y. Zoological Park, within 500 feet of my +office in the Administration Building, a pair of wild wood-ducks made +their nest last spring, and have just finished rearing nine fine, +healthy young birds. Whenever you see a wood-duck rise and fly in our +Park, you may know that it is a wild bird. During the summer of 1912 a +small flock of wild wood-ducks came every night to our Wild-Fowl Pond, +and spent the night there. + +A year ago, a covey of eleven quail appeared in the Park, and have +persistently remained ever since. Last fall and winter they came at +least twenty times to a spot within forty feet of the rear window of my +office, in order to feed upon the wheat screenings that we placed there +for them. + +When we first occupied the Zoological Park grounds, in 1899, there was +not one wild rabbit in the whole 264 acres. Presently the species +appeared, and rabbits began to hop about confidently, all over the +place. In 1906, we estimated that there were about eighty individuals. +Then the marauding cats began to come in, and they killed off the +rabbits until not one was to be seen. Thereupon, we addressed ourselves +to those cats, in more serious earnest than ever before. Now the cats +have disappeared; and one day last spring, as I left my office at six +o'clock, everyone else having previously gone, I almost stepped upon two +half-grown bunnies that had been visiting on the front door-mat. + +When we were macadamizing the yards around the Elephant House, with a +throng of workmen all about every day, a robin made its nest on the +heavy channel-iron frame of one of the large elephant gates that swung +to and fro nearly every day. + +In 1900 we planted a young pine tree in front of our temporary office +building, within six feet of a main walk; and at once a pair of robins +nested in it and reared young there. + +[Illustration: WILD CREATURES QUICKLY RESPOND TO FRIENDLY ADVANCES +Chickadee and Chipmunk Tamed by Mr. Loring] + +[Illustration: THE COLORADO OBJECT LESSON IN BRINGING BACK THE DUCKS] + +Up in Putnam County, where for five years deer have been protected, the +exhibitions that are given each year of the supreme confidence of +protected deer literally astonish the natives. They are almost unafraid +of man and his vehicles, his cattle and his horses, but of course they +are unwilling to be handled. Strangers are astonished; but people who +know something about the mental attitude of wild animals under +protection know that it is the natural and inevitable result of _real +protection_. + +At Mr. Frank Seaman's summer home in the Catskills, the phoebe birds +nest on the beams under the roof of the porch. At my summer home in the +Berkshires, no sooner was our garage completed than a phoebe built her +nest on the edge of the lintel over the side door; and another built on +a drain-pipe over the kitchen door. + +Near Port Jervis, last year a wild ruffed grouse nested and reared a +large brood in the garden of Mr. W.I. Mitchell, within _two feet_ of the +foundation of the house. + +On the Bull River in the wilds of British Columbia two trappers of my +acquaintance, Mack Norboe and Charlie Smith, once formed a friendship +with a wild weasel. In a very few visits, the weasel found that it was +among friends, and the trappers' log cabin became its home. I have a +photograph of it, taken while it posed on the door-sill. The trappers +said that often when returning at nightfall from their trap-lines, the +weasel would meet them a hundred yards away on the trail, and follow +them back to the cabin. + +"Old Ben," the big sea-lion who often landed on the wharf at Avalon, +Santa Catalina, to be fed on fish, was personally known to thousands of +people. + +AN OBJECT LESSON IN PROTECTION.--A remarkable object lesson in the +recognition of protection by wild ducks came under my notice in the +pages of "Recreation Magazine" in June, 1903, when that publication was +edited by G.O. Shields. The article was entitled,--" A Haven of Refuge," +and the place described well deserved the name. It is impossible for me +to impress upon the readers of this volume with sufficient force and +clearness the splendid success that is easily attainable in encouraging +the return of the birds. The story of the Mosca "Haven of Refuge" was so +well told by Mr. Charles C. Townsend in the publication referred to +above, that I take pleasure in reproducing it entire. + + One mile north of the little village of Mosca, Colorado, in San Luis + valley, lives the family of J.C. Gray. On the Gray ranch there is an + artesian well which empties into a small pond about 100 feet square. + This pond is never entirely frozen over and the water emptying + therein is warm even during the coldest winter. + + Some five years ago, Mr. Gray secured a few wild-duck eggs, and + hatched them under a hen. The little ducks were reared and fed on + the little pond. The following spring they left the place, to return + in the fall, bringing with them broods of young; also bringing other + ducks to the home where protection was afforded them, and plenty of + good feed was provided. Each year since, the ducks have scattered in + the spring to mate and rear their families, returning again with + greatly increased numbers in the fall, and again bringing strangers + to the haven of refuge. + + I drove out to the ranch November 24, 1902, and found the little + pond almost black with the birds, and was fortunate enough to secure + a picture of a part of the pond while the ducks were thickly + gathered thereon. Ice had formed around the edges, and this ice was + covered with ducks. The water was also alive with others, which paid + not the least attention to the party of strangers on the shore. + + From Mr. Gray I learned that there were some 600 ducks of various + kinds on the pond at that time, though it was then early for them to + seek winter quarters. Later in the year, he assured me, there would + be between 2,000 and 3,000 teal, mallards, canvas-backs, redheads + and other varieties, all perfectly at home and fearless of danger. + The family have habitually approached the pond from the house, which + stands on the south side, and should any person appear on the north + side of the pond the ducks immediately take fright and flight. Wheat + was strewn on the ground and in the water, and the ducks waddled + around us within a few inches of our feet to feed, paying not the + least attention to us, or to the old house-dog which walked near. + + Six miles east of the ranch is San Luis lake, to which these ducks + travel almost daily while the lake is open. When they are at the + lake it is impossible to approach within gunshot of the then timid + birds. Some unsympathetic boys and men have learned the habit of the + birds, and place themselves in hiding along the course of flight to + and from the lake. Many ducks are shot in this way, but woe to the + person caught firing a gun on or near the home-pond. When away from + home, the birds are as other wild-ducks and fail to recognize any + members of the Gray family. While at home they follow the boys + around the barn-yard, squawking for feed like so many tame ducks. + + This is the greatest sight I have ever witnessed, and one that I + could not believe existed until I had seen it. Certainly it is worth + travelling many miles to see, and no one, after seeing it, would + care to shoot birds that, when kindly treated, make such charming + pets. + +Since the above was published, the protected flocks of tame wild ducks +have become one of the most interesting sights of Florida. At Palm Beach +the tameness of the wild ducks when within their protected area, and +their wildness outside of it, has been witnessed by thousands of +visitors. + +THE SAVING OF THE SNOWY EGRET IN THE UNITED STATES.--The time was when +very many persons believed that the devastations of the plume-hunters +of Florida and the Gulf Coast would be so long continued and so +persistently followed up to the logical conclusion that both species of +plume-furnishing egrets would disappear from the avifauna of the United +States. This expectation gave rise to feelings of resentment, +indignation and despair. + +It happened, however, that almost at the last moment a solitary +individual set on foot an enterprise calculated to preserve the snowy +egret (which is the smaller of the two species involved), from final +extermination. The splendid success that has attended the efforts of Mr. +Edward A. McIlhenny, of Avery Island, Louisiana, is entitled not only to +admiration and praise, but also to the higher tribute of practical +imitation. Mr. McIlhenny is, first of all, a lover of birds, and a +humanitarian. He has traveled widely throughout the continent of North +America and elsewhere, and has seen much of wild life and man's +influence upon it. To-day his highest ambition is to create for the +benefit of the Present, and as a heritage to Posterity, a +mid-continental chain of great bird refuges, in which migrating wild +fowl and birds of all other species may find resting-places and refuges +during their migrations, and protected feeding-grounds in winter. In +this grand enterprise, the consummation of which is now in progress, Mr. +McIlhenny is associated with Mr. Charles Willis Ward, joint donor of the +splendid Ward-McIlhenny Bird Preserve of 13,000 acres, which recently +was presented to the State of Louisiana by its former owners. + +The egret and heron preserve, however, is Mr. McIlhenny's individual +enterprise, and really furnished the motif of the larger movement. Of +its inception and development, he has kindly furnished me the following +account, accompanied by many beautiful photographs of egrets breeding in +sanctuary, one of which appears on page 27. + + In some recent publications I have seen statements to the effect + that you believed the egrets were nearing extinction, owing to the + persecution of plume hunters, so I know that you will be interested + in the enclosed photographs, which were taken in my heron rookery, + situated within 100 yards of my factory, where I am now sitting + dictating this letter. + + This rookery was started by me in 1896, because I saw at that time + that the herons of Louisiana were being rapidly exterminated by + plume hunters. My thought was that the way to preserve them would be + to start an artificial rookery of them where they could be + thoroughly protected. With this end in view I built a small pond, + taking in a wet space that contained a few willows and other shrubs + which grow in wet places. + + In a large cage in this pond, I raised some snowy herons. After + keeping the birds in confinement for something over six months I + turned them loose, hoping that they would come back the next season, + as they were perfectly tame and were used to seeing people. I was + rewarded the next season by four of the birds returning, and nesting + in the willows in the pond. This was the start of a rookery that now + covers 35 acres, and contains more than twenty thousand pairs of + nesting birds, embracing not only the egrets but all the species of + herons found in Louisiana, besides many other water birds. + + With a view to carrying on the preservation of our birds on a larger + scale, Mr. Chas. W. Ward and I have recently donated to the State of + Louisiana 13,000 acres of what I consider to be the finest wild fowl + feeding ground on the Louisiana coast, as it contains the only + gravel beach for 50 miles, and all of the geese within that space + come daily to this beach for gravel. This territory also produces a + great amount of natural food for geese and ducks. + +SAVING THE GULLS AND TERNS.--But for the vigorous and long-continued +efforts of the Audubon Societies, I think our coasts would by this time +have been swept clean of the gulls and terns that now adorn it. Twenty +years ago the milliners were determined to have them all. The fight for +them was long, and hotly contested, but the Audubon Societies won. It +was a great victory, and has yielded results of great value to the +country at large. And yet, it was only a small number of persons who +furnished the money and made the fight which inured to the benefit of +the millions of American people. Hereafter, whenever you see an American +gull or tern, remind yourself that it was saved to the nation by "the +Audubon people." + +In times of grave emergency, such as fire, war and scarcity of food, the +wild creatures forget their fear of man, and many times actually +surrender themselves to his mercy and protection. At such times, hard is +the heart and low is the code of manly honor that does not respond in a +manner becoming a superior species. + +The most pathetic wild-animal situation ever seen in the United States +on a large scale is that which for six winters in succession forced +several thousand starving elk into the settlement of Jackson Hole, +Wyoming, in quest of food at the hands of their natural enemies. The elk +lost all fear, partly because they were not attacked, and they +surrounded the log-enclosed haystacks, barns and houses, mutely begging +for food. Previous to the winter of 1911, thousands of weak calves and +cows perished around the haystacks. Mr. S.N. Leek's wonderful pictures +tell a thrilling but very sad story. + +To the everlasting honor of the people of Jackson Hole, be it recorded +that they rose like Men to the occasion that confronted them. In 1909 +they gave to the elk herds all the hay that their domestic stock could +spare, not pausing to ascertain whether they ever would be reimbursed +for it. They just handed it out! The famishing animals literally mobbed +the hay-wagons. To-day the national government has the situation in +hand. + +In times of peace and plenty, the people of Jackson Hole take their toll +of the elk herds, but their example during starvation periods is to be +commended to all men. + +A SLAUGHTER OF RESTORED GAME.--The case of the chamois in Switzerland +teaches the world a valuable lesson in how _not_ to slaughter game that +has come back to its haunts through protected breeding. + +A few years ago, one of the provinces of Switzerland took note of the +fact that its once-abundant stock of chamois was almost extinct, and +enacted a law by which the remnant was absolutely protected for a long +period. During those years of protection, the animals bred and +multiplied, until finally the original number was almost restored. + +Then,--as always in such cases,--there arose a strong demand for an open +season; and eventually the government yielded to the pressure of the +hunters, and fixed a date whereon an open season should begin. + +[Illustration: GULLS AND TERNS OF OUR COASTS, SAVED FROM DESTRUCTION +These Birds have been Saved and Brought back to us by the Splendid Efforts +of the Audubon Societies, and other Bird-Lovers. But for the Anti-Plumage +Laws, not one Gull or Tern would now Remain on our Atlantic Coast +From the "American Natural History"] + +During the period preceding that fatal date, the living chamois, grown +half tame by years of immunity from the guns, were all carefully located +and marked down by those who intended to hunt them. At daybreak on the +fatal day, the onset began. Guns and hunters were everywhere, and the +mountains resounded with the fusillade. Hundreds of chamois were slain, +by hundreds of hunters; and by the close of that fatal "open season" the +species was more nearly exterminated throughout that region than ever +before. Once more those mountains were nice and barren of game. + +Let that bloody and disgraceful episode serve as a warning to Americans +who are tempted to demand an open season on game that has bred back from +the verge of extinction. Particularly do we commend it to the notice of +the people of Colorado who _even now_ are demanding an open season on +the preserved mountain sheep of that state. The granting of such an open +season would be a brutal outrage. Those sheep are now so tame and +unsuspicious that the killing of them would be _cold-blooded murder!_ + +THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION.--Within reasonable limits, any partly-destroyed +wild species can be increased and brought back by giving absolute +protection from harassment and slaughter. When a species is struggling +to recuperate, it deserves to be left _entirely unmolested_ until it is +once more on safe ground. + +Every breeding wild animal craves seclusion and entire immunity from +excitement and all forms of molestation. Nature simply demands this as +her unassailable right. It is my firm belief that any wild species will +breed in captivity whenever its members are given a degree of seclusion +that they deem satisfactory. + +With species that have not been shot down to a point entirely too low, +adequate protection generously long in duration will bring back their +numbers. If the people of the United States so willed it, we could have +wild white-tailed deer in every state and in every county (save city +counties) between the Atlantic and the Rocky Mountains. We could easily +have one thousand bob white quail for every one now living. We could +have squirrels in every grove, and songbirds by the million,--merely by +protecting them from slaughter and molestation. From Ohio to the great +plains, the pinnated grouse could be made far more common than crows and +blackbirds. + +Inasmuch as all this is true,--and no one with information will dispute +it for a moment,--is it not folly to seek to supplant our own splendid +native species of game birds (_that we never yet have decently +protected!_) with foreign species? Let the American people answer this +question with "Yes" or "No." + +The methods by which our non-game birds can be encouraged and brought +back are very simple: Protect them, put up shelters for them, give them +nest-boxes in abundance, protect them from cats, dogs, and all other +forms of destruction, and feed those that need to be fed. I should think +that every boy living in the country would find keen pleasure in making +and erecting nest-boxes for martins, wrens, and squirrels; in putting up +straw teepees in winter for the quail, in feeding the quail, and in +nailing to the trees chunks of suet and fat pork every winter for the +woodpeckers, nuthatches, and other winter residents. + +Will any person now on this earth live long enough to see the present +all-pervading and devilish spirit of slaughter so replaced by the love +of wild creatures and the true spirit of conservation that it will be as +rare as it now is common? + +But let no one think for a moment that any vanishing species can at any +time be brought back; for that would be a grave error. The point is +always reached, by every such species, that the survivors are too few to +cope with circumstances, and recovery is impossible. The heath hen could +not be brought back, neither could the passenger pigeon. The whooping +crane, the sage grouse, the trumpeter swan, the wild turkey, and the +upland plover never will come back to us, and nothing that we can do +ever will bring them back. Circumstances are against those species,--and +I fear against many others also. Thanks to the fact that the American +bison breeds well in captivity, we have saved that species from complete +extinction, but our antelope seems to be doomed. + +It is because of the alarming condition of our best wild life that quick +action and strong action is vitally necessary. We are sleeping on our +possibilities. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +INTRODUCED SPECIES THAT HAVE BEEN BENEFICIAL + + +Man has made numerous experiments in the transplantation of wild species +of mammals and birds from one country, or continent, to another. About +one-half these efforts have been beneficial, and the other half have +resulted disastrously. + +The transplantation of any wild-animal species is a leap in the dark. On +general principles it is dangerous to meddle with the laws of Nature, +and attempt to improve upon the code of the wilderness. Our best wisdom +in such matters may easily prove to be short-sighted folly. The trouble +lies in the fact that concerning transplantation it is _impossible for +us to know beforehand all the conditions that will affect it, or that it +will effect, and how it will work out_. In its own home a species may +_seem_ not only harmless, but actually beneficial to man. We do not +know, and _we can not know_, all the influences that keep it in check, +and that mould its character. We do not know, and we can not know +without a trial, how new environment will affect it, and what new traits +of character it will develop under radically different conditions. The +gentle dove of Europe may become the tyrant dove of Cathay. The +Repressed Rabbit of the Old World becomes in Australia the +Uncontrollable Rabbit, a devastator and a pest of pests. + +No wild species should be transplanted and set free in a wild state to +stock new regions without consulting men of wisdom, and following their +advice. It is now against the laws of the United States to introduce and +acclimatize in a wild state, anywhere in the United States, any +wild-bird species without the approval of the Department of Agriculture. +The law is a wise one. Furthermore, the same principle should apply to +birds that it is proposed to transplant from one portion of the United +States into another, especially when the two are widely separated. + +On this point, I once learned a valuable lesson, which may well point my +present moral. Incidentally, also, it was a narrow escape for me! + +A gentlemen of my acquaintance, who admires the European magpie, and is +well aware of its acceptable residence in various countries in Europe, +once requested my cooperation in securing and acclimatizing at his +country estate a number of birds of that species. As in duty bound, I +laid the matter before our Department of Agriculture, and asked for an +opinion. The Department replied, in effect, "Why import a foreign magpie +when we have in the West a species of our own quite as handsome, and +which could more easily be transplanted?" + +The point seemed well taken. Now, I had seen much of the American +magpie in its wild home,--the Rocky Mountains, and the western border +of the Great Plains,--and I _thought_ I was acquainted with it. I knew +that a few complaints against it had been made, but they had seemed to +me very trivial. To me our magpie seemed to have a generally +unobjectionable record. + +Fortunately for me, I wrote to Mr. Hershey, Assistant Curator of +Ornithology in the Colorado State Museum, for assistance in procuring +fifty birds, for transplantation to the State of New York. Mr. Hershey +replied that if I really wished the birds for acclimatization, he would +gladly procure them for me; but he said that in the _thickly-settled +farming communities_ of Colorado, the magpie is now regarded as a pest. +It devours the eggs and nestlings of other wild birds, and not only +that, it destroys so many eggs of domestic poultry that many farmers are +compelled to keep their egg-laying hens shut up in wire enclosures! + +Now, this condition happened to be entirely unknown to me, because I +never had seen the American magpie in action _in a farming community_! +Of course the proposed experiment was promptly abandoned, but it is +embarrassing to think how near I came to making a mistake. Even if the +magpies had been transplanted and had become a nuisance in this state, +they could easily have been exterminated by shooting; but the memory of +the error would have been humiliating to the party of the first part. + +THE OLD WORLD PHEASANTS IN AMERICA.--In 1881 the first Chinese +ring-necked pheasants were introduced into the United States, twelve +miles below Portland, Oregon; twelve males and three females. The next +year, Oregon gave pheasants a five-year close season. A little later, +the golden and silver pheasants of China were introduced, and all three +species throve mightily, on the Pacific Coast, in Oregon, Washington and +western British Columbia. In 1900, the sportsmen of Portland and +Vancouver were shooting cock golden pheasants according to law. + +The success of Chinese and Japanese pheasants on the Pacific Coast soon +led to experiments in the more progressive states, at state expense. +State pheasant hatcheries have been established in Massachusetts, +Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and +California. + +In many localities, the old-world pheasants have come to stay. The rise +and progress of the ring-neck in western New York has already been +noted. It came about merely through protection. That protection was +protection in fact, not the false "protection" that shoots on the sly. +It is the irony of fate that full protection should be accorded a +foreign bird, in order that it may multiply and possess the land, while +the same kind of protection is refused the native bob white, and it is +now almost a dead species, so far as this state is concerned. + +In looking about for grievances against the ring-necked and English +pheasant, some persons have claimed that in winter these birds are +"budders," which means that they harmfully strip trees and bushes of the +buds that those bushes will surely need in their spring opening. On +that point Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Game +Commission, sent out a circular letter of inquiry, in response to which +he received many statements. With but one exception, all the testimony +received was to the effect that pheasants are _not_ bud-eaters, and that +generally the charge is unfounded. + +The introduction of old-world pheasants, and the attempted introduction +of the Hungarian partridge, are efforts designed first of all to furnish +sportsmen something to shoot, and incidentally to provide a new food +supply for the table. The people of this country are not starving, nor +are they even very hungry for the meat of strange birds; but as a +food-producer, the pheasant is all right. + +It disgusts me to the core, however, to see states that wantonly and +wickedly, through sheer apathy and lack of business enterprise, have +allowed the quail, the heath hen, the pinnated grouse and the ruffed +grouse to become almost exterminated by extravagant and foolish +shooters, now putting forth wonderfully diligent efforts and spending +money without end, in introducing _foreign_ species! Many men actually +take the ground that our game "can't live" in its own country any +longer; but only the ignorant and the unthinking will say so! Give our +game birds decent, sensible, _actual_ protection, stop their being +slaughtered far faster than they breed, and _they will live anywhere in +their own native haunts_! But where is there _one species_ of upland +game bird in America that has been sensibly and adequately protected? +From Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon there is _not one,--not a +single locality in which protection from shooting has been sensible, or +just, or adequate_. + +We have universally given our American upland game birds an unfair deal, +and now we are adding insult to slaughter by bringing in foreign game +birds to replace them--because our birds "can't live" before five +million shot-guns! + +Our American game birds CAN live, anywhere in the haunts where nature +placed them that are not to-day actually occupied by cities and towns! +Give me the making of the laws, and I will make the prairie chicken and +quail as numerous throughout the northern states east of the Great +Plains as domestic chickens are outside the regular poultry farms. There +is only one reason why there are not ten million quail in the state of +New York to-day,--one for each human inhabitant,--and that reason is the +infernal greed and selfishness of the men who have almost exterminated +our quail by over-shooting. Don't talk to me about the "hard winters" +killing off our quail! It is the hard cheek of the men who shoot them +when they ought to let them alone. + +The State of Iowa could support 500,000 prairie chickens and never miss +the waste grain that they would glean in the fields; but now the prairie +chicken is practically extinct in Iowa, only a few scattered specimens +remaining as "last survivors" in some of the northern counties. The +migration of those birds that unexpectedly came down from the north last +winter was like the fall of a meteor,--only the birds promptly faded +away again. Why should New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts +exterminate the heath hen and coddle the ring-necked pheasant and the +Hungarian partridge? + +The introduction of the old-world pheasants interests me very little. +Every one that I see is a painful reminder of our slaughtered quail and +grouse,--the birds that never have had a square deal from the American +people! Thus far the introduction of the Hungarian partridge has not +been successful, anywhere. Connecticut, Missouri, New Jersey and I think +other states have tried this, and failed. The failure of that species +brings no sorrow to me. I prefer our own game birds; and if the American +people will not conserve those properly and decently they deserve to +have no game birds. + +THE EUROPEAN RED DEER IN NEW ZEALAND.--Occasionally a gameless land +makes a ten-strike by introducing a foreign game animal that does no +harm, and becomes of great value. The greatest success ever made in the +transplantation of game animals has been in New Zealand. + +Originally, New Zealand possessed no large animals, and no "big-game." +When Nature passed around the deer, antelopes, sheep, goats, wild cattle +and bears, New Zealand failed to receive her share. For centuries her +splendid forests, her grand mountains and picturesque valleys remained +untenanted by big game. + +In 1864, the Prince Consort of England caused seven head of European red +deer to be taken from the royal park at Windsor, and sent to +Christchurch, New Zealand. Only three of the animals survived the long +voyage; a buck and two does. For several weeks the two were kept in a +barn in Christchurch, where they served no good purpose, and were not +likely to live long or be happy. Finally some one said, "Let's set them +free in the mountains!" + +The idea was adopted. The three animals were hauled an uncertain number +of miles into the interior mountains and set free. + +They promptly settled down in their new home. They began to breed, and +now on the North Island there are probably five thousand European red +deer, every one of which has descended directly from the famous three! +And here is the strangest part of the story: + +The red deer of the North Island represent the greatest case of +in-and-in breeding of wild animals on record. According to the +experience of the world in the breeding of domestic cattle (_not +horses_), we should expect physical deterioration, the development of +diseases, and disaster. On the contrary, the usual evil results of +in-breeding in domestic cattle have been totally absent. _The red deer +of New Zealand are to-day physically larger and more robust animals, +with longer and heavier antlers, and longer hair, than any of the red +deer of Europe west of Germany_! + +Red deer have been introduced practically all over New Zealand, and the +total number now in the Islands must be somewhere near forty thousand. +The sportsmen of that country have grand sport, and take many splendid +trophies. That transplantation has been a very great success. +Incidentally, the case of the in-bred deer of the North Island, taken +along with other cases of which we know, establishes a new and important +principle in evolution. It is this: + +_When healthy wild animals are established in a state of nature, either +absolutely free, or confined in preserves so large that they roam at +will, seek the food of nature and take care of themselves, in-and-in +breeding produces no ill effects, and ceases to be a factor. The animals +develop in physical perfection according to the climate and their food +supply; and the introduction of new blood is not necessary_. + +THE FALLOW DEER ON THE ISLAND OF LAMBAY.--In the Irish Sea, a few miles +from the southeast coast of Ireland, is the Island of Lambay, owned by +Cecil Baring, Esq. The island is precisely one square mile in area, and +some of its sea frontage terminates in perpendicular cliffs. In many +ways the island is of unusual interest to zoologists, and its fauna has +been well set forth by Mr. Baring. + +In the year 1892 three fallow deer (_Dama vulgaris_) a buck and two +does, were transplanted from a park on the Irish mainland to Lambay, and +there set free. From that slender stock has sprung a large herd, which, +but for the many deer that have been purposely shot, and the really +considerable number that have been killed by going over the cliffs in +stormy weather, the progeny of the original three would to-day number +several hundred head. No new blood has been introduced, and _no deer +have died of disease_. Even counting out the losses by the rifle and by +accidental death, the herd to-day numbers more than one hundred head. + +Mr. Baring declares that neither he nor his gamekeeper have ever been +able to discover any deterioration in the deer of Lambay, either in +size, weight, size of antlers, fertility or general physical stamina. +The deterioration through disease, especially tuberculosis, that always +is dreaded and often observed in closely in-bred domestic cattle, has +been totally absent. + +In looking about for wild species that have been transplanted, and that +have thriven and become beneficial to man, there seems to be mighty +little game in sight! The vast majority belong in the next chapter. We +will venture to mention the bob white quail that were introduced into +Utah in 1871, into Idaho in 1875, and the California valley quail in +Washington in 1857. Wherever these efforts have succeeded, the results +have been beneficial to man. + +In 1879 a well-organized effort was made to introduce European quail +into several of the New England and Middle States,--to take the place of +the bob white, we may suppose,--the bird that "can't stand the winters!" +About three thousand birds were distributed and set free,--and went down +and out, just as might have been expected. During the past twenty years +it is safe to say that not less than $500,000 have been expended in the +northern states, and particularly in the northeastern states, in +importing live quail from Kansas, the Indian Territory, Oklahoma, Texas, +the Carolinas and other southern states, for restocking areas from which +the northern bob white had been exterminated by foolish over-shooting! I +think that fully nine-tenths of these efforts have ended in total +failure. The quail could not survive in their strange environment. I +cannot recall a _single instance_ in which restocking northern covers +with southern quail has been a success. + +There is no royal road to the restoration of an exterminated bird +species. Where the native seed still exists, by long labor and travail, +thorough protection and a mighty long close season, it can be encouraged +to _breed back and return_; but it is an evolution that can not be +hurried in the least. Protect Nature, and leave the rest to her. + +With mammals, the case is different. It is possible to restock depleted +areas, provided Time is recognized as a dominant factor. I can cite two +interesting cases by way of illustration, but this subject will form +another chapter. + +In the transplantation of fishes, conditions are widely different, and +many notable successes have been achieved. + + One of the greatest hits ever made by the United States Bureau of + Fisheries in the planting of fish in new localities was the + introduction of the striped bass or rock-fish (_Roccus lineatus_) of + our Atlantic coast, into the coast waters of California. In 1879, + 135 live fish were deposited in Karquines Strait, at Martinez, and + in 1882, 300 more were planted in Suisun Bay, near the first + locality chosen. + + Twelve years after the first planting in San Francisco Bay, the + markets of San Francisco handled 149,997 pounds of striped bass. At + that time the average weight for a whole year was eleven pounds, and + the average price was ten cents per pound. Fish weighing as high as + forty-nine pounds have been taken, and there are reasons for the + belief that eventually the fish of California will attain as great + weight as those of the Atlantic and the Gulf. + + The San Francisco markets now sell, annually, about one and one half + million pounds of striped bass. This fish has taken its place among + anglers as one of the game fishes of the California coast, and + affords fine sport. Strange to say, however, it has not yet spread + beyond the shores of California. + + Regarding this species, the records of the United States Bureau of + Fisheries are of interest. In 1897, the California markets handled + 2,949,642 pounds, worth $225,527.--(American Natural History.) + +Nowhere else in the world, we venture to say, were such extensive, +costly and persistent efforts put forth in the transplantation of any +wild foreign species as the old U.S. Fish Commission, under Prof. +Spencer F. Baird, put forth in the introduction of the German carp into +the fresh water ponds, lakes and rivers of the United States. It was +held that because the carp could live and thrive in waters bottomed with +mud, that species would be a boon to all inland regions where bodies of +water, or streams, were scarce and dear. Although the carp is not the +best fish in the world for the table, it seemed that the dwellers in the +prairie and great plains regions would find it far better than +bullheads, or no fish at all,--which are about the same thing. + +By means of special fish cars, sent literally all over the United +States, at a great total expense, live carp, hatched in the ponds near +the Washington Monument were distributed to all applicants. The German +carp spread far and wide; but to-day I think the fish has about as many +enemies as friends. In some places, strong objections have been filed to +the manner in which carp stir up the mud at the bottom of ponds and +small lakes, greatly to the detriment of all the native fishes found +therein. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXV + +INTRODUCED SPECIES THAT HAVE BECOME PESTS + + +The man who successfully transplants or "introduces" into a new habitat +any persistent species of living thing, assumes a very grave +responsibility. Every introduced species is doubtful gravel until panned +out. The enormous losses that have been inflicted upon the world through +the perpetuation of follies with wild vertebrates and insects would, if +added together, be enough to purchase a principality. The most +aggravating feature of these follies in transplantation is that never +yet have they been made severely punishable. We are just as careless and +easy-going on this point as we were about the government of the +Yellowstone Park in the days when Howell and other poachers destroyed +our first national bison herd, and when caught red-handed--as Howell +was, skinning seven Park bison cows,--_could not be punished for it, +because there was no penalty prescribed by any law_. + +To-day, there is a way in which any revengeful person could inflict +enormous damage on the entire South, at no cost to himself, involve +those states in enormous losses and the expenditure of vast sums of +money, yet go absolutely unpunished! + +THE GYPSY MOTH is a case in point. This winged calamity was imported at +Maiden, Massachusetts, near Boston, by a French entomologist, Mr. +Leopold Trouvelot, in 1868 or '69. History records the fact that the man +of science did not purposely set free the pest. He was endeavoring with +live specimens to find a moth that would produce a cocoon of commercial +value to America; and a sudden gust of wind blew out of his study, +through an open window, his living and breeding specimens of the gypsy +moth. The moth itself is not bad to look at, but its larvae is a great, +overgrown brute, with an appetite like a hog. Immediately Mr. Trouvelot +sought to recover his specimens, and when he failed to find them all. +like a man of real honor, he notified the State authorities of the +accident. Every effort was made to recover all the specimens, but enough +escaped to produce progeny that soon became a scourge to the trees of +Massachusetts. The method of the big, nasty-looking mottled-brown +caterpillar was very simple. It devoured the entire foliage of every +tree that grew in its sphere of influence. + +The gypsy moth spread with alarming rapidity and persistence. In course +of time the state authorities of Massachuestts were forced to begin a +relentless war upon it, by poisonous sprays and by fire. It was awful! +Up to this date (1912) the New England states and the United States +Government service have expended in fighting this pest about $7,680,000! + +The spread of this pest has been retarded, but the gypsy moth never +will be wholly stamped out. To-day it exists in Rhode Island, +Connecticut and New Hampshire, and it is due to reach New York at an +early date. It is steadily spreading in three directions from Boston, +its original point of departure, and when it strikes the State of New +York, we, too, will begin to pay dearly for the Trouvclot experiment. It +is said that General S.C. Lawrence, of Medford, Massachusetts, has spent +$75,000 in trying to protect his trees from the ravages of this scourge. + +THE RABBIT PLAGUE IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND.--The rabbit curse upon +Australia and New Zealand is so well known as to require little comment. +In this case the introduction was deliberate. In the days when the sheep +industry was most prosperous, a patriotic gentleman conceived the idea +that the introduction of the rabbit, and its establishment as a wild +animal, would be a good thing. He reasoned that it would furnish a good +food supply, that it would furnish sport, and being unable to harm any +other creature of flesh and blood it was therefore harmless. +Accordingly, three pairs of rabbits were imported and set free. + +In a short time, the immense number of rabbits that began to overrun the +country furnished food for reflection, as well as for the table. A very +simple calculation brought out the startling information that, under +perfectly favorable conditions, a single pair of rabbits could in three +years' time produce progeny amounting to 13,718,000 individuals. Ever +since that time, in discussing the rabbits of Australia it has been +necessary to speak in millions. + +"The inhabitants of the colony," says Dr. Richard Lydekker, "soon found +that the rabbits were a plague, for they devoured the grass, which was +needed for the sheep, the bark of trees, and every kind of fruit and +vegetable, until the prospects of the colony became a very serious +matter, and ruin seemed inevitable. In New South Wales upwards of +15,000,000 rabbits skins have been exported in a single year; while in +thirteen years ending with 1889 no less than 39,000,000 were accounted +for in Victoria alone. + +"To prevent the increase of these rodents, the introduction of weasels, +stoats, mongooses, etc., has been tried; but it has been found that +those carnivores neglected the rabbits and took to feeding on poultry, +and thus became as great a nuisance as the animals they were intended to +destroy. The attempt to kill them off by the introduction of an epidemic +disease has also failed. In order to protect such portions of the +country as are still free from rabbits, fences of wire netting have been +erected; one of these fences erected by the Government of Victoria +extending for a distance of upwards of one hundred and fifty +geographical miles. In New Zealand, where the rabbit has been introduced +little more than twenty years, its increase has been so enormous, and +the destruction it inflicts so great, that in some districts it has +actually been a question whether the colonists should not vacate the +country rather than attempt to fight against the plague. The average +number of rabbit skins exported from New Zealand is now twelve +millions."--(Royal Natural History.) + +THE FOX PEST IN AUSTRALIA.--And now unfortunate Australia has a new +pest, also acquired by importation of an alien species. It is the +European fox (_Vulpes vulpes_). The only redeeming feature about this +fresh calamity is found in the fact that the species was not +deliberately introduced into Australia for the benefit of the local +fauna. Mr. O.W. Rosenhain, of Melbourne, informs me (1912) that about +thirty years ago the Hunt Club brought to Australia about twenty foxes, +for the promotion of the noble sport of fox hunting. In some untoward +manner, the most of those animals escaped. They survived, multiplied, +and have provided New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia with a +fox pest of the first rank. + +The destruction of wild bird life and poultry has become so serious that +Australia now is making vigorous efforts to exterminate the pest. The +government pays ten shillings bounty on fox scalps, besides which each +prime fox skin is worth from four to five dollars. It is hoped that +these combined values will eliminate the fox pest. + +Regarding foxes in Australia, Mr. W.H.D. Le Souef has this to say in his +extremely interesting and valuable book, "Wild Life in Australia," page +146: + +"We found that foxes were unfortunately plentiful in this district, and +in a hollow log that served to shelter some cubs were noticed the +remains of ducks, fowls, rabbits, lambs, bandicoots and snakes; so they +evidently vary their fare, snakes even not coming amiss. They also sneak +on wild ducks that are nesting by the edge of the water among the rushes +and tussocky grass, and catch quail also, especially sitting birds. +_These animals are, and always will be, a great source of trouble in the +thickly timbered country and stony ranges, and will gradually, like the +rabbit, extend all over Australia_. They are evidently not contented +with ground game only, as Mr. A.F. Kelly, of Barwonleigh, in Victoria, +states: "When riding past a bull-oak tree about twenty-five feet high, +with either a magpie's or crow's nest on top. I noticed the nest looked +very bulky, and had something red in it. On going nearer I saw a large +fox coiled up in it!" + +THE MONGOOSE.--Circumstances alter cases, and a change of environment +sometimes works marvelous changes in the character of an animal species. +Now, _why_ should not the gray Indian mongoose (formerly called the +ichneumon, _(Herpestes griscus_)) destroy poultry in India, as it does +elsewhere? There is poultry in plenty to be destroyed, but +"Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" elects to specialize on the killing of rats, and +cobras, and other snakes. + +In his own sphere of influence,--India and the orient,--the mongoose is +a fairly decent citizen, and he fits into the time-worn economy of that +region. As a destroyer of the thrice-anathema domestic rat, he has no +equal in the domain of flesh and blood. His temper is so fierce that one +"pet" mongoose has been known to kill a full grown male giant bustard, +and put a greyhound to flight. + +In an evil moment (1872) Mr. W.B. Espeut conceived the idea that it +would be a good thing to introduce mongooses to the rats of Barbadoes +and Jamaica that were pestering the cane-fields to an annoying extent. +It was done. The mongooses attacked the rats, cleaned them out, +multiplied, and then looked about for more worlds to conquer. Snakes and +lizards were few; but they cheerfully killed and devoured all there +were. Then, being continuously hungry, they attacked the wild birds and +poultry, indiscriminately, and with their usual vigor. I have been told +that in Barbadoes "they cleaned out every living thing that they could +catch and kill, and then they attacked the sugar-cane." The last count +in the indictment may seem hard to believe; but it is a fact that the +Indian mongoose often resorts to fruit and vegetable food. + +In Jamaica, at the end of the rat-killing period, the planters joyfully +estimated that the labors of Herpestes had saved between 500,000 pounds +and 750,000 pounds to the industries of that island. That was before the +slaughter of wild birds and poultry began. I am told that up to date the +damage done by the mongoose far exceeds the value of the benefit it once +conferred, but the total has not been computed. + +Up to this date, the mongoose has invaded and become a destructive pest +in Barbadoes, Jamaica, Cuba, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Trinidad, Nevis, +Fiji and all the larger islands of the Hawaiian group. It would require +many pages to contain a full account of each introduction, awakening, +reckoning of damages and payment of bounties for destruction that the +fiendish mongoose has wrought out wherever it has been introduced. The +progress of the pest is everywhere the same,--sweeping destruction of +rats, snakes, wild birds, small mammals, and finally poultry and +vegetables. + +Every country that now is without the mongoose will do well to shut and +guard diligently all the doors by which it might be introduced. + +Throughout its range in the western hemisphere, the mongoose is a pest; +and the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture has done well +in securing the enactment of a law peremptorily prohibiting the +importation of any animals of that species into the United States or any +of its colonies. The fierce temper, indomitable courage and vaulting +appetite of the mongoose would make its actual introduction in any of +the warm portions of the United States a horrible calamity. In the +southern states, and all along the Pacific slope clear up to Seattle, it +could live, thrive and multiply; and the slaughter that it could and +would inflict upon our wild birds generally, especially all those that +nest and live on the ground, saying nothing of the slaughter of poultry, +would drive the American people crazy. + +Fancy an animal with the murderous ferocity of a mink, the agility of a +squirrel, the penetration of a ferret and the cunning of a rat, +infesting the thickets and barnyards of this country. The mongoose can +live wherever a rat can live, provided it can get a fair amount of +animal food. Not for $1,000,000 could any one of the southern or Pacific +states afford to have a pair of these little gray fiends imported and +set free. If such a calamity ever occurs, all wheels should stop, and +every habitant should turn out and hunt for the animals until they are +found and pulverized. No matter if it should require a thousand men and +$100,000, _find them!_ If not found, the cost to the state will soon be +a million a year, with no ending. + +In spite of the vigilance of our custom house officers, every now and +then a Hindoo from some foreign vessel sneaks into the country with a +pet mongoose (and they do make great pets!) inside his shirt, or in the +bottom of a bag of clothing. Of course, whenever the Department of +Agriculture discovers any of these surreptitious animals, they are at +once confiscated, and either killed or sent to a public zoological park +for safe-keeping. In New York, the director of the Zoological Park is so +genuinely concerned about the possibility of the escape of a female +mongoose that he has issued two standing orders: All live mongooses +offered to us shall at once be purchased, and every female animal shall +immediately be chloroformed. + +If _Herpestes griseus_ ever breaks loose in the United States, the crime +shall not justly be chargeable to us. + +THE ENGLISH SPARROW.--In the United States, the English sparrow is a +national sorrow, almost too great to be endured. It is a bird of plain +plumage, low tastes, impudent disposition and persistent fertility. +Continually does it crowd out its betters, or pugnaciously drive them +away, and except on very rare occasions it eats neither insects nor weed +seeds. It has no song, and in habits it is a bird of the street and the +gutter. There is not one good reason why it should exist in this +country. If it were out of the way, our native insect-eaters of song and +beauty could return to our lawns and orchards. The English sparrow is a +nuisance and a pest, and if it could be returned to the land of its +nativity we would gain much. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +NATIONAL AND STATE GAME PRESERVES, AND BIRD REFUGES + + +Out West, there is said to be a "feeling" that game and forest +conservation has "gone far enough." In Montana, particularly, the +National Wool-Growers' Association has for some time been firmly +convinced that "the time has come to call a halt." Oh, yes! A halt on +the conservation of game and forests; but not on the free grazing of +sheep on the public domain. No, not even while those same sheep are +busily growing wool that is so fearfully and wonderfully conserved by a +sky-high tariff that the truly poor Americans are forced to wear +garments made of shoddy because they cannot afford to buy clothing made +of wool! (This is the testimony of a responsible clothing merchant, in +1912.) + +We can readily understand the new hue and cry against conservation that +the sheep men now are raising. Of course they are against all new game +and forest reserves,--unless the woolly hordes are given the right to +graze in them! + +Many men of the Great West,--the West beyond the Great Plains,--are +afflicted with a desire to do as they please with the natural resources +of that region. That is the great curse that to-day rests upon our game. +When the nearest game warden is 50 miles away, and big game is only 5 +miles away, it is time for that game to take to the tall timber. + +But in the West, and East and South, there are many men and women who +believe in reasonable conservation, and deplore destruction. We have not +by any means reached the point where we can think of stopping in the +making of game preserves, or forest preserves. Of the former, we have +scarcely begun to make. The majority of the states of our Union know of +_state_ game preserves only by hearsay. But the time is coming when the +states will come forward, and perform the serious duty that they neglect +to-day. + +Let the statesmen of America be not afraid of making too many game +preserves! For the next year, one per day would be none too many! +Remember, that on one hand we have the Army of Destruction, and on the +other the expectant millions of Posterity. No executor or trustee ever +erred in safeguarding an estate too carefully. Fifty years hence, if +your successors and mine find that too much land has been set aside for +the good of the people, they can mighty easily restore any surplus to +the public domain, and at a vastly increased valuation. Give Posterity +at least _one_ chance to debate the question: "Were our forefathers too +liberal in the making of game and forest reserves?" + +We can always carve up any useless surplus of the public domain, and +restore it to commercial uses; but none of the men of to-day will live +long enough to see so strange a proceeding carried into effect. + +The game preserves of the United States government are so small (with +the exception of the Yellowstone and Glacier Parks), that very few +people ever hear of them, and fewer still know of them in detail. It +seems to be quite time that they should be set forth categorically; and +it is most earnestly to be hoped that this list soon will be doubled. + +THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.--This was the first of the national parks +and game preserves of the United States. Some of our game preserves are +not exactly national parks, but this is both, by Act of Congress. + +It is 62 miles long from north to south, 54 miles wide and contains a +total area of 3,348 square miles, or 2,142,720 acres. Its western border +lies in Idaho, and along its northern border a narrow strip lies in +Montana. It is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior, +and it is guarded by a detachment of cavalry from the United States +Army. The Superintendent is now a commissioned officer of the United +States Army. The business of protecting the game is performed partly by +four scouts, who are civilians specially engaged for that purpose, but +the number has always been totally inadequate to the work to be +performed. + +At least one-half of the public interest attaching to the Yellowstone +Park is based upon its wild animals. There, the average visitor sees, +for the first time, wild mountain sheep, antelope, mule deer, elk, +grizzly bears and white pelicans, roaming free. But for the tragedy of +the Park bison herd,--slaughtered by poachers from 1890 to 1893, from +300 head down to 30--visitors would see wild bison also; but now the few +wild bison remaining keep as far as possible from the routes of tourist +travel. The bison were slaughtered through an inadequate protective +force, and (then) utterly inadequate laws. + +Lieut.-Col. L.M. Brett, U.S.A., Superintendent of the Yellowstone Park +advises me (July 29, 1912) that the wild big game in the Yellowstone +Park in the summer of 1912, is as shown below, based on actual counts +and estimates of the Park scouts, and particularly Scout McBride. "The +estimates of buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, sheep and bear are based on +actual counts, or very close observations, and are pretty nearly +correct." (Col. Brett). + + Wild Buffalo 49 + Moose 550 + Elk (in summer) 35,000 + Antelope 500 + Mountain Sheep 210 + Mule Deer 400 + White-tailed Deer 100 + Grizzly Bears 50 + Black Bears 100 + Pumas 100 + Gray Wolves none + Coyotes 400 + Pelicans 1,000 + +The actual count of 49 wild bison in the Park, 10 of which are calves of +1912, will be to all friends of the bison a delightful surprise. +Heretofore the little band had seemed to be stationary, which if true +would soon mean a decline. + +The history of the wild game of the Yellowstone Park is blackened by two +occurrences, and one existing fact. The fact is: the town of Gardiner is +situated on the northern boundary of the Park, in the State of Montana. +In Gardiner there are a number of men, armed with rifles, who toward +game have the gray-wolf quality of mercy. + +The first stain is the massacre of the 270 wild bison for their heads +and robes, already noted. The second blot is the equally savage +slaughter in the early winter of 1911, by some of the people of +Gardiner, reinforced by so-called sportsmen from other parts of the +state, of all the park elk they could kill,--bulls, cows and +calves,--because a large band wandered across the line into the shambles +of Gardiner, on Buffalo Flats. + +If the people of Gardiner can not refrain from slaughtering the game of +the Park--the very animals annually seen by 20,000 visitors to the +Park,--then it is time for the American people to summon the town of +Gardiner before the bar of public opinion, to show cause why the town +should not be wiped off the map. + +The 35,000 elk that summer in the Park are compelled in winter to +migrate to lower altitudes in order to find grass that is not under two +feet of snow. In the winter of 1911-12, possibly 5,000 went south, into +Jackson Hole, and 3,000 went northward into Montana. The sheep-grazing +north of the Park, and the general settlement by ranchmen of Jackson +Hole, have deprived the elk herds of those regions of their natural +food. For several years past, up to and including the winter of 1910-11, +some thousands of weak and immature elk have perished in the Jackson +Hole country, from starvation and exposure. The ranchmen of that region +have had terrible times,--in witnessing the sufferings of thousands of +elk tamed by hunger, and begging in piteous dumb show for the small and +all-too-few haystacks of the ranchmen. + +The people of Jackson Hole, headed by S.N. Leek, the famous photographer +and lecturer on those elk herds, have done all that they could do in the +premises. The spirit manifested by them has been the exact reverse of +that manifested in Gardiner. To their everlasting credit, they have kept +domestic sheep out of the Jackson Valley,--by giving the owners of +invading herds "hours" in which to get their sheep "all out, and over +the western range." + +In 1909, the State of Wyoming spent in feeding starving elk $5,000 +In 1911, the State of Wyoming spent in feeding starving elk 5,000 +In 1911, the U.S. Government appropriated for feeding starving elk, +and exporting elk $20,000 +In 1912, the Camp-Fire Club of Detroit gave, for feeding hungry elk + 100 +In 1910-11, about 3,000 elk perished in Jackson Hole +In 1911-12, Mr. Leek's photographs of the elk herds showed an alarming +absence of mature bulls, indicating that now the most of the breeding is +done by immature males. This means the sure deterioration of the species. + +The prompt manner in which Congress responded in the late winter of 1911 +to a distress call in behalf of the starving elk, is beyond all ordinary +terms of praise. It was magnificent. In fear and trembling, Congress was +asked, through Senator Lodge, to appropriate $5,000. Congress and +Senator Lodge made it $20,000; and for the first time the legislature of +Wyoming appealed for national aid to save the joint-stock herds of +Wyoming and the Yellowstone Park. + +GLACIER PARK, MONTANA.--In the wild and picturesque mountains of +northwestern Montana, covering both sides of the great Continental +Divide, there is a region that has been splendidly furnished by the hand +of Nature. It is a bewildering maze of thundering peaks, plunging +valleys, evergreen forests, glistening glaciers, mirror lakes and +roaring mountain streams. Its leading citizens are white mountain goats, +mountain sheep, moose, mule deer and white-tailed deer, and among those +present are black and grizzly bears galore. + +Commercially, the 1,400 square miles of Glacier Park, even with its 60 +glaciers and 260 lakes, are worth exactly the price of its big trees, +and not a penny more. For mining, agriculture, horticulture and +stock-raising, it is a cipher. As a transcendant pleasure ground and +recreation wilderness for ninety millions of people, it is worth ninety +millions of dollars, and not a penny less. It is a pleasure park of +which the greatest of the nations of the earth,--whichever that may +be,--might well be overbearingly proud; and its accessibility is almost +unbelievable until seen. + +This park is bounded on the south by the Great Northern Railway, on the +east by the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, on the north by Alberta and +British Columbia, and on the west by West Fork of the Flathead River. +Horizontally, it contains 1,400 square miles; but as the goat climbs, +its area is at least double that. Its valleys are filled and its lakes +are encircled by grand forests of Douglas fir, hemlock, spruce, white +pine, cedar and larch; and if ever they are destroyed by fire, it will +be a national calamity, a century long. + +_So long as the American people keep out of the poorhouse, let there be +no lumber-cutting vandalism in that park, destroying the beauty of every +acre of forest that is touched by axe or saw. The greatest beauty of +those forests is the forest floor, which lumbering operations would +utterly destroy_. + +Never mind if there is "ripe timber" there! The American nation is not +suffering for the dollars that those lovely forest giants would fetch by +board measure. What if a tree does fall now and then from old age! We +can stand the expense. If Posterity a hundred years hence finds itself +lumberless, and wishes to use those trees, then let Posterity pay the +price, and take them. We are not suffering for them; and our duty is to +save them inviolate, and hand them down as a heritage that we proudly +transmit unimpaired. + +[Illustration: UNITED STATES NATIONAL GAME PRESERVES +and Five Pacific Bird Refuges] + +The friends of wild life are particularly interested in Glacier Park as +a national game reservoir, and refuge for wild life. On the north, in +Alberta, it is soon to be extended by Waterton Lakes Park. + +When I visited Glacier Park, in 1909, with Frederick H. Kennard and +Charles H. Conrad, I procured from three intelligent guides their best +estimates of the amount of big game then in the Park. The guides were +Thomas H. Scott, Josiah Rogers and Walter S. Gibb.[L] + +[Footnote L: See _Recreation_ Magazine, May, 1910, p. 213] + +They compared notes, and finally agreed upon these figures: + +Elk 200 +Moose 2,500 +Mountain Sheep 700 +Mountain Goats 10,500 +Grizzly Bears 1,000 to 1,500 +Black Bears 2,500 to 3,000 + +As previously stated, one of the surprising features of this new wonder +land is its accessibility. The Great Northern lands you at Belton. A +ride of three miles over a good road through a beautiful forest brings +you to the foot of Lake McDonald, and in one hour more by boat you are +at the hotels at the head of the lake. At that point you are within +three hours' horse-back ride of Sperry Glacier and the marvelous +panorama that unrolls before you from the top of Lincoln Peak. At the +foot of that Peak we saw a big, wild white mountain goat: and another +one watched us climb up to the Sperry Glacier. + +MT. OLYMPUS NATIONAL MONUMENT.--For at least six years the advocates of +the preservation of American wild life and forests vainly desired that +the grand mountain territory around Mount Olympus, in northwestern +Washington, should be established as a national forest and game +preserve. In addition to the preservation of the forests, it was greatly +desired that the remnant bands of Olympic wapiti (described as _Cervus +roosevelti_) should be perpetuated. It now contains 1,975 specimens of +that variety. In Congress, two determined efforts were made in behalf of +the region referred to, but both were defeated by the enemies of forests +and wild life. + +In an auspicious moment, Dr. T.S. Palmer, Assistant Chief of the +Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, thought of a law under +which it would be both proper and right to bring the desired preserve +into existence. The law referred to expressly clothes the President of +the United States with power to preserve any monumental feature of +nature which it clearly is the duty of the state to preserve for all +time from the hands of the spoilers. + +With the enthusiastic approval and assistance of Representative William +E. Humphrey, of Seattle, Dr. Palmer set in motion the machinery +necessary to the carrying of the matter before the President in proper +form, and kept it going, with the result that on March 2, 1909, +President Roosevelt affixed his signature to the document that closed +the circuit. + +Thus was created the Mount Olympus National Monument, preserving forever +608,640 acres of magnificent mountains, valleys, glaciers, streams and +forests, and all the wild creatures living therein and thereon. The +people of the state of Washington have good reason to rejoice in the +fact that their most highly-prized scenic wonderland, and the last +survivors of the wapiti in that state, are now preserved for all coming +time. At the same time, we congratulate Dr. Palmer on the brilliant +success of his initiative. + +THE SUPERIOR NATIONAL GAME AND FOREST PRESERVE.--The people of Minnesota +long desired that a certain great tract of wilderness in the extreme +northern portion of that state, now well stocked with moose and deer, +should be established as a game and forest preserve. Unfortunately, +however, the national government could go no farther than to withdraw +the lands (and waters) from entry, and declare it a forest reserve. At +the right moment, some bright genius proposed that the national +government should by executive order create a "_forest_ reserve," and +then that the legislature of Minnesota should pass an act providing that +every national forest of that state should also be regarded as a _state +game preserve_! + +Both those things were done,--almost as soon as said! Mr. Carlos Avery, +the Executive Agent of the Board of Game and Fish Commissioners of +Minnesota is entitled to great credit for the action of his state, and +we have to thank Mr. Gifford Pinchot and President Roosevelt for the +executive action that represented the first half of the effort. + +The new Superior Preserve is valuable as a game and forest reserve, and +nothing else. It is a wilderness of small lakes, marshes, creeks, +hummocks of land, scrubby timber, and practically nothing of commercial +value. But the wilderness contains many moose, and zoologically, it is +for all practical purposes a moose preserve. + +In it, in 1908 Mr. Avery saw fifty-one moose in three days, Mr. +Fullerton saw 183 in nine days, and Mr. Fullerton estimated the total +number of moose in Minnesota as a whole at 10,000 head. + +In area it contains 1,420,000 acres, and the creation of this great +preserve was accomplished on April 13, 1909. + +THE WICHITA NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE.--In the Wichita Mountains, of +southwestern Oklahoma, there is a National game preserve containing +57,120 acres. On this preserve is a fenced bison range and a herd of +thirty-nine American bison which owe their existence to the initiative +of the New York Zoological Society. On March 25, 1905, the Society +proposed to the National Government the founding of a range and herd, on +a basis that was entirely new. To the Society it seemed desirable that +for the encouragement of Congress in the preservation of species that +are threatened with extermination, the scientific corporations of +America, and private individuals also, should do something more than to +offer advice and exhortations to the government. + +Accordingly, the Zoological Society offered to present to the +Government, delivered on the ground in Oklahoma, a herd of fifteen +pure-blood bison as the nucleus of a new national herd, provided +Congress would furnish a satisfactory fenced range, and maintain the +herd. The offer was at once accepted by Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of +Agriculture, and the Society was invited to propose a site for a range. +The Society sent a representative to the Wichita National Forest +Reserve, who recommended a range, and made a report upon it, which the +Society adopted. + +By act of Congress the range was at once established and fenced. Its +area is twelve square miles (9,760 acres). In October, 1908, the +Zoological Society took from its herd in the Zoological Park nine female +and six male bison, and delivered them at the bison range. There were +many predictions that all those bison would die of Texas fever within +one year; but the parties most interested persisted in trying +conclusions with the famous tick of Texas. + +Mr. Frank Rush was appointed Warden of the new National Bison Range, and +his management has been so successful that only two of the bison died of +the fever, the disease has been stamped out, and the herd now contains +thirty-nine head. Within five years it should reach the one-hundred +mark. Elk, deer and antelope have been placed in the range, and all save +the antelope are doing well. The Wichita Bison Range is an unqualified +success. + +THE MONTANA NATIONAL BISON RANGE.--The opening of the Flathead Indian +Reservation to settlement, in 1909, afforded a golden opportunity to +locate in that region another national bison herd. Accordingly, in 1908, +the American Bison Society formulated a plan by which the establishment +of such a range and herd might be brought about. That plan was +successfully carried into effect, in 1909 and '10. + +The Bison Society proposed to the national government to donate a herd +of at least twenty-five bison, provided Congress would purchase a range, +fence it and maintain the herd. The offer was immediately accepted, and +with commendable promptness Congress appropriated $40,000 with which to +purchase the range, and fence it. The Bison Society examined various +sites, and finally recommended what was regarded as an ideal location +situated near Ravalli, Montana, north of the Jocko River and Northern +Pacific Railway, and east of the Flathead River. The nearest stations +are Ravalli and Dixon. + +The area of the range is about twenty-nine square miles (18,521 acres) +and for the purpose that it is to serve it is beautiful and perfect +beyond compare. In it the bison herd requires no winter feeding +whatever. + +In 1910 the Bison Society raised by subscription a fund of $10,526, and +with it purchased 37 very perfect pure-blood bison from the famous +Conrad herd at Kalispell, 22 of which were females. One gift bison was +added by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Goodnight, two were presented by the +estate of Charles Conrad, and three were presented from the famous +Corbin herd, at Newport, N.H., by the Blue Mountain Forest Association. + +Starting with that nucleus (of 43 head) in 1910, the herd has already +(1912) increased to 80 head. The herd came through the severe winter of +1911-1912 without having been fed any hay whatever, and the founders of +it confidently expect to live to see it increase to one thousand head. + +THE GRAND CANYON NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE of northern Arizona, embraces +the entire Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, for a meandering distance +of 101 miles, and adjacent territory to an extent of 2,333 square miles +(1,492,928 acres). Owing to certain conditions, natural and otherwise, +it is not the finest place in the world for the peaceful increase of +wild game. The Canyon contains a few mountain sheep, and mule deer, but +Buckskin Mountain, on the northwestern side, is reeking with mountain +lions and gray wolves, and both those species should be shot out of the +entire Grand Canyon National Forest. It was on Buckskin and the western +wall of the Canyon itself that "Buffalo" Jones, Mr. Charles S. Bird, and +their party caught nine live mountain lions, in 1909. + +I regret to say that "Buffalo" Jones's catalo experiment on the Kaibab +Plateau seems to have met an untimely and disappointing fate. For three +years the bison and domestic cattle crossed, and produced a number of +cataloes; but in 1911, practically the whole lot was wiped off the earth +by cattle rustlers! Mr. Jones thinks that it was guerrillas from +southern Utah who murdered his enterprise, partly for the reason that no +other persons were within striking distance of the herd. + +MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK.--This fine forest park is the great summer +outing ground of the people of the state of Washington. Its area is 324 +square miles, and as its name implies it embraces Mount Rainier. Easily +accessible from Seattle and Tacoma, and fairly well--though not +_adequately_--provided with roads, trails, tent camps, hotels and livery +transportation, it is really the Yellowstone Park of the Northwest. + +THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK in California is so well known that no +description of it is necessary. Its area is 1,124 square miles (719,622 +acres). Its great value lies in its scenery, but along with that it is a +sanctuary for such of the wild mammals and birds of California as will +not wander beyond its borders to the certain death that awaits +everything that may legally be killed in that state. + +CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK.--Like all the National Parks of America +generally, this one also is a game sanctuary. It is situated on the +summit of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The wonderful Crater Lake +itself is 62 miles from Klamath Falls, 83 miles from Ashland, and it is +6 miles long, 4 miles wide and 200 feet deep. This National Park was +created by Act of Congress in 1902. Its area is 249 square miles +(159,360 acres), and it contains Columbian black-tailed deer, black +bear, the silver-gray squirrel, and many birds, chiefly members of the +grouse family. Owing to its lofty elevation, there are few ducks. + +THE SEQUOIA AND GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARKS were created for the +special purpose of preserving the famous groves of "big trees," +_(Sequoia gigantea_). The former is in Tulare County, the latter in +Tulare and Fresno counties, California, on the western slope of the +Sierra Nevadas. The area of Sequoia Park is 169,605 acres, and that of +General Grant Park is 2,560 acres. They are under the control of the +Interior Department. These Parks are important bird refuges, and Mr. +Walter Fry, Forest Ranger, reports in them the presence of 261 species +of birds, none of which may be hunted or shot. Into Sequoia Park 20 +dwarf elk and 84 wild turkeys have been introduced, the former from the +herd of Miller and Lux. + + +OTHER NATIONAL PARKS + +SULLY HILLS NATIONAL PARK, at Devil's Lake (Fort Totten), North Dakota. +Area 960 acres. + +PLATT NATIONAL PARK, Sulphur Springs, Oklahoma; on account of many +mineral springs. Area 848 acres. + +MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, Southwestern Colorado; on account of cliff +dwellings, and wonderful cliff and canyon scenery. Area, 66 square +miles. + + * * * * * + +NATIONAL MONUMENTS + +Under a special act of Congress, the President of the United States has +the power forever to set aside from private ownership and occupation any +important natural scenery, or curiosity, or wonderland, the preservation +of which may fairly be regarded as of National importance, and a duty to +the whole people of the United States. This is accomplished by +presidential proclamation creating a "national monument." + +Under the terms of this act, 28 national monuments have been created, up +to 1912, of which 17 are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the +Interior, and 11 are managed by the Department of Agriculture. The full +list is as follows: + +ALASKA: COLORADO: SOUTH DAKOTA: + Sitka Wheeler Jewel Cave + Colorado + +ARIZONA: + Montezuma Castle MONTANA: UTAH: + Petrified Forest Lewis & Clark Cavern Natural Bridges + Tonto Big Hole Battlefield Mukuntuweap + Grand Canyon Rainbow Bridge + Tumacacori + Navajo NEW MEXICO: + El Morro WASHINGTON: +CALIFORNIA: Chaco Canyon Mount Olympus + Lassen Peak Gila Cliff Dwellings + Cinder Cove Gran Quivira + Muir Woods WYOMING: + Pinnacles OREGON: Devil's Tower + Devil's Postpile Oregon Caves Shoshone Cavern + + * * * * * + +THE NATIONAL BIRD REFUGES.--Says Dr. T.S. Palmer[M]: "National bird +reservations have been established during the last ten years by +Executive order for the purpose of affording protection to important +breeding colonies of water birds, or to furnish refuges for migratory +species on their northern or southern flights, or during winter. With +few exceptions these reservations are either small rocky islets or +tracts of marsh land of no agricultural value." + +[Footnote M: National Reservations for the Protection of Wild Life, by +T.S. Palmer, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Circular No. 87, Oct. 5, 1912.] + +These reservations are of immense value to bird life, and their creation +represents the highest possible wisdom in utilizing otherwise valueless +portions of the national domain. Dr. Palmer's alphabetical list of them +is as follows, numbered in the order of their creation: + +Belle Fourche, S. Dak. 34 +Bering Sea, Alaska 44 +Bogoslof, Alaska 51 +Breton Island, La. 2 +Bumping Lake, Wash. 39 +Carlsbad, N. Mex. 31 +Chase Lake, N. Dak. 20 +Clealum, Wash. 38 +Clear Lake, Cal. 52 +Cold Springs, Oreg. 33 +Conconully, Wash. 40 +Copalis Rock, Wash. 13 +Culebra, P. R. 48 +Deer Flat, Idaho 29 +East Park, Cal. 28 +East Timhalier, La. 14 +Farailon, Cal. 49 +Flattery Rocks, Wash. 11 +Forrester Island, Alaska 53 +Green Bay, Wis. 56 +Hawaiian Is., Hawaii 26 +Hazy Islands, Alaska 54 +Huron Islands, Mich. 4 +Indian Key, Fla. 7 +Island Bay, Fla. 24 +Kachess, Wash. 37 +Kecchelus, Wash. 36 +Key West, Fla. 17 +Klamath Lake, Oreg. 18 +Loch-Katrine, Wyo. 25 +Malheur Lake, Oreg. 19 +Matlacha Pass, Fla. 23 +Minidoka, Idaho 43 +Mosquito Inlet, Fla. 15 +Niobrara, Nebr. 55 +Palma Sola, Fla. 22 +Passage Key, Fla. 6 +Pathfinder, Wyo. 41 +Pelican Island, Fla. 1 +Pine Island, Fla. 21 +Pribilof, Alaska 50 +Quillayute N'dles, Alaska 12 +Rio Grande, N. Mex. 32 +St. Lazaria, Alaska 46 +Salt River, Ariz. 27 +Shell Keys, La. 9 +Shoshone, Wyo. 42 +Siskiwit, Mich. 5 +Strawberry Valley, Utah 35 +Stump Lake, N. Dak. 3 +Tern Islands, La. 8 +Three Arch Rocks, Oreg. 10 +Tortugas Keys, Fla. 16 +Tuxedni, Alaska 45 +Willow Creek, Mont. 30 +Yukon Delta, Alaska 47 + +In addition to the above, the following governmental reservations have +been established for the protection of wild life: Yes Bay, Alaska, of +35,200 acres; Afognak Island, Alaska, 800 sq. miles; Midway Islands +Naval Reservation, H.T.; Farallon Island, Point Reyes and Ano Nuevo +Island, California; Destruction Island, Washington, and Hawaiian Islands +Reservation (Laysan). + + * * * * * + +STATE GAME PRESERVES IN THE UNITED STATES + + +PENNSYLVANIA.--The proposition that every state, territory and province +in North America and everywhere else, should establish a series of state +forest and game preserves, is fairly incontestable. As a business +proposition it is to-day no more a debatable question, or open to +argument, than is the water supply or sewer system of a city. The only +perfect way to conserve a water supply for a great human population is +by acquiring title to water sheds, and either protecting the forests +upon them, or planting forests in case none exist. + +In one important matter the state of Pennsylvania has been wide awake, +and in advance of the times. I will cite her system of forest reserves +and game preserves as a model plan for other states to follow; and I +sincerely hope that by the time the members of the present State Game +Commission have passed from earth the people of Pennsylvania will have +learned the value of the work they are now doing, and at least give them +the appreciation that is deserved by public-spirited citizens who do +large things for the People without hope of material reward. At this +moment, Commissioner John M. Phillips and Dr. Joseph Kalbfus are putting +their heart's blood into the business of preserving and increasing the +game and other wild life of Pennsylvania; and the utter lack of +appreciation that is now being shown _in some quarters_ is really +distressing. I refer particularly to the utterly misguided and mistaken +body of hunters and anglers having headquarters at Harrisburg, whose +members are grossly mislead into a wrong position by a man who seeks to +secure a salaried state position through the hostile organization that +he has built up, apparently for his own use. In the belief that those +members generally are mislead and not mean-spirited, and that the +organization contains a majority of conscientious sportsmen, I predict +that ere long the evil genius of Pennsylvania game protection will be +ordered to the rear, while the organization as a whole takes its place +on the side of the Game Commission, where it belongs. + +The game sanctuary scheme that Pennsylvania has developed is so new that +as yet only a very small fraction of the people of that state either +understand it, or appreciate its far-reaching importance. + +To begin with, Pennsylvania has acquired up to date about one million +acres of forest lands, scattered through 26 of the 67 counties of the +state. These great holdings are to be gradually increased. These wild +lands, including many sterile mountain "farms" of no real value for +agricultural purposes, have been acquired, first of all, for the purpose +of conserving the water supply of the state; and they are called the +State Forest Reserves. + +Next in order, the State Game Commission has created, in favorable +localities in the forest reserves, five great game preserves. The plan +is decidedly novel and original, but is very simple withal. In the +center of a great tract of forest reserve, a specially desirable tract +has been chosen, and its boundaries marked out by the stringing of a +single heavy fence wire, surrounding the entire selection. The area +within that boundary wire is an absolute sanctuary for all wild +creatures save those that prey upon game, and in it no man may hunt +anything, nor fire a gun. The boundary wire is by no means a fence, for +it keeps nothing out nor in. + +Outside of the wire and the sanctuary, men may hunt in the open season, +but at the wire every chase must end. If the hunted deer knows enough to +flee to the sanctuary when attacked, so much the better for the deer. +The tide of wild life ebbs and flows under the wire, and beyond a doubt +the deer and grouse will quickly find that within it lies absolute +safety. There the breeding and rearing of young may go on undisturbed. + +In view of the fact that hunting may go on in the forest reserve areas +surrounding these sanctuaries, no intelligent sportsman needs to be told +that in a few years all such regions will be teeming with deer, grouse +and other game. Where there is one deer to-day there will be twenty ten +years hence,--because the law of Pennsylvania forbids the killing of +does; and then there will be twenty times the legitimate hunting that +there is to-day. For example, the Clinton County Game Preserve of 3,200 +acres is surrounded by 128,000 acres of forest reserve, which form +legitimate hunting grounds for the game bred in the sanctuary reservoir. +In Clearfield County the game sanctuary is surrounded by 47,000 acres of +Forest Reserve. + +The _game_ preserves created in Pennsylvania up to date are as follows: + +In Clinton County 3,200 acres +In Clearfield County 3,200 acres +In Franklin County 3,200 acres +In Perry County 3,200 acres +In Westmoreland County 2,500 acres + +It is the deliberate intention of the Game Commission to increase these +game preserves until there is at least one in each county. + +It is the policy of the Commission to clear out of the game sanctuaries +all the mammals and birds that destroy wild life, such as foxes, mink, +weasels, skunks and destructive hawks and owls. This is accomplished +partly by buying old horses, killing them in the preserves and poisoning +them thoroughly with strychnine. + +Each preserve now contains a nucleus herd of white-tailed deer, some of +them imported from northern Michigan. Ruffed grouse are breeding +rapidly, and in the Clearfield County Preserve there are said to be at +least three thousand. The Game Commission considers it a patriotic duty +to preserve the wild turkey, ruffed grouse and quail, rather than have +those species replaced at great expense by species imported from the old +world. In their work for the protection, preservation and increase of +the game of Pennsylvania--partly for the purpose of providing legitimate +hunting for the mechanic as well as the millionaire,--the State Game +Commissioners are putting a great amount of thought and labor, and +whenever their efforts are criticized, their motives impugned or their +honesty questioned by men who are not worthy to unlace their shoes, it +makes me tired and angry. + + +NEW YORK: + +THE ADIRONDACK STATE PARK.--With wise and commendable forethought, the +state of New York has preserved in the Adirondack wilderness, familiarly +known as "the North Woods," a magnificent forest domain forever +dedicated to campers, outdoorsmen and hunters. At present (1912) it +contains 2,031 square miles (1,300,000 acres) of forest-clad hills, +valleys and mountains, adorned by countless lakes and streams. By some +persons it has been believed that in the State's forests the cutting and +sale of large trees would be justifiable business, and agreeable to the +public; but it has been demonstrated that this is not the case. The +people of the state firmly object to the havoc that is _unavoidably_ +wrought by logging operations in beautiful forests. The state does not +yet need any of the money that could be derived from such operations. +The chief anxiety of the public is that hereafter forest fires shall be +prevented, no matter what fire protection may cost! The burning of coal +on any railway operated through the Adirondacks should be made a penal +offense. + + +MONTANA: + +In 1911 Governor Norris, Senator Cone and the legislature of Montana, at +the solicitation of W.R. Felton, L.A. Huffman and others, created the +SNOW CREEK GAME PRESERVE, fronting for ten miles on the Missouri River, +in the northern side of Dawson County. It is a magnificent tract of +bad-lands, very deeply eroded and carved, and highly picturesque. The +new state preserve contains 96 square miles, but there is so little +grazing ground for antelope and bison it is absolutely imperative that a +narrow strip of level grass land should be added along the southern +border. This proposed addition is being fiercely resisted, by an +organized movement of the sheep owners of Montana (the National Wool +Growers' Association), who naturally want the public domain for the free +grazing of their tariff-protected sheep-herds. It remains to be seen +whether the _three_ sheep men south of the preserve,--the only men who +really are affected,--will be able to thwart a movement that has for its +object the development of a very good game preserve for the benefit of +the ninety millions of the general American public. The range is +necessary to contain representatives of the big game of the plains that +has been so ruthlessly swept away, and particularly the vanishing +prong-horned antelope, once very numerous in that region. + +In order to relieve the sheep men of all trouble on account of that +preserve, the area should be enlarged to the right dimensions and made a +national preserve. A bill for that purpose (Senate 5,286) is now before +the Senate, in Senator McLean's Committee, and _help is needed_ to +overcome the active hostility of the sheep men, _who vow that it never +shall be passed_! All persons who read this are invited to take this +matter up with their Senators and Representatives, without a moment's +delay. + +WYOMING: + +THE TETON STATE PRESERVE.--One of the largest and most important state +game preserves thus far established by any of our states is that which +was created by Wyoming, in 1904. It is situated along the south of, and +fully adjoining, the Yellowstone Park, and its area is 900 square miles +(576,000 acres). Its special purpose is to supplement for the elk herds +and other big game the protection from killing that previously had been +found in the Yellowstone Park alone. The State Preserve is an admirable +half-way house for the migrating herds when they leave the National Park +to seek their regular winter ranges in and around the Jackson Valley. + +[Illustration: BIRD RESERVATIONS ON THE GULF COAST AND FLORIDA] + + +In 1909, Wyoming established the Big Horn Game Preserve, in the mountain +range of that name. Into it 25 elk were taken from Jackson Hole, and set +free, in 1910, at the expense of the Sheridan County Sportsmen's Club. + + +LOUISIANA: + +Great developments for the preservation of wild life have recently been +witnessed in Louisiana, all due to the initiative and persistent +activities of two men, Edward A. McIlhenny, of Avery Island, La., and +Charles Willis Ward, of Michigan, lumberman and horticulturist. + + +THE LOUISIANA STATE WILD FOWL REFUGE on Vermillion Bay, has an area of +13,000 acres. It was presented to the state by Messrs. Ward and +McIlhenny, and formally accepted and protected. It contains a great area +of fresh-water ponds and marshy meadows, wherein grows an abundant +supply of food for wild fowl. It contains several miles of gravel beach, +which during the winter season is visited by thousands of wild geese in +quest of their indispensable supply of gravel. The ponds within its +borders furnish feeding-grounds for canvasback ducks, redhead, mallard, +blackhead and various species of wild geese. + + +OTHER STATE GAME PRESERVES + Acres + +IDAHO.--Payette River Game Preserve 230,000 +CALIFORNIA.--Pinnacles Game Preserve 2,080 +WYOMING.--Big Horn Mountains Game Preserve. +MONTANA.--Yellowstone Game Preserve. + Pryor Mountain Game Preserve. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +GAME PRESERVES AND GAME LAWS IN CANADA + + +As now set forth on the map of North America, Canada is a vast country. +We must no longer think of Ontario and Quebec as "Canada West" and +"Canada East," because the new assistant-nation owns and rules +everything from Labrador to British Columbia, and all the northern +mainland save Alaska. + +Although the fauna of Canada is strictly boreal, it is sufficiently +dispersed and diversified to demand wise legislation, and plenty of it. +For a nation with an outfit of provinces so new, Canada already is well +advanced in the matter of game laws and game preserves, and in some +respects she has set the pace for her southern neighbors. For example, +in New Brunswick we see the lordly moose successfully hunted for sport, +not only without being exterminated but actually on a basis that permits +it to increase in number. In Nova Scotia we see a law in force _which +successfully prohibits the waste of moose meat_, a loss that +characterizes moose hunting everywhere else throughout the range of that +animal. All over southern Canada the use of automatic shotguns in +hunting is strictly prohibited. + +On the other hand, the laws of the Canadians are weak in not preventing +the sale of all wild game and the killing of antelope. In the matter of +game-selling, there are far too many open doors, and a sweeping reform +is very necessary. + +Speaking generally, and with application from Labrador to British +Columbia, the American process of game extermination according to law is +vigorously and successfully being pursued by the people of Canada. The +open seasons are too long, and the bag limits are too generous to the +gunners. As it is elsewhere, the bag-limit laws on birds are a farce, +because it is impossible to enforce them, save on every tenth man. For +example, in his admirable "Final Report of the Ontario Game and +Fisheries Commission" (1912), Commissioner Kelly Evans says: + +"The prairie chicken, which formerly was comparatively plentiful +throughout the greater portion of the Rainy River District, has now +become practically extinct in that region. Various causes have been +assigned for this, but it would seem, as usual, to have been mainly the +fault of indiscriminate and excessive slaughter." (Page 226.) + +Like the United States, the various portions of Canada have their +various local troubles in wild-life protection. I think the greatest +practical difficulties, and the most real opposition to adequate +measures, is found in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Is it because +the French-descended population is impatient of real restraint, and +objects to measures that are drastic, even though they are necessary? In +Ontario, Commissioner Evans has been splendidly supported by the +Government, and by all the real sportsmen of that province; but the +gunners and guerrillas of destruction have successfully postponed +several of the reforms that he has advocated, and which should have been +carried into effect. + +So far as _public_ moral support for game protection is concerned I +think that the prairie and mountain provinces have the best of it. In +Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Athabasca and British Columbia, the +spirit of the people is mainly correct, and the chief thing that seems +to be lacking is a Kelly Evans in each of those provinces to urge public +sentiment into strong action. For example, why should Alberta still +permit the hunting and killing of prong-horned antelope, when it is so +well known that that species is vanishing like a mist before the morning +sun? I think it is because no one seems to have risen up as G.O. Shields +did in the United States, to make a big fuss about it, and demand a +reform. At any rate, all the provinces of Canada that still possess +antelope should _immediately pass laws giving that species absolute +close seasons for ten years_. Why neglect it longer, when such neglect +is now so very wrong? Whether this is done or not, I sincerely hope that +hereafter no true American sportsman, will be guilty of killing one of +the vanishing antelope of Canada, even though "the law doth give it." + + * * * * * + +THE GAME PRESERVES OF CANADA + + +In the creation of National parks and game preserves, some of the +provinces of the Canadian nation have displayed a degree of foresight +and enterprise that merits sincere admiration. While in different +provinces the exact status of these establishments may vary somewhat, +the main purpose of each is the same,--the preservation of the forests +and the wild life. In all of them a regulated amount of fishing is +permitted, and in some the taking of fur-bearing animals is permitted; +but I believe in all the birds and furless mammals are strictly +protected. In some parks the carrying of firearms still is permitted, +but that privilege is quite out of harmony with the spirit and purposes +of a game preserve, and should be abolished. If it is necessary to carry +firearms through a preserve, as often happens in the Yellowstone Park, +it can be done under seals that are affixed by duly appointed officers +and thus will temptation be kept out of the way of sinners. + +Up to this date I never have seen a publication which set forth in one +place even so much as an annotated list of the game preserves of the +various provinces of Canada, and at present exact information regarding +them is rather difficult to obtain. It seems that an adequate +governmental publication on this subject is now due, and overdue. + +ONTARIO.--"At the present time," says Commissioner Evans in his "Final +Report," "the Algonquin National Park is the only actual game preserve +in the Province, being in fact a game reserve and not a forest reserve; +but in the past at least a measure of protection would seem to have been +afforded the game in most of the [forest] reserves, owing to the fact +that the carrying of firearms therein has been discouraged, and it would +appear to require but the passing of an Order-in-Council to render the +carrying of firearms in all reserves illegal. It is sincerely to be +hoped that not only will such action be taken without delay, but also +that all the forest reserves will be declared game reserves in the +strictest sense." + +To this sentiment all friends of wild life will join a fervent wish for +its realization. As conditions are to-day, it is _impossible to have too +many game reserves_! There is everything to gain and nothing to lose by +making every national forest and forest reserve on the whole continent +of North America a game preserve in the strictest sense, and we hope to +live to see that end accomplished, both in the United States and Canada. + +_The Algonquin National Park_ is situated in the Parry Sound region, +just above the Muskoka Lakes, and it has an area of 1,930 square miles. +It is well stocked with moose, caribou, white-tailed deer, black bear +and beaver. During the period of protection the beaver have increased so +greatly that about 1,000 were trapped last year for the market, by +officers of the government; and about 25 were sold to zoological gardens +and parks, at $25 each. + +_The Quetico Forest Reserve_, area 1,560 square miles, was created as +the Canadian complement of the Minnesota National Forest and Game +Preserve. The two join on the international boundary, and each helps to +protect the other. Both are well stocked with moose, and will render +valuable service in the preservation of a mid-continental contingent of +that species. + +ALBERTA.--In the making of game preserves the province of Alberta has +been splendidly progressive and liberal. The total result is fairly +beyond the reach of ordinary words of praise. It sets a pace that should +result in wide-spread benefits to the wild life of North America. In it +there is nothing faint-hearted. It should make some of our States think +seriously regarding their own shortcomings in this particular field of +endeavor. + + +ALBERTA'S NATIONAL PARKS + + Acres Sq. miles +Rocky Mountains Park 2,764,800 4,320 +Yoho Park 1,799,680 2,812 +Glacier Park 1,474,560 2,304 +Buffalo Park 384,000 600 +Elk Island Park 40,000 62 +Jasper Park 3,488,000 5,450 +Waterton Lakes Park 34,560 54 + --------- ------ + 9,985,600 15,602 + +_The Rocky Mountains Park_ is near Banff. The _Yoho_ and _Glacier Parks_ +are near Field. The _Buffalo Park_ is near Wainwright, on the plains, +and it was created and fenced especially as a home for the herd of +American bison that was purchased in Montana in 1909. It now contains +1,052 head of bison, 20 moose, 35 deer, 7 elk, and 6 antelope. + +_The Elk Island Park_ is near Fort Saskatchewan and Lamont, and at this +date (1912) it contains 53 bison, 28 elk, 30 deer and 5 moose. The bison +subsist entirely by grazing, and upon hay cut within the Park. + +_Jasper Park_, established in 1908, is on the Athabasca River and the +Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, near Strathcona. Sixty miles of the railway +line lie within the Park. Scenically, Jasper Park is a rival of Rocky +Mountains Park, and undoubtedly possesses great attractions for +travellers who appreciate the beauties and grandeur of Nature as +expressed in mountains, valleys, lakes and streams. + +_Waterton Lakes Park_ is situated in the extreme southwestern corner of +Alberta, in the Rocky Mountains surrounding the Waterton Lakes. At +present it is nine miles long from north to south and six miles wide, +with its southern end resting on the international boundary, and +adjoining our Glacier Park. It is the home of a few bands of mountain +sheep that carry very large horns. Through the initiative of Frederick +K. Vreeland, the Camp-Fire Club of America two years ago represented to +the Government of Alberta the great desirability of enlarging this +preserve, toward the north and west, the better to protect the mountain +sheep and other big game of that region. The suggestion was received in +a friendly spirit, and there is good reason to hope that at an early +date the enlargement will be made. + + +BRITISH COLUMBIA.--This province has made an excellent beginning in the +creation of game preserves. The first agitation on that subject was +begun in 1906, by two sportsmen whose names in connection with it have +long since been forgotten. On November 15, 1908, the Legislative Council +of British Columbia issued a proclamation that created a very fine game +preserve in the East Kootenai District, between the Elk and Bull Rivers +and northwestward thereof to the White River country. By an unfortunate +oversight, the new preserve never has been officially named, but we may +designate it here as + +_The Elk River Game Preserve_.--This preserve has a total area of about +450 square miles, and includes a fine tract of mountains, valleys, lakes +and streams. It contained in 1908 about 1,000 mountain goats, 200 sheep, +a few elk and deer, and about 50 grizzly bears. All these have notably +increased during the period of absolute protection that they have +enjoyed. It is probable that this preserve contains more white mountain +goats than any other preserve that thus far has been made. It was in +this region that Mr. John M. Phillips and Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborne +made the first mountain goat photographs ever made at close range. It is +to be hoped that the protection of this preserve, both as to its wild +life and its timber, will be made perpetual. + +_Frazer River Preserve_.--Next after the above there was created in +British Columbia a game preserve covering a large portion of the +mountain territory that rises between the North and South Forks of the +Fraser River. It is about 75 miles long by 30 miles wide and contains +about 2,250 square miles. Concerning its character and wild-life +population we have no details. + +_Yalakom Game Preserve_.--On the north side of Bridge River (a western +tributary of the Fraser), about twenty miles above Lilloet. there has +been established a game preserve having an area of about 215 square +miles. + +MANITOBA.--In the making of game preserves, Manitoba has made an +excellent beginning. It is good to see from Duck Mountain in the north +to Turtle Mountain in the south a chain of four liberal preserves, each +one protected in unmistakable terms as follows: "Carrying firearms, +hunting or trapping strictly prohibited within this area." + +The lake regions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta form what is +probably the most important wild-fowl breeding-ground in North America. +To a great extent it rests with those provinces to say whether the +central United States shall have any ducks and geese, or not! _It is +high time that an international treaty should be made between the United +States, Canada and Mexico for the federal protection of all migratory +birds_. + +These preserves are of course intended to conserve wild-fowl, +shore-birds, grouse and all other birds, as well as big game. Thanks to +the cooperation of Mr. J.M. Macoun, of the Canadian Geological Survey, I +am able to offer the following: + +LIST OF MANITOBA'S GAME PRESERVES + +DUCK MOUNTAIN PRESERVE 324 sq. miles, 207,360 acres. +RIDING MOUNTAIN PRESERVE 360 " " 230,000 " +SPRUCE WOODS PRESERVE 64 " " 40,960 " +TURTLE MOUNTAIN PRESERVE 100 " " 64,000 " + + 848 " " 542,320 " + +Manitoba is to be congratulated on this record. + +QUEBEC.--This province has created two huge game preserves, well worthy +of the fauna that they are intended to conserve when all hunting in them +is prohibited! + +_The Laurentides National Park_ is second in area of all the national +parks of Canada, being surpassed only by the Rocky Mountains Park of +British Columbia. Its area is 3565 square miles, or 2,281,600 acres. It +occupies the entire central portion of the great area surrounded by Lake +St. John, the Saguenay River, the wide portion of the St. Lawrence, and +the St. Maurice River on the west. Its southern boundary is in several +places only 16 miles from the St. Lawrence, while its most northern +angle is within 13 miles of Lake St. John. Its greatest width from east +to west is 71 miles, and its greatest length from north to south is 79 +miles. It covers a huge watershed in which over a dozen large rivers and +many small ones have their sources. It is indeed a forest primeval. The +rivers are well stocked with fish, and the big game includes moose, +woodland caribou, black bear, lynx, beaver, marten, fisher, mink, fox, +and--sad to say--the gray wolf. The caribou live in rather small bands, +from 10 up to 100. + +Unfortunately, hunting under license is permitted in the Laurentian +National Park, and therefore it is by no means a _real_ game preserve! +It is a near-preserve. + +_The Gaspesian Forest, Fish and Game Preserve_, created in 1906, is in +"the Gaspe country," and it has an area of 2500 square miles situated in +the eastern Quebec counties of Gaspe and Matane. + +_The Connaught National Park_, to be named in honor of H.R.H. the Duke +of Connaught, has been proposed by Mr. J.M. Macoun, of the Canadian +Geological Survey. The general location chosen is the mountains and +forested territory north of Ottawa and the Ottawa River, within easy +access from the Canadian capitol. On the map the location recommended +lies between the Gatineau River on the east and Wolf Lake on the west. +The proposal is meeting with much popular favor, and it is extremely +probable that it will be carried into effect at an early date. + +LABRADOR.--During the past two years Lieut.-Col. William Wood has +strongly advocated the making of game preserves in Labrador, that will +not only tend to preserve the scanty fauna of that region from +extinction but will also aid in bringing it back. While Col. Wood's very +energetic and praiseworthy campaign has not yet been crowned with +success, undoubtedly it will be successful in the near future, because +ultimately such causes always win their objects, provided they are +prosecuted with the firm and unflagging persistence which has +characterized this particular campaign. We congratulate Col. Wood on the +success that he _will achieve_ in the near future! + + * * * * * + +GAME LAWS OF THE CANADIAN PROVINCES + + +ALBERTA.--The worst feature of the Alberta laws is the annual open +season on antelope, two of which may be killed under each license. This +is _entirely wrong_, and a perpetual close season should at once be +enacted. Duck shooting in August is wrong, and the season should not +open until September. It is not right that duck-killing should be made +so easy and so fearfully prolonged that extermination is certain. _All +killing of cranes and shore birds should be absolutely stopped, for five +years_. No wheat-producing province can afford the expense to the wheat +crops of the slaughter of shore birds, _thirty species_ of which are +great crop-protectors. + +The bag limit of two sheep is too high, by 50 per cent. It should +immediately be cut down to one sheep, before sheep hunting in Alberta +becomes a lost art. _Sheep hunting should not be encouraged_--quite the +reverse! There are already too many sheep-crazy sportsmen. The bag limit +on grouse and ptarmigan of 20 per day or 200 in a season is simply +legalized slaughter, no more and no less, and if it is continued, a +grouseless province will be the quick result. The birds are not +sufficiently numerous to withstand the guns on that basis. Alberta +should be wiser than the states below the international boundary that +are annihilating their remnants of birds as fast as they can be found. + + +BRITISH COLUMBIA.--We note with much satisfaction that the Provincial +Game Warden, Mr. A. Bryan Williams, has been allowed $37,000 for the pay +of game wardens, and $28,000 for the destruction of wolves, coyotes, +pumas and other game-destroying animals. During the past two years the +following game-destroyers were killed, and bounties were paid upon them: + + 1909-10 1910-11 + +Wolves 655 518 +Coyotes 1,464 3,653 +Cougars 382 277 +Horned Owls 854 2,285 +Golden Eagles 29 73 + 3,374 6,806 + +"Now," says Warden Williams in his excellent annual report for 1911, "in +these two years a total of 2,896 wolves and cougars and 5,141 coyotes +were destroyed, as well as a number of others poisoned and not recovered +for the bounty. Allowing fifty head for each wolf and cougar and ten for +each coyote, by their bounties alone 196,210 head of game and domestic +animals were saved. Is it any wonder that deer are increasing almost +everywhere?" + +The great horned owl has been and still is a great scourge to the upland +game birds, partly because when game is abundant "they become +fastidious, and eat only the brains of their prey." The destruction of +3,139 of them on the Lower Mainland during the last two years has made +these owls sing very small, and says the warden, "Is it any wonder that +grouse are again increasing?" + +I have discussed with the Provincial Game Warden the advisability of +putting a limit of one on the grizzly bear, but Mr. Williams advances +good reasons for the opinion that it would be impracticable to do so at +present. I am quite sure, however, that the time has already arrived +when a limit of one is necessary. During the present year three of my +friends who went hunting in British Columbia, _each killed 3 grizzly +bears!_ Hereafter I will "locate" no more bear hunters in that country +until the bag limit is reduced to one grizzly per year. Since 1905 the +trapping of bears south of the main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway +has been stopped; and an excellent move too. A Rocky Mountain without a +grizzly bear is like a tissue-paper rose. + +The bag limit on the big game of British Columbia is at least twice too +liberal,--five deer, two elk, two moose (one in Kootenay County), three +caribou and three goats. There is no necessity for such wasteful +liberality. Few sportsmen go to British Columbia for the sake of a large +lot of animals. I know many men who have been there to hunt, and the +great majority cared more for the scenery and the wild romance of +camping out in ground mountains than for blood and trophies. + + +MANITOBA.--What are we to think of a "bag limit" of fifty ducks per day +in October and November? A "limit" indeed! Evidently, Manitoba is tired +of having ducks, ruffed grouse, pinnated and other grouse pestering her +farmers and laborers. While assuming to fix bag limits that will be of +some benefit to those species, the limit is distinctly off, and nothing +short of a quick and drastic reform will save a remnant that will remain +visible to the naked eye. + + +NEW BRUNSWICK.--This is the banner province in the protection of moose, +caribou and deer, even while permitting them to be shot for sport. Of +course, only males are killed, and I am assured by competent judges that +thus far the killing of the finest and largest male moose has had no bad +effect upon the stature or antlers of the species as a whole. + + +NOVA SCOTIA.--If there is anything wrong with the game laws of Nova +Scotia, it lies in the wide-open sale of moose meat and all kinds of +feathered game during the open season. If that province were more +heavily populated, it would mean a great destruction of game. Even with +conditions as they are, the sale permitted is entirely wrong, and +against the best interests of 97 per cent of the people. + +As previously mentioned, the law against the waste of moose meat is both +novel and admirable. The saving of any considerable portion of the flesh +of a full-grown bull moose, along with its head, is a large order; but +it is right. The degree of accountability to which guides are held for +the doings of the men whom they pilot into the woods is entirely +commendable, and worthy of imitation. If a sportsman or gunner does the +wrong thing, the guide loses his license. + + +SASKATCHEWAN.--This is another of the too-liberal provinces having no +real surplus of big game with which to sustain for any length of time an +excess of generosity. I am told that in this province there is now a +great deal of open country around each wild animal. And yet, it +cheerfully offers two moose, two elk, two caribou and two _antelope_ per +season to each licensed gunner or sportsman. The limit is too generous +by half. Why throw away an extra $250 worth of game with each license? +That is precisely what the people of Saskatchewan are doing to-day. + +And that antelope-killing! It should be stopped at once, and for ten +years. + + +YUKON.--This province permits the sale of all the finest and best wild +game within its borders,--moose, elk, caribou, _bison_, musk-ox, sheep +and goats! The flesh of all these may be sold during the open season, +and for sixty days thereafter. Of the species named above, the barren +ground caribou is the only one regarding which we need not worry; +because that species still exists in millions. The Osborn caribou +(_Rangifer osborni_), can be exterminated in our own times, because it is +nowhere really numerous, and it inhabits exposed situations. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +PRIVATE GAME PRESERVES + + +Primarily, in the early days of the Man-on-Horseback, the self-elected +and predatory lords of creation evolved the private game preserve as a +scheme for preventing other fellows from shooting, and for keeping the +game sacred to slaughter by themselves. The idea of conserving the game +was a fourth-rate consideration, the first being the estoppel of the +other man. The old-world owner of a game preserve delights in the annual +killing of the surplus game, and we have even heard it whispered that in +the Dark Ages there were kings who enjoyed the wholesale slaughter of +deer, wild boar, pheasants and grouse. If we may accept as true the +history of sport in Europe, there have been men who have loved slaughter +with a genuine blood-lust that is quite foreign to the real +nature-loving sportsman. + +In America, the impulse is different. Here, there is raging a genuine +fever for private game preserves. Some of those already existing are of +fine proportions, and cost fortunes to create. Every true sportsman who +is rich enough to own a private game preserve, sooner or later acquires +one. You will find them scattered throughout the temperate zone of North +America from the Bay of Fundy to San Diego. I have had invitations to +visit preserves in an unbroken chain from the farthest corner of Quebec +to the Pacific Coast, and from Grand Island, Lake Superior to the Gulf +of Mexico. It was not necessarily to hunt, and kill something, but to +_see_ the game, and the beauties of nature. + +The wealthy American and Canadian joyously buys a tract of wilderness, +fences it, stocks it with game both great and small, and provides game +keepers for all the year round. At first he has an idea that he will +"hunt" therein, and that his guests will hunt also, and actually kill +game. In a mild way, this fiction sometimes is maintained for years. The +owner may each year shoot two or three head of his surplus big game, and +his tenderfoot guests who don't know what real hunting is may also kill +something, each year. But in most of the American preserves with which I +am well acquainted, the gentlemanly "sport" of "hunting big game" is +almost a joke. The trouble is, usually, the owner becomes so attached to +his big game, and admires it so sincerely, he has not the heart to kill +it himself; and he finds no joy whatever in seeing it shot down by +others! + +In this country the slaughter of game for the market is not considered a +gentlemanly pastime, even though there is a surplus of preserve-bred +game that must be reduced. To the average American, the slaughter of +half-tame elk, deer and birds that have been bred in a preserve does not +appeal in the least. He knows that in the protection of a preserve, the +wild creatures lose much of their fear of man, and become easy marks; +and shall a real sportsman go out with a gun and a bushel of cartridges, +on a pony, and without warning betray the confidence of the wild in +terms of fire and blood? Others may do it if they like; but as a rule +that is not what an American calls "sport." One wide-awake and +well-armed grizzly bear or mountain sheep outwitted on a mountain-side +is worth more as a sporting proposition than a quarter of a mile of deer +carcasses laid out side by side on a nice park lawn to be photographed +as "one day's kill." + +In America, the shooting of driven game is something of which we know +little save by hearsay. In Europe, it is practiced on everything from +Scotch grouse to Italian ibex. The German Crown Prince, in his +fascinating little volume "From My Hunting Day-Book," very neatly fixes +the value of such shooting, as a real sportsman's proposition, in the +following sentence: + +"The shooting of driven game is merely a question of marksmanship, and +is after all more in the nature of a shooting exercise than sport." + +I have seen some shooting in preserves that was too tame to be called +sport; but on the other hand I can testify that in grouse shooting as it +is done behind the dogs on Mr. Carnegie's moor at Skibo, it is sport in +which the hunter earns every grouse that falls to his gun. At the same +time, also, I believe that the shooting of madly running ibex, as it is +done by the King of Italy in his three mountain preserves, is +sufficiently difficult to put the best big-game hunter to the test. +There are times when shooting driven game calls for far more dexterity +with the rifle than is ordinarily demanded in the still-hunt. + +In America, as in England and on the Continent of Europe, private game +preserves are so numerous it is impossible to mention more than a very +few of them, unless one devotes a volume to the subject. Probably there +are more than five hundred, and no list of them is "up to date" for more +than one day, because the number is constantly increasing. I make no +pretense even of possessing a list of those in America, and I mention +only a few of those with which I am best acquainted, by way of +illustration. + +One of the earliest and the most celebrated deer parks of the United +States was that of Hon. John Dean Caton, of two hundred acres, located +near Ottawa, Ill., established about 1859. It was the experiments and +observations made in that park that yielded Judge Caton's justly famous +book on "The Antelope and Deer of America." + +The first game preserve established by an incorporated club was +"Blooming Grove Park," of one thousand acres, in Pennsylvania, where +great success has been attained in the breeding and rearing of +white-tailed deer. + +In the eastern United States the most widely-known game preserve is Blue +Mountain Forest Park, near Newport, New Hampshire. It was founded in +1885, by the late Austin Corbin, and has been loyally and diligently +maintained by Austin Corbin, Jr., George S. Edgell and the other members +of the Corbin family. Ownership is vested in the Blue Mountain Forest +Association. The area of the preserve is 27,000 acres, and besides +embracing much fine forest on Croydon Mountain, it also contains many +converted farms whose meadow lands afford good grazing. + +This preserve contains a large herd of bison (86 head), elk, +white-tailed deer, wild boar and much smaller game. The annual surplus +of bison and other large game is regularly sold and distributed +throughout the world for the stocking of other parks and zoological +gardens. Each year a few surplus deer are quietly killed for the Boston +market, but a far greater number are sold alive, at from $25 to $30 each +in carload lots. + +In the Adirondacks of northern New York, there are a great many private +game preserves. Dr. T.S. Palmer, in his pamphlet on "Private Game +Preserves" (Department of Agriculture) places the number at 60, and +their total area at 791,208 acres. Some of them have caused much +irritation among some of the hunting, fishing and trapping residents of +the Adirondack region. They seem to resent the idea of the exclusive +ownership of lands that are good hunting-grounds. This view of property +rights has caused much trouble and some bloodshed, two persons having +been killed for presuming to assert exclusive rights in large tracts of +wilderness property. + +"In the upland preserve under private ownership." says Dr. Palmer, "may +be found one of the most important factors in the maintenance of the +future supply of game and game birds. Nearly all such preserves are +maintained for the propagation of deer, quail, grouse, or pheasants. +They vary widely in area, character, and purpose, and embrace some of +the largest game refuges in the country. Some of the preserves in North +Carolina cover from 15,000 to 30,000 acres; several in South Carolina +exceed 60,000 acres in extent." The Megantic Club's northern preserve, +on the boundary between Quebec and Maine, embraces nearly 200 square +miles, or upward of 125,000 acres. + +Comparatively few of the larger preserves are enclosed, and on such +grounds, hunting becomes sport quite as genuine as it is in regions open +to free hunting. In some instances part of the tract is fenced, while +large unenclosed areas are protected by being posted. The character of +their tenure varies also. Some are owned in fee simple; others, +particularly the larger ones, are leased, or else comprise merely the +shooting rights on the land. In both size and tenure, the upland +preserves of the United States are comparable with the grouse moors and +large deer forests of Scotland. + +Of the game preserves in the South, I know one that is quite ideal. It +is St. Vincent Island, near Apalachicola, Florida, in the northern edge +of the Gulf of Mexico. It was purchased in 1909 by Dr. Ray V. Pierce, +and his guests kill perhaps one hundred ducks each year out of the +thousands that flock to the ten big ponds that occupy the eastern third +of the island. Into those ponds much good duck food has been +introduced,--_Potamogeton pectinatus_ and _perfoliatus_. The area of +the island is twenty square miles. Besides being a great winter resort +for ducks, its sandy, pine-covered ridges and jungles of palms to and +live oak afford fine haunts and feeding grounds for deer. Those jungles +contain two species of white-tailed deer (_Odocoileus louisiana_ and +_osceola_), and Dr. Pierce has introduced the Indian sambar deer and +Japanese sika deer _(Cervus sika_), both of which are doing well. We are +watching the progress of those big sambar deer with very keen interest, +and it is to be recorded that already that species has crossed with the +Louisiana white-tailed deer. + +[Illustration: MAP OF MARSH ISLAND AND ADJACENT WILD-FOWL PRESERVES] + +During the autumn of 1912, public attention in the United States was for +a time focused on the purchase of Marsh Island, Louisiana, by Mrs. +Russell Sage, and its permanent dedication to the cause of wild-life +protection. This delightful event has brought into notice the Louisiana +State Game Preserve of 13,000 acres near Marsh Island, and its +hinterland (and water) of 11,000 acres adjoining, which constitutes the +Ward-McIlhenny Wild Fowl Preserve. These three great preserves taken +together as they lie form a wild-fowl sanctuary of great size, and of +great value to the whole Mississippi Valley. Now that all duck-shooting +therein has been stopped, it is safe to predict that they shortly will +be inhabited by a wild-fowl population that will really stagger the +imagination. + + +DUCK-SHOOTING "PRESERVES."--A ducking "preserve" is a large tract of +land and water owned by a few individuals, or a club, for the purpose of +preserving exclusively for themselves and their friends the best +possible opportunities for killing large numbers of ducks and geese +without interference. In no sense whatever are they intended to preserve +or increase the supply of wild fowl. The real object of their existence +is duck and goose slaughter. For example, the worst goose-slaughter +story on record comes to us from the grounds of the Glenn County Club in +California, whereon, as stated elsewhere, two men armed with automatic +shotguns killed 218 geese in one hour, and bagged a total of 452 in one +day. + +I shall not attempt to give any list of the so-called ducking +"preserves." The word "preserve," when applied to them, is a misnomer. +Thirteen states have these incorporated slaughtering-grounds for ducks +and geese, the greatest number being in California, Illinois, North +Carolina and Virginia. California has carried the ducking-club idea to +the limit where it is claimed that it constitutes an abuse. Dr. Palmer +says that one or two of the club preserves on the western side of the +San Joaquin Valley contain upward of _40 square miles, or 25,000 acres +each_! With considerable asperity it is now publicly charged (in the +columns of _The Examiner_ of San Francisco) that for the unattached +sportsmen there is no longer any duck-shooting to be had in California, +because all the good ducking-grounds are owned and exclusively +controlled by clubs. In many states the private game preserves are a +source of great irritation, and many have been attacked in courts of +law.[N] + +[Footnote N: "Private Game Preserves and their Future in the United +States," by T.S. Palmer, United States Department of Agriculture, 1910.] + +But I am not sorrowing over the woes of the unattached duck-hunter, or +in the least inclined to champion his cause against the ducking-club +member. As slaughterers and exterminators of wild-fowl, rarely +exercising mercy under ridiculous bag-limits, they have both been too +heedless of the future, and one is just as bad for the game as the +other. If either of them favored the game, I would be on his side; but I +see no difference between them. They both kill right up to the +bag-limit, as often as they can; and that is what is sweeping away all +our feathered game. + +Curiously enough, the angry unattached duck-hunters of California are +to-day proposing to have revenge on the duck-clubbers by _removing all +restrictions on the sale of game_! This is on the theory that the +duckless sportsmen of the State of California would like to _buy_ dead +ducks and geese for their tables! It is a novel and original theory, but +the sane people of California never will enact it into law. It would be +a step just _twenty years backward_! + +THE PUBLIC vs. THE PRIVATE GAME PRESERVE.--Both the executive and the +judiciary branches of our state governments will in the future be called +upon with increasing frequency to sit in judgment on this case. +Conditions about us are rapidly changing. The precepts of yesterday may +be out of date and worthless tomorrow. By way of introspection, let us +see what principles of equity toward Man and Nature we would lay down as +the basis of our action if we were called to the bench. Named in logical +sequence they would be about as follows: + +1. Any private game "preserve" that is maintained chiefly as a +slaughter-ground for wild game, either birds or mammals, may become +detrimental to the interests of the people at large. + +[Illustration: EGRETS AND HERONS IN SANCTUARY ON MARSH ISLAND] + +2. It is not necessarily the duty of any state to provide for the +maintenance of private death-traps for the wholesale slaughter of +_migratory_ game. + +3. An oppressive monopoly in the slaughter of migratory game is +detrimental to the interests of the public at large, the same as any +other monopoly. + +4. Every de facto game preserve, maintained for the preservation of wild +life rather than for its slaughter, is an institution beneficial to the +public at large, and therefore entitled to legal rights and privileges +above and beyond all which may rightly be accorded to the so-called +"preserves" that are maintained as killing-grounds. + +5. The law may justly discriminate between the actual game preserve and +the mere killing-ground. + +6. Whenever a killing-ground becomes a public burden, it may be abated, +the same as any other public infliction. + +In private game preserves the time has arrived when lawmakers and judges +must begin to apply the blood-test, and separate the true from the +false. And at every step, _the welfare of the wild life involved_ must +be given full consideration. No men, nor body of men, should be +permitted to practice methods that spell extermination. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +BRITISH GAME PRESERVES IN AFRICA AND AUSTRALIA + + +This brief chapter is offered as an object-lesson to the world at large. + +In the early days of America, the founders of our states and territories +gave little heed, or none at all, to the preservation of wild life. Even +if they thought of that duty, undoubtedly they felt that the game would +always last, and that they had no time for such sentimental side issues +as the making of game preserves. They were coping with troubles and +perplexities of many kinds, and it is not to be wondered at that up to +forty years ago, real game protection in America went chiefly by +default. + +In South Africa, precisely the same conditions have prevailed until +recent times. The early colonists were kept so busy shooting lions and +making farms that not one game preserve was made. If any men can be +excused from the work and worry of preserving game, and making +preserves, it is those who spend their lives pioneering and +state-building in countries like Africa. Men who continually have to +contend with disease, bad food, rains, insect pests, dangerous wild +beasts and native cussedness may well claim that they have troubles +enough, without going far into campaigns to preserve wild animals in +countries where animals are plentiful and cheap. It is for this reason +that the people of Alaska can not be relied upon to preserve the Alaskan +game. They are busy with other things that are of more importance to +them. + +In May, 1900, representatives of the great powers owning territory in +Africa held a conference in the interests of the wild-animal life of +that continent. As a result a Convention was signed by which those +powers bound themselves "to make provision for the prevention of further +undue destruction of wild game." The principles laid down for universal +observance were as follows: + + 1. Sparing of females and immature animals. + 2. The establishment of close seasons and game sanctuaries. + 3. Absolute protection of rare species. + 4. Restrictions on export for trading purposes of skins, horns, + tusks, etc. + 5. Prohibition of the use of pits, snares and game traps. + +The brave and hardy men who are making for the British people a grand +empire in Africa probably are greater men than far-distant people +realize. To them, the white man's burden of game preservation is +accepted as all in the day's work. A mere handful of British civil +officers, strongly aided by the Society for the Preservation of the +Fauna of the British Empire, have carved out and set aside a great chain +of game preserves reaching all the way from Swaziland and the Transvaal +to Khartoum. Taken either collectively or separately, it represents +grand work, characteristic of the greatest colonizers on earth. Those +preserves are worthy stones in the foundation of what one day will be a +great British empire in Africa. The names of the men who proposed them +and wrought them out should, in some way, be imperishably connected with +them as their founders, as the least reward that Posterity can bestow. + +In Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton's fine work, "Animal Life in Africa,"[O] +the author has been at much pains to publish an excellent series of maps +showing the locations of the various British game preserves in Africa, +and the map published herewith has been based chiefly on that work. It +is indeed fortunate for the wild life of Africa that it has today so +powerful a champion and exponent as this author, the warden of the +Transvaal Game Preserves. + +[Footnote O: Published by Heinemann, London, 1912.] + +Events move so rapidly that up to this date no one, so far as I am +aware, has paused long enough to make and publish an annotated list of +the African game preserves. Herein I have attempted to _begin_ that task +myself, and I regret that at this distance it is impossible for me to +set down under the several titles the names of the men who made these +preserves possible, and actually founded them. + +To thoughtful Americans I particularly commend this list as a showing of +the work of men who have not waited until the game had been _practically +exterminated_ before creating sanctuaries in which to preserve it. In +view of these results, how trivial and small of soul seems the mercenary +efforts of the organized wool-growers of Montana to thwart our plan to +secure a paltry fifteen square miles of grass lands for the rugged and +arid Snow Creek Antelope Preserve that is intended to help save a +valuable species from quick extermination. + +At this point I must quote the views of a high authority on the status +of wild life and game preserves in Africa. The following is from Major +Stevenson-Hamilton's book. + +"It is a remarkable phenomenon in human affairs how seldom the +experience of others seems to turn the scale of action. There are, I +take it, very few farmers, in the Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, or +the Transvaal, who would not be glad to see an adequate supply of game +upon their land. Indeed, the writer is constantly dealing with +applications as to the possibility of reintroducing various species from +the game reserves to private farms, and only the question of expense and +the difficulty of transport have, up to the present, prevented this +being done on a considerable scale. When, therefore, the relatively +small populations of such protectorates as are still well stocked with +game are heard airily discussing the advisability of getting rid of it +as quickly as possible, one realizes how often vain are the teachings of +history, and how well-nigh hopeless it is to quote the result of similar +action elsewhere. It remains only to trust that things may be seen in +truer perspective ere it is too late, and that those in whose temporary +charge it is may not cast recklessly away one of nature's most splendid +assets, one, moreover, which once lightly discarded, can never by any +possibility, be regained. + +[Illustration: THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME PRESERVES OF AFRICA +The Numbers Refer to Corresponding Numbers in the Text] + +"It is idle to say that the advance of civilization must necessarily +mean the total disappearance of all wild animals. This is one of those +glib fallacies which flows only too readily from unthinking lips. +Civilization in its full sense--not the advent of a few scattered +pioneers--of course, implies their restriction, especially as regards +purely grass-feeding species, within certain definite bounds, both as +regards numbers and sanctuaries. But this is a very different thing from +wholesale destruction, that a few more or less deserving individuals may +receive some small pecuniary benefit, or gratify their taste for +slaughter to the detriment of everyone else who may come after. _The +fauna of an empire is the property of that empire as a whole, and not of +the small portion of it where the animals may happen to exist; and while +full justice and encouragement must be given to the farmer and pioneer, +neither should be permitted to entirely demolish for his own advantage +resources which, strictly speaking, are not his own_."--("Animal Life in +Africa." p. 24.) + + * * * * * + +AFRICAN GAME PRESERVES + + +BRITISH EAST AFRICA: + +1.[P] _The Athi Plains Preserve_.--This is situated between the Uganda +Railway and the boundary of German East Africa. Its northern boundary is +one mile north of the railway track. It is about 215 miles long east and +west by 105 miles from north to south, and its area is about 13,000 +square miles. It is truly a great preserve, and worthy of the plains +fauna that it is specially intended to perpetuate. + +[Footnote P: These numbers refer to corresponding numbers on the map of +Africa.] + +2. _The Jubaland Preserve_.--This preserve lies northwest of Mount +Kenia. Its southwestern corner is near Lake Baringo, the Laikipia +Escarpment is its western boundary up to Mt. Nyiro, and from that point +its northern boundary runs 225 miles to Marsabit Lake. From that point +the boundary runs south-by-west to the Guaso Nyiro River, which forms +the eastern half of the southern boundary. Its total area appears to be +about 13,000 square miles. + +In addition to the two great preserves described above the government of +British East Africa has established on the Uasin Gishu Plateau a +centrally located sanctuary for elands, roan antelopes and hippopotamii. +There is also a small special rhinoceros preserve about fifty miles +southeastward of Nairobi, around Kiu station, on the railway. + + +EGYPTIAN SUDAN: + +3. A great nameless sanctuary for wild life exists on the eastern bank +of the Nile, comprising the whole territory between the main stream, the +Blue Nile and Abyssinia. Its length (north and south) is 215 miles, and +its width is about 125 miles; which means a total area of about 26,875 +square miles. Natives and others living within this sanctuary may hunt +therein--if they can procure licenses. + + +SOMALILAND: + +4. _Hargeis Reserve_, about 1,800 square miles. + +5. _Mirso Reserve_, about 300 square miles. + + +UGANDA: + +6. _Budonga Forest Reserve_.--This small reserve embraces the whole +eastern shore and hinterland of Lake Albert Nyanza, and is shaped like a +new moon. + +7. _Toro Reserve_.--This small reserve lies between Lakes Albert Nyanza +and Albert Edward Nyanza, touching both. + + +NYASALAND, OR THE BRITISH CENTRAL AFRICA PROTECTORATE.--A small +territory, but remarkably well stocked with game. + +8. _Elephant Marsh Preserve_.--A small area in the extreme southern end +of the Protectorate, on both sides of the Shire River, chiefly for +buffalo. + +9. _Angoniland Reserve_.--This was created especially to preserve about +one thousand elephants. It is forty miles west of the southwestern arm +of Lake Nyasa. + + +TRANSVAAL: + +10. _Sabi-Singwitza-Pongola Preserve_.--This great preserve occupies the +whole region between the Drakenberg Mountains and the Lebombo Hills. Its +total area is about 10,500 square miles. It lies in a compact block +about 210 miles long by 50 miles wide, along the Portuguese border. + +11. _Rustenburg Reserve_.--This is situated at the head of the Limpopo +River, and covers about 3,500 square miles. + + +SWAZILAND: + +12. _The Swaziland Reserve_ contains about 1,750 square miles, and +occupies the southwestern corner of Swaziland. + + +RHODESIA: + +13. _The Nweru Marsh Game Reserve_ is in northwestern Rhodesia, +bordering the Congo Free State. The description of its local boundaries +is quite unintelligible outside of Rhodesia. + +_Luangwa Reserve_.--The locality of this reserve cannot be determined +from the official description, which gives no clue to its shape or size. + + * * * * * + +GAME PRESERVES IN AUSTRALASIA + + +NEW ZEALAND: + +_Little Barrier Island_ in the north, and _Resolution Island_, in the +south; and concerning both, details are lacking. + + +AUSTRALIA: + +_Kangaroo Island_, near Adelaide, South Australia, is 400 miles +northwest of Melbourne. Of the total area of this rather large island of +300 square miles, 140 square miles have been set aside as a game +preserve, chiefly for the preservation of the mallee bird (_Lipoa +occelata_). It is believed that eventually the whole island will become +a wild-life sanctuary, and it would seem that this can not be +consummated a day too soon for the vanishing wild life. + +_Wilson's Promontory_. Adelaide, is a peninsula well suited to the +preservation of wild life, especially birds, and it is now a sanctuary. + +Many private bird refuges have been created in Australia. + + +TASMANIA: + +_Eleven Bird Refuges_ have been created, with a total area of 26,000 +acres,--an excellent record for Tasmania! + +_Freycinet's Peninsula_.--At present this wild-life sanctuary is not +adequately protected from illicit hunting and trapping; but its full +protection is now demanded, and no doubt this soon will be provided by +the government. I am informed that this offers a golden opportunity to +secure a fine wild-life sanctuary at ridiculously small cost to the +public. The whole world is interested in the preservation of the +remarkable fauna of Tasmania. The extermination of the thylacine would +be a zoological calamity; but it is impending. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XL + +BREEDING GAME AND FUR IN CAPTIVITY + + +GAME BREEDING.--The breeding of game in captivity for sale in the +markets of the world is just as legitimate as the breeding of domestic +species. This applies equally to mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes. It +is the duty of the nation and the state to foster such industries and +facilitate the marketing of their products without any unnecessary +formalities, delays or losses to producers or to purchasers. + +Already this principle has been established in several states. Without +going into the records, it is safe to say that Colorado was the pioneer +in the so-called "more-game" movement, about 1899; but there is one +person who would like to have the world believe that it started in the +state of New York, about 1909. The idea is not quite as "old as the +hills," but the application of it in the United States dates back +through a considerable vista of years. + +The laws of Colorado providing for the creation of private game +preserves and the marketing of their product under a tagging system, are +very elaborate, and they show a sincere desire to foster an industry as +yet but slightly developed in this country. The laws of New York are +much more simple and easy to understand than those of Colorado. + +There is one important principle now fully recognized in the New York +laws for game breeding that other states will do well to adopt. It is +the fact that certain kinds of wild game _can not be bred and reared in +captivity on a commercial basis_; and this being true, it is clearly +against public policy to provide for the sale of any such species. Why +provide for the sale of preserve-bred grouse and ducks which we know can +not be bred and reared in confinement in marketable numbers? For +example, if we may judge by the numerous experiments that _thus far_ +have been made,--as we certainly have a right to do,--no man can +successfully breed and rear in captivity, on a commercial basis, the +canvasback duck, teal, pintail duck, ruffed grouse or quail. This being +the case, no amount of clamor from game dealers and their allies ever +should induce any state legislature to provide for the sale of any of +those species _until it has been fully demonstrated_ that they _have +been_ and _can be_ bred in captivity in large numbers. The moment the +markets of a state are thrown open to these impossible species, from +that moment the state game wardens must make a continuous struggle to +prevent the importation and sale of those birds contrary to law. This +proposition is so simple that every honest man can see it. + +All that any state legislature may rightfully be asked to do is to +provide for the sale, under tags, of those species which _we know_ can +be bred in captivity in large numbers. + +When the Bayne law was drafted, its authors considered with the utmost +care the possibilities in the breeding of game in the United States on a +commercial basis. It was found that as yet only two wild native species +have been, and can be, reared in captivity on a large scale. These are +the white-tailed deer and mallard duck. Of foreign species we can breed +successfully for market the fallow deer, red deer of Europe and some of +the pheasants of the old world. For the rearing, killing and marketing +of all these, the Bayne law provides the simplest processes of state +supervision that the best game protectors and game breeders of New York +could devise. The tagging system is expeditious, cheap and effective. +Practically the only real concession that is required of the +game-breeder concerns the killing, which must be done in a systematic +way, whereby a state game warden can visit the breeder's premises and +affix the tags without any serious sacrifice of time or convenience on +either side. The tags cost the breeder five cents each, and they pay the +cost of the services rendered by the state. + +By this admirable system, which is very plainly set forth in the New +York Conservation Commission's book of game laws, all the _wild_ game of +New York, _and of every other state_, is absolutely protected at all +times against illegal killing and illegal importation for the New York +market. Now, is it not the duty of Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, the +Carolinas and every other state to return our compliment by passing +similar laws? Massachusetts came up to public expectations at the next +session of her legislature after the passage of our Bayne law. In 1913, +California will try to secure a similar act; and we know full well that +her ducks, geese, quail, grouse and band-tailed pigeon need it very +much. If the California protectors of wild life succeed in arousing the +great quiet mass of people in that state, their Bayne bill will be swept +through their legislature on a tidal wave of popular sentiment. + +_Elk_.--For people who own wild woodlands near large cities there are +good profits to be made in rearing white-tailed deer for the market. I +would also mention elk, but for the fact that every man who rears a fine +herd of elk quickly becomes so proud of the animals, and so much +attached to them, that he can not bear to have them shot and butchered +for market! Elk are just as easy to breed and rear as domestic cattle, +except that in the fall breeding season, the fighting of rival bulls +demands careful and intelligent management. Concerning the possibilities +of feeding elk on hay at $25 per ton and declaring an annual profit, I +am not informed. If the elk require to be fed all the year round, the +high price of hay and grain might easily render it impossible to produce +marketable three-year-old animals at a profit. + +_White-tailed Deer_.--Any one who owns from one hundred to one thousand +acres of wild, brushy or forest-covered land can raise white-tailed (or +Virginia) deer at a profit. With smaller areas of land, free range +becomes impossible, and the prospects of commercial profits diminish +and disappear. In any event, a fenced range is absolutely essential; and +the best fence is the Page, 88 inches high, all horizontals of No. 9 +wire, top and bottom wires of No. 7, and the perpendicular tie-wires of +No. 12. This fence will hold deer, elk, bison and wild horses. In large +enclosures, the white-tailed deer is hardy and prolific, and when fairly +cooked its flesh is a great delicacy. In Vermont the average weights of +the deer killed in that state in various years have been as follow:--in +1902, 171 lbs.; in 1903, 190 lbs.; in 1905, 198 lbs.; in 1906, 200 lbs.; +in 1907, 196 lbs.; in 1908, 207 lbs.; and in 1909, 155 lbs. The reason +for the great drop in 1909 is yet to be ascertained. + +In 1910, in New York City the wholesale price of whole deer carcasses +was from 22 to 25 cents per pound. Venison saddles were worth from 30 to +35 cents per pound. On the bill of fare of a first class hotel, a +portion of venison costs from $1.50 to $2.50 according to the diner's +location. It is probable that such prices as these will prevail only in +the largest cities, and therefore they must not be regarded as general. + +Live white-tailed deer can be purchased for breeding purposes at prices +ranging from $25 to $35 each. A good eastern source of supply is Blue +Mountain Forest, Mr. Austin Corbin, president (Broadway and Cortlandt +St., New York). In the West, good stock can be procured from the +Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, through C.V.R. Townsend, Negaunee, Mich., +whose preserve occupies the whole of Grand Island, Lake Superior. + +The Department of Agriculture has published for free distribution a +pamphlet entitled "Raising Deer and Other Large Game Animals" in the +United States, by David E. Lantz, which contains much valuable +information, although it leaves much unsaid. + +All breeders of deer are cautioned that during the fall and early winter +months, all adult white-tailed bucks are dangerous to man, and should be +treated accordingly. A measure of safety can be secured in a large park +by compelling the deer always to keep at a respectful distance, and +making no "pets," whatever. Whenever a buck finds his horns and loses +his fear of man, climb the fence quickly. Bucks in the rutting season +sometimes seem to go crazy, and often they attack men, wantonly and +dangerously. The method of attack is to an unarmed man almost +irresistible. The animal lowers his head, stiffens his neck and with +terrible force drives straight forward for your stomach and bowels. +Usually there are eight sharp spears of bone to impale you. The best +defense of an unarmed man is to seize the left antler with the left +hand, and with the right hand pull the deer's right front foot from +under him. Merely holding to the horns makes great sport for the deer. +He loves that unequal combat. The great desideratum is to put his fore +legs out of commission, and get him down on his knees. + +Does are sometimes dangerous, and inflict serious damage by rising on +their hind feet and viciously striking with their sharp front hoofs. +These tendencies in American deer are mentioned here as a duty to +persons who may desire to breed deer for profit. + +_The Red Deer of Europe_.--Anyone who has plenty of natural forest food +for deer and a good market within fair range, may find the European red +deer a desirable species. It is of size smaller, and more easily +managed, than the wapiti; and is more easily marketed because of its +smaller size. As a species it is hardy and prolific, and of course its +venison is as good as that of any other deer. Live specimens for +stocking purposes can be purchased of S.A. Stephan, Agent for Carl +Hagenbeck, Cincinnati Zoological Gardens, or of Wenz & Mackensen, +Yardley, Pa., at prices ranging from $60 to $100 each, according to size +and age. At present the supply of specimens in this country on hand for +sale is very small. + +_The Fallow Deer_.--This species is the most universal park deer of +Europe. It seems to be invulnerable to neglect and misuse, for it has +persisted through countless generations of breeding in captivity, and +the abuse of all nations. In size it is a trifle smaller than our +white-tailed deer, with spots in summer, and horns that are widely +flattened at the extremities in a very interesting way. It is very hardy +and prolific, but of course it can not stand everything that could be +put upon it. It needs a dry shed in winter, red clover hay and crushed +oats for winter food; and no deer should be kept in mud. As a commercial +proposition it is not so meaty as the white-tail, but it is _less +troublesome to keep_. The adult males are not such vicious or dangerous +fighters as white-tail bucks. Live specimens are worth from $50 to $75. +The Essex County Park Commissioners (Orange, New Jersey) have had +excellent success with this species. In 1906 they purchased twenty-five +does and four bucks and placed them in an enclosure of 150 acres, on a +wooded mountain-side. In 1912 they had 150 deer, and were obliged to +take measures for a disposal of the surplus. Messrs. Wenz & Mackensen, +keep an almost continuous supply of fallow deer on hand for sale. + +_The Indian Sambar Deer_.--I have long advocated the introduction in the +southern states, _wherever deer can be protected_, of this great, +hulking, animated venison-factory. While I have not delved deeply into +the subject of weight and growth, I feel sure from casual observations +of the growth of about twenty-five animals that this species produces +more venison during the first two years of its life than any other deer +with which I am acquainted. I regard it as the greatest venison-producer +of the whole Deer Family; and I know that is a large order. The size of +a yearling is almost absurd, it is so great for an animal of tender +years. When adult, the species is for its height very large and heavy. +As a food-producing animal, located in the southern hill forests and +taking care of itself, "there's millions in it!" But _it must be kept +under fence_; for in no southern (or northern) state would any such mass +of juicy wild meat long be permitted to roam at large unkilled. Through +this species I believe that a million acres of southern timber lands, +now useless except for timber growth, could be made very productive in +choice venison. The price would be,--a good fence, and protection from +poachers. + +The Indian sambar deer looks like a short-legged big-bodied understudy +of our American elk. It breeds well in captivity, and it is of quiet +and tractable disposition. It can not live in a country where the +temperature goes down to 25 degrees F. and _remains there for long +periods_. It would, I am firmly convinced, do well all along the Gulf +coast, and if acclimatized along the Gulf, with the lapse of time and +generations it would become more and more hardy, grow more hair, and +push its way northward, until it reached the latitude of Tennessee. But +then, in a wild state it could not be protected from poachers. As stated +elsewhere, Dr. Ray V. Pierce has successfully acclimatized and bred this +species in his St. Vincent Island game preserve, near Apalachicola, +Florida. More than that, the species has crossed with the white-tailed +deer of the Island. + +Living specimen of the Indian Sambar deer are worth from $125 to $250, +according to size and other conditions. Just at present it seems +difficult for Americans to procure a sufficient number of _males!_ We +have had very bad luck with several males that we attempted to import +for breeding purposes. + +_The Mallard Duck_.--A great many persons have made persistent attempts +to breed the canvasback, redhead, mallard, black duck, pintail, teal and +other species, on a commercial basis. So far as I am aware the mallard +is the only wild duck that has been bred in sufficient numbers to +slaughter for the markets. The wood duck and mandarin can be bred in +fair numbers, but only sufficient to supply the demand for _living_ +birds, for park purposes. One would naturally suppose that a species as +closely allied to the mallard as the black duck _is_ known to be, would +breed like the mallard; but the black duck is so timid and nervous about +nesting as to be almost worthless in captivity. All the species named +above, except the mallard, must at present, and in general, be regarded +as failures in breeding for the market. + +Of all American ducks the common mallard is the most persistent and +successful breeder. It quickly becomes accustomed to captivity, it +enjoys park life, and when given even half a chance it will breed and +rear its young. + +Unquestionably, the mallard duck can be reared in captivity in numbers +limited only by the extent of breeder's facilities. The amount of net +profit that can be realized depends wholly upon the business acumen and +judgment displayed in the management of the flock. The total amount of +knowledge necessary to success is not so very great, but at the same +time, the exercise of a fair amount of intelligence, and also careful +diligence, is absolutely necessary. Naturally the care and food of the +flock must not cost extravagantly, or the profits will inevitably +disappear. + +As a contribution to the cause of game-breeding for the market, and the +creation of a new industry of value, Mr. L.S. Crandall and the author +wrote for the New York State Conservation Commission a pamphlet on +"Breeding Mallard Ducks for Market." Copies of it can be procured of our +State Conservation Commission at Albany, by enclosing ten cents in +stamps. + + * * * * * + +BREEDING FUR-BEARING ANIMALS + + +When hundreds of persons wrote to me asking for literature on the +breeding of fur-bearing animals for profit, for ten years I was +compelled to tell them that there was no such literature. During the +past three years a few offerings have been made, and I lose not a moment +in listing them here. + +"_Life Histories of Northern Animals_", by Ernest T. Seton (Charles +Scribner's Sons, 2 volumes, $18), contains carefully written and +valuable chapters on fox farming, skunk farming, marten farming, and +mink farming, and other valuable life histories of the fur-bearing +animals of North America. + +_Rod and Gun in Canada_, a magazine for sportsmen published by W.J. +Taylor, Woodstock, Ontario, contained in 1912 a series of articles on +"The Culture of Black and Silver Foxes," by R.B. and L.V. Croft. +_Country Life in America_ has published a number of illustrated articles +on fox and skunk farming. + +With its usual enterprise and forethought, the Biological Survey of the +Department of Agriculture has published a valuable pamphlet of 22 pages +on "Silver Fox Farming," by Wilfred H. Osgood, copies of which can be +procured by addressing the Secretary of Agriculture. In consulting that +contribution, however, it must be borne in mind that just now, in fox +farming, history is being made more rapidly than heretofore. + +I do not mean to say that the above are the only sources of information +on fur-farming for profit, but they are the ones that have most +impressed me. The files of all the journals and magazines for sportsmen +contain numerous articles on this subject, and they should be carefully +consulted. + +BLACK-FOX FARMING.--The ridiculous prices now being paid in London for +the skins of black or "silver" foxes has created in this country a small +furore over the breeding of that color-phase of the red fox. The prices +that actually have been obtained, both for skins and for live animals +for breeding purposes, have a strong tendency to make people crazy. +Fancy paying $12,000 in real money for one pair of live black foxes! +That has been done, on Prince Edward Island, and $10,000 per pair is now +regarded as a bargain-counter figure. + +On Prince Edward Island, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, black-fox breeding +has been going on for ten years, and is now on a successful basis. One +man has made a fortune in the business, and it is rumored that a stock +company is considering the purchase of his ten-acre fox ranch at a +fabulous figure. The enormous prices obtainable for live black foxes, +male or female, make diamonds and rubies seem cheap and commonplace; and +it is no wonder that enterprising men are tempted to enter that +industry. + +The price of a black fox is one of the wonders of a recklessly +extravagant and whimsical age. All the fur-wearing world knows very well +that fox fur is one of the poorest of furs to withstand the wear and +tear of actual use. About two seasons' hard wear are enough to put the +best fox skin on the wane, and three or four can be guaranteed to throw +it into the discard. Even the finest black fox skin is nothing +superlatively beautiful! A choice "cross" fox skin costing only $50 _is +far more beautiful, as a color proposition_; but London joyously pays +$2,500 or $3,000 for a single black-fox skin, to wear! + +Of course, all such fads as this are as ephemeral as the butterflies of +summer. The Russo-Japanese war quickly reduced the value of Alaskan blue +foxes from $30 to $18; and away went the Alaskan fox farms! A similar +twist of Fortune's fickle wheel may in any year send the black fox out +of royal favor, and remove the bottom from the business of producing it. +Let us hope, however, that the craze for that fur will continue; for we +like to see our friends and neighbors make good profits. + +PHEASANT REARING.--This subject is so well understood by game-breeders, +and there is already so much good literature available regarding it, it +is not necessary that I should take it up here. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XLI + +TEACHING WILD LIFE PROTECTION TO THE YOUNG + + +Thousands of busy and burdened men and women are to-day striving hard, +early and late, to promote measures that will preserve the valuable wild +life of the world. They desire to leave to the boys and girls of +tomorrow a good showing of the marvelous bird and animal forms that make +the world beautiful and interesting. They are acting on the principle +that the wild life of to-day is not ours, to destroy or to keep as we +choose, but has been given to us _in trust_, partly for our benefit and +partly for those who come after us and audit our accounts. They believe +that we have no right to squander and destroy a wild-life heritage of +priceless value which we have done nothing to create, and which is not +ours to destroy. + + +DUTY OF PARENTS.--This being the case, it is very necessary that the +young people of to-day should be taught, early and often, the virtue and +the necessity of wild-life protection. There is no reason that the boy +of to-day should not take up his share of the common burden, just as +soon as he is old enough to wander alone through the woods. Let him be +taught in precise terms that he must _not rob birds' nests_, and that he +_must not shoot song-birds, woodpeckers and kingfishers_ with a +22-calibre rifle, or any other gun. At this moment there lies upon my +side table a vicious little 22-calibre rifle that was taken from two +boys who were camping in the woods of Connecticut, and amusing +themselves by shooting valuable insectivorous birds. Now those boys were +not wholly to blame for what they were doing; but their fathers and +mothers were _very much to blame_! They should have been taught at the +parental knee that it is very wrong to kill any bird except a genuine +game bird, and then only in the lawful open season. Those two fathers +paid $10 each for having failed in their duty; and it served them right; +for they were the real culprits. + +Small-calibre rifles are becoming alarmingly common in the hands of +boys. _Parents must do their duty in the training of their boys against +bird-shooting!_ It is a very serious matter. A million boys who roam the +fields with small rifles without having been instructed in protection, +can destroy an appalling number of valuable birds in the course of a +year. Some parents are so slavishly devoted to their children that they +wish them to do everything they please, and be checked in nothing. Such +parents constitute one of the pests of society, and a drag upon the +happiness of their own children! It is now the bounden duty of each +parent to teach each one of his or her children that the time has come +when the resources of nature, and especially wild life, must be +conserved. To permit boys to grow up and acquire guns without this +knowledge is very wrong. + +THE DUTY OF TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS.--A great deal of "nature study" is +being taught in the public schools of the United States. That the young +people of our land should be taught to appreciate the works of nature, +and especially animal life and plant life, is very desirable. Thus far, +however, there is a screw loose in the system, and that is the shortage +in definite, positive instruction regarding _individual duty_ toward the +wild creatures, great and small. Along with their nature studies all our +school children should be taught, in the imperative mood: + +1. That it is wrong to disturb breeding birds, or rob birds' nests; + +2. That it is wrong to destroy any harmless living creature not properly +classed as game, except it be to preserve it in a museum; + +3. That it is no longer right for civilized man to look upon wild game +as _necessary_ food; because there is plenty of other food, and the +remnant of game can not withstand slaughter in that basis; + +4. That the time has come when it is the duty of every good citizen to +take an active, aggressive part in _preventing_ the destruction of wild +life, and in _promoting_ its preservation; + +5. That every boy and girl over twelve years of age can do _something_ +in this cause, and finally, + +6. That protection and encouragement will bring back the almost vanished +birds. + +We call upon all boards of education, all principals of schools and all +teachers to educate our boys and girls, constantly and imperatively, +along those lines. Teachers, do not say to your pupils,--"It is right +and nice to protect birds," but say:--"It is your _Duty_ to protect all +harmless wild things, and _you must do it_!" + +In a good cause, there is great virtue in "Must." + +Really, we are losing each year an immense amount of available wild-life +protection. The doctrine of imperative individual duty never yet has +been taught in our schools as it should be taught. A few teachers have, +indeed, covered this ground; but I am convinced that their proportion is +mighty small. + +TEXT BOOKS.--The writers of the nature study text books are very much to +blame because nine-tenths of the time this subject has been ignored. The +situation has not been taken seriously, save in a few cases, by a very +few authors. I am glad to report that in 1912 there was published a fine +text book by Professor James W. Peabody, of the Morris High School, New +York, and Dr. Arthur E. Hunt, in which from beginning to end the duty to +protect wild life is strongly insisted upon. It is entitled "Elementary +Biology; Plants, Animals and Man." + +Hereafter, no zoological or nature study text book should be given a +place in any school in America unless the author of it has done his full +share in setting forth the duty of the young citizen toward wild life. +Were I a member of a board of education I would seek to establish and +enforce this requirement. To-day, any author who will presume to write a +text book of nature study or zoology without knowing and doing his duty +toward our vanishing fauna, is too ignorant of wild life and too +careless of his duty toward it, to be accepted as a safe guide for the +young. The time for criminal indifference has gone by. Hereafter, every +one who is not for the preservation of wild life is against it and it is +time to separate the sheep from the goats. + +From this time forth, the preservation of our fauna should be regarded +as a subject on which every candidate for a teacher's certificate should +undergo an examination before receiving authority to teach in a public +school. The candidate should be required to know _why_ the preservation +of birds is necessary; why the slaughter of wild life is wrong and +criminal; the extent to which wild birds and mammals return to us and +thrive under protection; why wild game is no longer a legitimate food +supply; why wild game should not be sold, and why the feathers of wild +birds (other than game birds) never should be used as millinery +ornaments. + +As sensible Americans, and somewhat boastful of our intelligence, we +should put the education of the young in wild-life protection on a +rational business basis. + + +STATE EFFORTS.--In several of our states, systematic efforts to educate +children in their duty toward wild life are already being made. To this +end, an annual "Bird Day" has been established for state-wide +observance. This splendid idea is now legally in force in the following +states: + +California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio +and Wisconsin. + +Bird Day is also more or less regularly observed, though not legally +provided for, in New York, Indiana, Colorado and Alabama, and locally in +some cities of Pennsylvania. Usually the observance of the day is +combined with that of Arbor Day, and the date is fixed by proclamation +of the Governor. + +Alabama and Wisconsin regularly issue elaborate and beautiful Arbor and +Bird Day annuals; and Illinois, and possibly other states, have issued +very good publications of this character. + + +THE PHILLIPS EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR THE BIRDS.--Quite recently there +has come under my notice an episode in the education of school children +that has given the public profound satisfaction. I cite it here as an +object lesson for pan-America. + +In Carrick, Pennsylvania, just across the Monongahela River from the +city of Pittsburgh, lives John M. Phillips, State Game Commissioner, +nature-lover, sportsman and friend of man. He is a man who does things, +and gets results. Goat Mountain Park (450 square miles), in British +Columbia, to-day owes its existence to him, for without his initiative +and labor it would not have been established. It was the first game +preserve of British Columbia. + +Three years ago, Mr. Phillips became deeply impressed by the idea that +one of the best ways in the world to protect the wild life, both of +to-day and the future, would be in teaching school children to love it +and protect it. His fertile brain and open check-book soon devised a +method for his home city. His theory was that by giving the children +_something to do_, not only in protecting but in actually _bringing +back_ the birds, much might be accomplished. + +[Illustration: BIRD DAY AT CARRICK, PA. +Marching Behind the Governor] + +In studying the subject of bringing back the birds, he found that the +Russian mulberry is one of the finest trees in the world as a purveyor +of good fruit for many kinds of birds. The tree does not much resemble +our native mulberry, but is equally beautiful and interesting. "The +fruit is not a long berry, nor is it of a purple color, but it grows +from buds on the limbs and twigs something after the manner of the +pussy-willow. It is smaller, of light color and has a very distinct +flavor. The most striking peculiarity about the fruit is that it keeps +on ripening during two months or more, new berries appearing daily while +others are ripening. This is why it is such good bird food. Nor is it +half bad for folks, for the berries are good to look at and to eat, +either with cream or without, and to make pies that will set any sane +boy's mouth a-watering at sight."--(Erasmus Wilson). + +Everyone knows the value of sweet cherries, both to birds and to +children. + +Mr. Phillips decided that he would give away several hundred bird boxes, +and also several hundred sweet cherry and Russian mulberry trees. The +first gift distribution was made in the early spring of 1909. Another +followed in 1910, but the last one was the most notable. + +On April 11, 1912, Carrick had a great and glorious Bird Day. Mr. +Phillips was the author of it, and Governor Tener the finisher. On that +day occurred the third annual gift distribution of raw materials +designed to promote in the breasts of 2,000 children a love for birds +and an active desire to protect and increase them. Mr. Phillips gave +away 500 bird boxes, 500 sweet cherry trees and 200 mulberry trees. The +sun shone brightly, 500 flags waved in Carrick, the Governor made one of +the best speeches of his life, and Erasmus Wilson, faithful friend of +the birds, wrote this good story of the occasion for the _Gazette-Times_ +of Pittsburgh: + + The Governor was there, and the children, the bird-boxes, and the + young trees. And was there ever a brighter or more fitting day for a + children and bird jubilee! The scene was so inspiring that Gov. + Tener made one of the best speeches of his life. + + The distribution of several hundred cherry and mulberry trees was + the occasion, and the beautiful grounds of the Roosevelt school, + Carrick, was the scene. + + Mr. John M. Phillips, sane sportsman and enthusiastic friend of the + birds, has been looking forward to this as the culmination of a + scheme he has been working on for years, and he was more than + pleased with the outcome. The intense delight it afforded him more + than repaid him for all it has cost in all the years past. + + But it was impossible to tell who were the more delighted,--he, or + the Governor, or the children, or the visitors who were so fortunate + as to be present. County Superintendent of Schools Samuel Hamilton + was simply a mass of delight. And how could he be otherwise, + surrounded as he was by 2,000 and more children fairly quivering + with delight? + + Children will care for and defend things that are their very own, + fight for them and stand guard over them. Realizing this Mr. + Phillips undertook to show them how they could have birds all their + own. Being clever in devising schemes for achieving things most to + be desired, he began giving out bird-boxes to those who would agree + to put them up, and to watch and defend the birds when they came to + make their homes with them. And he found that no more faithful + sentinel ever stood on guard than the boy who had a bird-house all + his own. + + Here was the solution to the vexed problem. Provide boxes for those + who would agree to put them up, care for the birds, and study their + habits and needs. The children agreed at once, and the birds did not + object, so Mr. Phillips had some hundreds, four or five, blue-bird + and wren boxes constructed during the past winter. These were passed + out some weeks ago to any boys or girls who would present an order + signed by their parents, and countersigned by the principal of the + school. + + He knows enough about a boy to know that he does not prize the + things that come without effort, nor will he become deeply + interested in anything for which he is not held more or less + responsible. Hence the advantage in having him write an order, have + it indorsed by his parents, and vouched for by his school principal. + + That he had struck the right scheme was proven by the avidity with + which the girls and boys rushed for the boxes. The fact that a heavy + rain was falling did not dampen their ardor for a moment, nor did + the fact that they were tramping Mr. Phillips' beautiful lawn into a + field of mud. + + Mr. Phillips, seeing the necessity of providing food for the + prospective hosts of birds, and wishing to place the responsibility + on the boys and girls, offered to provide a cherry tree or mulberry + tree for every box erected, provided they should be properly planted + and diligently cared for. + + This was practically the culmination of the most unique bird scheme + ever attempted, and yesterday was the day set apart for the + distribution of these hundreds of fruit trees, the products of which + are to be divided share and share alike with the birds. + + Nowhere else has such a scheme been attempted, and never before has + there been just such a day of jubilee. The intense interest + manifested by the children, and the earnest enthusiasm manifested, + leaves no doubt about their carrying out their part of the contract. + +[Illustration: DISTRIBUTING BIRD BOXES AND FRUIT TREES] + +Up to date (1912) Mr. Phillips has given away about 1,000 bird boxes, +1,500 cherry and Russian mulberry trees, and transformed the schools of +Carrick into seething masses of children militantly enthusiastic in the +protection of birds, and in providing them with homes and food. As a +final coup, Mr. Phillips has induced the city of Pittsburgh to create +the office of City Ornithologist, at a salary of $1200 per year. The +duty of the new officer is to protect all birds in the city from all +kinds of molestation, especially when nesting; to erect bird-houses, +provide food for wild birds, on a large scale, and report annually upon +the increase or decrease of feathered residents and visitors. Mr. +Frederic S. Webster, long known as a naturalist and practical +ornithologist, has been appointed to the position, and is now on active +duty. + +So far as we are aware, Pittsburgh is the first city to create the +office of City Ornithologist. It is a happy thought; it will yield good +results, and other cities will follow Pittsburgh's good example. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XLII + +THE ETHICS OF SPORTSMANSHIP + + +I count it as rather strange that American and English sportsmen have +hunted and shot for a century, and until 1908 formulated practically +nothing to establish and define the ethics of shooting game. Here and +there, a few unwritten principles have been evolved, and have become +fixed by common consent; but the total number of these is very few. +Perhaps this has been for the reason that every free and independent +sportsman prefers to be a law unto himself. Is it not doubly strange, +however, that even down to the present year the term "sportsmen" never +has been defined by a sportsman! + +Forty years ago, a sportsman might have been defined, according to the +standards of that period, as a man who hunts wild game for pleasure. +Those were the days wherein no one foresaw the wholesale annihilation of +species, and there were no wilderness game preserves. In those days, +gentlemen shot female hoofed game, trapped bears if they felt like it, +killed ten times as much big game as they could use, and no one made any +fuss whatever about the waste or extermination of wild life. + +Those were the days of ox-teams and broad-axes. To-day, we are living in +a totally different world,--a world of grinding, crunching, pulverizing +progress, a world of annihilation of the works of Nature. And what is a +sportsman to-day? + +A SPORTSMAN is a man who loves Nature, and who in the enjoyment of the +outdoor life and exploration takes a reasonable toll of Nature's wild +animals, but not for commercial profit, and only so long as his hunting +does not promote the extermination of species. + +In view of the disappearance of wild life all over the habitable globe, +and the steady extermination of species, the ethics of sportsmanship has +become a matter of tremendous importance. If a man can shoot the last +living Burchell zebra, or prong-horned antelope, and be a sportsman and +a gentleman, then we may just as well drop down all bars, and say no +more about the ethics of shooting game. + +But the real gentlemen-sportsmen of the world are not insensible to the +duties of the hour in regard to the taking or not taking of game. The +time has come when canon laws should be laid down, of world-wide +application, and so thoroughly accepted and promulgated that their +binding force can not be ignored. Among other things, it is time for a +list of species to be published which no man claiming to be either a +gentleman or a sportsman can shoot for aught else than preservation in a +public museum. Of course, this list would be composed of the species +that are threatened with extermination. Of American animals it should +include the prong-horned antelope, Mexican mountain sheep, all the +mountain sheep and goats in the United States, the California grizzly +bear, mule deer, West Indian seal and California elephant seal and +walrus. + +In Africa that list should include the eland, white rhinoceros, +blessbok, bontebok, kudu, giraffes and southern elephants, sable +antelope, rhinoceros south of the Zambesi, leucoryx antelope and +whale-headed stork. In Asia it should include the great Indian +rhinoceros and its allied species, the burrhel, the Nilgiri tahr and the +gayal. The David deer of Manchuria already is extinct in a wild state. + +In Australia the interdiction should include the thylacine or Tasmanian +wolf, all the large kangaroos, the emu, lyre bird and the mallee-bird. + +Think what it would mean to the species named above if all the sportsmen +of the world would unite in their defense, both actively and passively! +It would be to those species a modus vivendi worth while. + +Prior to 1908, no effort (so far as we are aware) ever had been made to +promote the establishment of a comprehensive and up-to-date code of +ethics for sportsmen who shoot. A few clubs of men who are hunters of +big game had expressed in their constitutions a few brief principles for +the purpose of standardizing their own respective memberships, but that +was all. I have not taken pains to make a general canvass of sportsmen's +clubs to ascertain what rules have been laid down by any large number of +organizations. + +The Boone and Crockett Club, of New York and Washington, had in its +constitution the following excellent article: + +"Article X. The use of steel traps, the making of large bags, the +killing of game while swimming in water, or helpless in deep snow, and +the unnecessary killing of females or young of any species of ruminant, +shall be deemed offenses. Any member who shall commit such offenses may +be suspended, or expelled from the Club by unanimous vote of the +Executive Committee." + +In 1906, this Club condemned the use of automatic shotguns in hunting as +unsportsmanlike. + +The Lewis and Clark Club, of Pittsburgh, has in its constitution, as +Section 3 of Article 3, the following comprehensive principle: + +"The term 'legitimate sport' means not only the observance of local +laws, but excludes all methods of taking game other than by fair +stalking or still hunting." + +At the end of the constitution of this club is this declaration, and +admonition: + +"_Purchase and sale of Trophies_.--As the purchase of heads and horns +establishes a market value, and encourages Indians and others to "shoot +for sale," often in violation of local laws and always to the detriment +of the protection of game for legitimate sport, the Lewis and Clark Club +condemns the purchase or the sale of the heads or horns of any game." + +In 1906 the Lewis and Clark Club condemned the use of automatic +shotguns as unsportsmanlike. + +The Shikar Club, of London, a club which contains all the big-game +hunters of the nobility and gentry of England,[Q] and of which His +Majesty King George is Honorary President, has declared the leading +feature of its "Objects" in the following terms: + +"To maintain the standard of sportsmanship. It is not squandered bullets +and swollen bags which appeal to us. The test is rather in a love of +forest, mountains and desert; in acquired knowledge of the habits of +animals; in the strenuous pursuit of a wary and dangerous quarry; in the +instinct for a well-devised approach to a fair shooting distance; and in +the patient retrieve of a wounded animal." + +[Footnote Q: This organization contains in its list of members the most +distinguished names in the modern annals of British sport and +exploration. Its honorary membership, of eight persons, contains the +names of three Americans: Theodore Roosevelt, Madison Grant and W.T. +Hornaday; and of this fact at least one person is extremely proud!] + +In 1908 the Camp-Fire Club of America formally adopted, as its code of +ethics, the "Sportsman's Platform" of fifteen articles that was prepared +by the writer and placed before the sportsmen of America, Great Britain +and her colonial dependencies in that year. In the book of the Club it +regularly appears as follows: + + * * * * * + +CODE OF ETHICS +OF THE +CAMP-FIRE CLUB OF AMERICA +_Proposed by Wm. T. Hornaday and adopted December 10, 1908_ + + 1. The wild animal life of to-day is not ours, to do with as we + please. The original stock is given to us _in trust_, for the + benefit both of the present and the future. We must render an + accounting of this trust to those who come after us. + + 2. Judging from the rate at which the wild creatures of North + America are now being destroyed, fifty years hence there will be no + large game left in the United States nor in Canada, outside of + rigidly protected game preserves. It is therefore the duty of every + good citizen to promote the protection of forests and wild life and + the creation of game preserves, while a supply of game remains. + Every man who finds pleasure in hunting or fishing should be willing + to spend both time and money in active work for the protection of + forests, fish and game. + + 3. The sale of game is incompatible with the perpetual preservation + of a proper stock of game; therefore it should be prohibited by laws + and by public sentiment. + + 4. In the settled and civilized regions of North America there is no + real _necessity_ for the consumption of wild game as human food: nor + is there any good excuse for the sale of game for food purposes. The + maintenance of hired laborers on wild game should be prohibited + everywhere, under severe penalties. + + 5. An Indian has no more right to kill wild game, or to subsist upon + it all the year round, than any white man in the same locality. The + Indian has no inherent or God-given ownership of the game of North + America, anymore than of its mineral resources; and he should be + governed by the same game laws as white men. + + 6. No man can be a good citizen and also be a slaughterer of game or + fishes beyond the narrow limits compatible with high-class + sportsmanship. + + 7. A game-butcher or a market-hunter is an undesirable citizen, and + should be treated as such. + + 8. The highest purpose which the killing of wild game and game + fishes can hereafter be made to serve is in furnishing objects to + overworked men for tramping and camping trips in the wilds; and the + value of wild game as human food should no longer be regarded as an + important factor in its pursuit. + + 9. If rightly conserved, wild game constitutes a valuable asset to + any country which possesses it; and it is good statesmanship to + protect it. + + 10. An ideal hunting trip consists of a good comrade, fine country, + and a _very few_ trophies per hunter. + + 11. In an ideal hunting trip, the death of the game is only an + incident; and by no means is it really necessary to a successful + outing. + + 12. The best hunter is the man who finds the most game, kills the + least, and leaves behind him no wounded animals. + + 13. The killing of an animal means the end of its most interesting + period. When the country is fine, pursuit is more interesting than + possession. + + 14. The killing of a female hoofed animal, save for special + preservation, is to be regarded as incompatible with the highest + sportsmanship; and it should everywhere be prohibited by stringent + laws. + + 15. A particularly fine photograph of a large wild animal in its + haunts is entitled to more credit than the dead trophy of a similar + animal. An animal that has been photographed never should be killed, + unless previously wounded in the chase. + +This platform has been adopted as a code of ethics by the following +organizations, besides the Camp-Fire Club of America: + +The Lewis and Clark Club, of Pittsburgh, John M. Phillips, President. + +The North American Fish and Game Protective Association (International) + +Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, Boston. + +Camp-Fire Club of Michigan, Detroit. + +Rod and Gun Club, Sheridan County, Wyoming. + +The platform has been endorsed and published by The Society for the +Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the British Empire (London), which is +an endorsement of far-reaching importance. + +Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton, C.M.Z.S., Warden of the Government Game +Reserves of the Transvaal, South Africa, has adopted the platform and +given it the most effective endorsement that it has received from any +single individual. In his great work on game protection in Africa and +wild-animal lore, entitled "Animal Life in Africa" (and "very highly +commended" by the Committee on Literary Honors of the Camp-Fire Club), +he publishes the entire platform, with a depth and cordiality of +endorsement that is bound to warm the heart of every man who believes in +the principles laid down in that document. He says, "It should be +printed on the back of every license that is issued for hunting in +Africa." + +I am profoundly impressed by the fact that it is high time for sportsmen +all over the world to take to heart the vital necessity of adopting high +and clearly defined codes of ethics, to suit the needs of the present +hour. The days of game abundance, and the careless treatment of wild +life have gone by, never to return. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE DUTY OF AMERICAN ZOOLOGISTS AND EDUCATORS TO AMERICAN WILD LIFE + + +The publication of this chapter will hardly be regarded as a bid for +fame, or even popularity, on the part of the author. However, the +subject can not be ignored simply because it is disagreeable. + +Throughout sixty years, to go no further back, the people of America +have been witnessing the strange spectacle of American zoologists, as a +mass, so intent upon the academic study of our continental fauna that +they seem not to have cared a continental about the destruction of that +fauna. + +During that tragic period twelve species of North American birds have +been totally exterminated, twenty-three are almost exterminated, and the +mammals have fared very badly. + +If "by their works ye shall know them," then no man can say that the men +referred to have been conspicuous on the firing line in defense of +assaulted wild life. In their hearts, we know that in an academic way +the naturalists of America do care about wild-life slaughter, and the +extermination of species; and we also know that perhaps fifty American +zoologists have at times taken an active and serious interest in +protection work. + +I am speaking now of the general body of museum directors and curators; +professors and teachers of zoology in our institutions of learning--a +legion in themselves; teachers of nature study in our secondary schools; +investigators and specialists in state and government service; the +taxidermists and osteologists; and the array of literary people who, +like all the foregoing, _make their bread and butter out of the +exploitation of wild life_. + +Taken as a whole, the people named above constitute a grand army of at +least five thousand trained, educated, resourceful and influential +persons. They all _depend upon wild life for their livelihood_. When +they talk about living things, the public listens with respectful +attention. Their knowledge of the value of wild life would be worth +something to our cause; but thus far it never has been capitalized! + +These people are hard workers; and when they mark out definite courses +and attainable goals, they know how to get results. Yet what do we see? + +For sixty long years, with the exception of the work of a corporal's +guard of their number, this grand army has remained in camp, partly +neglecting and partly refusing to move upon the works of the enemy. For +sixty years, with the exception of the non-game-bird law, as a class and +a mass they have left to the sportsmen of the country the dictating of +laws for the protection of all the game birds, the mammals and the game +fishes. When we stop to consider that the game birds alone embrace _154 +very important species_, the appalling extent to which the zoologist has +abdicated in favor of the sportsman becomes apparent. + +It is a very great mistake, and a wrong besides, for the zoologists of +the country to abandon the game birds, mammals and fishes of North +America to the sportsmen, to do with as they please! Yet that is +practically what has been done. + +The time was, thirty or forty years ago, when wild life was so abundant +that we did not need to worry about its preservation. That was the +golden era of study and investigation. That era ended definitely in +1884, with the practical extermination of the wild American bison, +partly through the shameful greed and partly through the neglect of the +American people. We are now living _in the middle of the period of +Extermination!_ The questions for every American zoologist and every +sportsman to answer now are: Shall the slaughter of species go on to a +quick end of the period? Shall we give posterity a birdless, gameless, +fishless continent, or not? Shall we have close seasons, all over the +country, for five or ten years, or for five hundred years? + +If we are courageous, we will brace up and answer these questions now, +like men. If we are faint-hearted, and eager for peace at any price, +then we will sidestep the ugly situation until the destroyers have +settled it for us by the wholesale extermination of species. + +If the zoologist cares to know, then I will tell him that to-day the +wild life of the world _can_ be saved by law, but _not by sentiment +alone!_ You cannot "educate" a poacher, a game-hog, a market-gunner, a +milliner or a vain and foolish woman of fashion. All these must be +curbed and controlled _by law_. Game refuges alone will not save the +wild life! _All_ species of birds, mammals and game fishes of North +America must have more thorough and far-reaching protection than they +now have. + +Do not always take your cue from the sportsmen, especially regarding the +enactment of long close seasons! If you need good advice, or help about +drafting a bill, write to Dr. T.S. Palmer, Department of Agriculture, +Washington, and you will receive prompt and valuable assistance. The +Doctor is a wise man, and there is nothing about protective laws that is +unknown to him. Go to _your_ state senator and _your_ assemblyman with +the bills that you know should be enacted into law, and assure them that +those measures are necessary for the wild life, and beneficial to 98 per +cent of the people _who own the wild life_. You will be heard with +respectful attention, in any law-making body that you choose to enter. + +People who cannot give time and labor must supply you with money for +your campaigns. _Ask_, and you will receive! I have proven this many +times. With care and exactness account to your subscribers for the +expenditure of all money placed in your hands, and you will receive +continuous support. + +In times of great stress, print circulars and leaflets by the +ten-thousand, and get them into the hands of the People, calling for +_their_ help. Our 42,000 copies of the "Wild Life Call" (sixteen pages) +were distributed by organizations all over the state of New York, and +along with Mr. Andrew D. Meloy's letters to the members of the New York +State League, aroused such a tidal wave of public sentiment against the +sale of game that the Bayne bill was finally swept through the +Legislature with only one dissenting vote! And yet, in the beginning not +one man dared to hope that that very revolutionary measure could by any +possibility be passed in its first year in New York State, even if it +ever could be! + +It was the aroused Public that did it! + +This volume has been written (under great pressure) in order to put the +whole situation before the people of America, including the zoologists, +and to give them some definite information, state by state, regarding +the needs of the hour. Look at the needs of your own state, in the "Roll +Call of States," and you will find work for your hand to do. Clear your +conscience by taking hold now, to do everything that you can to stop the +carnage and preserve the remnant. Twenty-five or fifty years hence, if +we have a birdless and gameless continent, let it not be said that the +zoologists of America helped to bring it about by wicked apathy. + +At this juncture, a brief survey of the attitude toward wild life of +certain American institutions of national reputation will be decidedly +pertinent. I shall mention only a few of the many that through their +character and position owe specific duties to this cause. _Noblesse +oblige_! + + * * * * * + +The Biological Survey of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is a +splendid center of activity and initiative in the preservation of our +wild life. The work of Dr. T.S. Palmer has already been spoken of, and +thanks to his efforts and direction, the Survey has become the +recognized special champion of preservation in America. + +The U.S. Forestry Bureau is developing into a very valuable ally, and we +confidently look forward to the time when its influence in preservation +will be a hundred times more potent than it is to-day. _That will be +when every national forest is made a game preserve, and every forest +ranger is made a game warden_. Let us have both those developments, and +quickly. + +In 1896 the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY became a center of +activity in bird protection, and the headquarters of the New York State +Audubon Society. The president of the Museum (Professor Henry Fairfield +Osborn) is also the president of that organization. + +In several of the New York State movements for bird conservation, +especially those bearing on the plumage law, the American Museum has +been active, and at times conspicuous. No one (so I believe) ever +appealed to the President of the Museum for help on the firing line +without receiving help of some kind. Unfortunately, however, the +preservation of wild life is not one of the declared objects of the +American Museum corporation, or one on which its officers may spend +money, as is so freely and even joyously done by the Zoological Society. +The Museum's influence has been exerted chiefly through the active +workers of the State Audubon Society, and it was as president of that +body that Professor Osborn subscribed to the fund that was so largely +instrumental in creating the New York law against the sale of game. + +There is room for an important improvement in the declared objects of +the American Museum. To the cause of protection it is a distinct loss +that that great and powerful institution should be unable to spend any +money in promoting the preservation of our fauna from annihilation. An +amendment to its constitution is earnestly recommended. + +The activities of the NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY began in 1896, and +they do not require comment here. They have been continuous, aggressive +and far-reaching, and they have been supported by thousands of dollars +from the Society's treasury. It is true that the funds available for +protection work have not represented a great annual sum, such as the +work demands, but the amount being expended from year to year is +steadily increasing. In serious emergencies there is _always something +available_! During the past two years, to relieve the Society of a +portion of this particular burden, the director of the Park secured +several large subscriptions from persons outside the Society, who +previously had never entered into this work. + +The MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM has entered actively and effectively into +the fight to preserve the birds of Wisconsin from annihilation by the +saloon-loafer element that three years ago determined to repeal the best +bird laws on the books, and throw the shooting privilege wide open. Mr. +Henry L. Ward, Director of the Museum, went to the firing line, and +remained there. Last year the saloon element thought that they had a +large majority of the votes in the legislature pledged to vote their +way. It looked like it; but when the decent people again rose and +demanded justice for the birds, the members of the legislature stood by +them in large majorities. The spring-shooting, bag-limit and +hunting-license laws were _not_ repealed. + +THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (Lawrence) scored heavily for the cause of +wild-life protection when in 1908 it gave to the Governor of the state +the services of a member of its faculty, Professor Lewis Lindsay Dyche, +who was wanted to fill the position of State Fish and Game Commissioner. +Professor Dyche proved to be a very live wire, and his activities have +covered the State of Kansas to its farthest corners. We love him for the +host of enemies he has made--among the poachers, game-butchers, +pseudo-"sportsmen" and lawbreakers generally. The men who thought they +had the "pull" of friendship for lawbreaking were first warned, and then +as second offenders hauled up to the bar, one and all. The more the +destroyers try to hound the Commissioner, the more popular is he with +the great, solid mass of good citizens who believe in the saving of wild +life. + +THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY has at last made a beginning in the +field of protection. Last winter, while the great battle raged over the +Wharton no-sale-of-game bill, several members of the Museum staff +appeared at the hearings and otherwise worked for the success of the +measure. It was most timely aid,--and very much needed. It is to be +hoped that that auspicious beginning will be continued from year to +year. The Museum should keep at least one good fighter constantly in the +field. + +THE BOSTON SOCIETY OF NATURAL HISTORY takes a very active part in +promoting the preservation of the fauna of Massachusetts, and in +resisting the attempts of the destroyers to repeal the excellent laws +now in force. Its members put forth vigorous efforts in the great +campaign of 1912. + +THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES is well represented in the +field of protection by Director Franklin W. Hooper, now president of the +American Bison Society, and an earnest promoter of the perpetuation of +the bison. When, the Wind Cave National Bison Herd is fully established, +in South Dakota, as it practically _is already_, the chief credit for +that coup will be due to the unflagging energy and persistence of +Professor Hooper. + + +THE BUFFALO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES in 1911 entered actively and +effectively, under the leadership of Dr. Lee H. Smith, into the campaign +for the Bayne bill. Besides splendid service rendered in western New +York, Dr. Smith appeared in Albany with a strong delegation in support +of the bill. + + +THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA was the first institution of learning to +enter the field of wild-life protection for active, aggressive and +permanent work. W.L. Taylor and Joseph Grinnell, of the University +Museum, have taken up the fight to save the fauna of California from the +dangers that now threaten it. + +At this point our enumeration of the activities of American zoological +institutions comes to an unfortunate end. There are many individuals to +be named elsewhere, in the roll of honor, but that is another story. I +am now going to set before the public the names of certain institutions +largely devoted to zoology and permeated by zoologists, which thus far +seem to have entirely ignored the needs of our fauna, and which so far +we know have contributed neither men, money nor encouragement to the +Army of the Defense. + + * * * * * + +PARTIAL LIST OF INSTITUTIONS OWING SERVICE TO WILD LIFE. + +_The United States National Museum_ contains a large and expensive corps +of zoological curators and assistant curators, some of whom long ago +should have taken upon themselves the task of reforming the laws of the +District of Columbia, Virginia and Maryland, at their very doors! This +museum should maintain at least one man in the field of protection, and +the existence of the Biological Survey is no excuse for the Museum's +inactivity. + +_The Field Museum_ of Chicago is a great institution, but it appears to +be inactive in wild-life protection, and indifferent to the fate of our +wild life. Its influence is greatly needed on the firing line, +especially in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and northern Minnesota. First of +all the odious sale-of-game situation in Chicago should be cleaned up! + +_The Philadelphia Academy of Sciences_ has been represented on the +A.O.U. Committee on Bird Protection by Mr. Witmer Stone. The time has +come when this Academy should be represented on the firing line as a +virile, wide-awake, self-sacrificing and aggressive force. It is perhaps +the oldest zoological body in the United States! Its scientific standing +is unquestioned. Its members _must_ know of the carnage that is going on +around them, for they are not ignorant men. The Pennsylvania State Game +Commission to-day stands in urgent need of active, vigorous and +persistent assistance from the Philadelphia Academy in the fierce +campaign already in progress for additional protective laws. Will that +help be given? + +_The Carnegie Institute_ of Washington (endowment $22,000,000) +unquestionably owes a great duty toward wild life, no portion of which +has yet been discharged. Academic research work is all very well, but it +does not save faunas from annihilation. In the saving of the birds and +mammals of North America a hundred million people are directly +interested, and the cause is starving for money, men and publicity. +Education is not the ONLY duty of educators! + +_The Carnegie Museum_ at Pittsburgh should be provided by Pittsburgh +with sufficient funds that its Director can put a good man into the +field of protection, and maintain his activities. The State of +Pennsylvania, and the nation at large, needs such a worker at +Pittsburgh; and this statement is not open to argument! + + The California Academy of Sciences; | + The Chicago Academy of Sciences; | Appear to have done nothing + The New York Academy of Sciences; | noteworthy in promoting + The National Academy of Sciences; | the preservation and increase + The Rochester Academy of Sciences; | of the wild life of America. + The Philadelphia Zoological Society; | + The National Zoological Park; | + + + * * * * * + +A FEW OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING WHICH SHOULD EACH DEVOTE ONE MAN +TO THIS CAUSE. + +_Columbia University_, of New York, has a very large and strong corps of +zoological professors in its Department of Biology. No living organism +is too small or too worthless to be studied by high-grade men; but does +any man of Columbia ever raise his voice, actively and determinedly, for +the preservation of our fauna, or any other fauna? Columbia should give +the services of one man wholly to this cause. + +There are men whose zoological ideals soar so high that they can not see +the slaughter of wild creatures that is so furiously proceeding on the +surface of this blood-stained earth. We don't want to hear about the +"behavior" of protozoans while our best song birds are being +exterminated by negroes and poor whites. + +_Cornell University_ should now awaken to the new situation. All the +zoological Neros should not fiddle while Rome burns. For the sake of +consistency, Cornell should devote the services of at least one member +of its large and able faculty to the cause of wild-life protection. +Cornell was a pioneer in forestry teaching; and why should she not lead +off now in the new field? + +_Yale University_, in Professor James W. Toumey, Director of the School +of Forestry, possesses a natural, ready-made protector of wild life. +From forestry to wild life is an easy step. We hopefully look forward to +the development of Professor Toumey into a militant protectionist, +fighting for the helpless creatures that _must_ be protected by man _or +perish_! If Yale is willing to set a new pace for the world's great +universities, she has the Man ready at hand. + +_The University of Chicago_ should become the center of a great new +protectionist movement which should cover the whole Middle West area, +from the plains to Pittsburgh. This is the inflexible, logical necessity +of the hour. _Either protect zoology, or else for very shame give up +teaching it_! + +_Every higher institution of learning in America now has a duty in this +matter_. Times have changed. Things are not as they were thirty years +ago. To allow a great and valuable wild fauna to be destroyed and wasted +is a crime, against both the present and the future. If we mean to be +good citizens we cannot shirk the duty to conserve. We are trustees of +the inheritance of future generations, and we have no right to squander +that inheritance. If we fail of our plain duty, the scorn of future +generations surely will be our portion. + + * * * * * + +CHAPTER XLIV + +THE GREATEST NEEDS OF THE WILD-LIFE CAUSE AND THE DUTY OF THE HOUR + + +The fate of wild life in North America hangs to-day by three very +slender threads, the names of which you will hardly guess unaided. They +are Labor, Money and Publicity! The threads are slender because there is +so little raw material in them. + +We do not need money with which to "buy votes" or "influence," but money +with which to pay workers; to publish things to arouse the American +people; to sting sportsmen into action; to hire wardens; to prosecute +game-hogs and buy refuges for wild life. If a sufficient amount of money +for these purposes cannot be procured, then as sure as the earth +continues to revolve, our wild life will pass away, forever. + +This is no cause for surprise, or wonder. In this twentieth century +money is essential to every great enterprise, whether it be for virtue +or mischief. The enemies of wild life, and the people who support them, +are very powerful. The man whose pocket or whose personal privilege is +threatened by new legislation is prompted by business reasons to work +against you, and spend money in protecting his interests. + +Now, it happens that the men of ordinary means who have nothing personal +at stake in the preservation of wild life save sentimental +considerations, cannot afford to leave their business more than three or +four days each year on protection affairs. Yet many times services are +demanded for many days, or even weeks together, in order to accomplish +results. Bad repeal bills must be fought until they are dead; and good +protective bills must be supported until the breath of life is breathed +into them by the executive signature. + +With money in hand, good men aways can be found who will work in game +protection for about one-half what they would demand in other pursuits. +With the men _whom, you really desire_, sentiment is always a +controlling factor. It is my inflexible rule, however, in asking for +services, that men who give valuable time and strength to the cause +shall not be allowed to take their expense money from their own pockets. +Soldiers on the firing line _cannot_ provide the sinews of war that come +from the paymaster's chest! + +Campaigns of publicity are matters of tremendous necessity and +importance; but their successful promotion requires hundreds, or +possibly thousands of dollars, for each state that is covered. + +I believe that the wealthy men and women of America are the most liberal +givers for the benefit of humanity that can be found in all the world. +New York especially contains a great number of men who year in and year +out work hard for money--in order to give it away! The depth and breadth +of the philanthropic spirit in New York City is to me the most +surprising of all the strange impulses that sway the inhabitants of that +seething mass of mixed humanity. Every imaginable cause for the benefit +of mankind,--save one,--has received, and still is receiving, millions +of gift dollars. + +Some enterprises for the transcendant education of the people are at +this moment hopelessly wallowing in the excess of wealth that has been +thrust upon them. Men are being hired at high salaries to help spend +wealth in high, higher, highest education and research. It is now +fashionable to bequeath millions to certain causes that do not need them +in the least! In education there is a mad scramble to educate every +young man to the topmost notch, often far above his probable station in +life, and into tastes and wants far beyond his powers to maintain. + +In all this, however, there would be no cause for regret if the wild +life of our continent were not in such a grievous state. If we felt no +conscience burden for those who come after us, we would not care where +the millions go; but since things are as they are, it is heartbreaking +to see the cause of wild-life protection actually starving, or at the +best subsisting only on financial husks and crumbs, while less important +causes literally flounder in surplus wealth. + +This regret is intensified by the knowledge that _in no other cause for +the conservation of the resources most valuable to mankind will a dollar +go so far, or bring back such good results, as in the preservation of +wild life!_ The promotion of "the Bayne bill" and the enactment of the +Bayne law is a fair example. That law is to-day on the statute books of +the State of New York because fifty men and women promptly subscribed +$5,000 to a fund formed with special reference to the expenses of the +campaign for that measure; and the uplift of that victory will be felt +for years to come, just as it already has been in Massachusetts. + +At one time I was tempted to show the financial skeleton in the closet +of wild-life protection, by inserting here a statement of the funds +available to be expended by all the New York organizations during the +campaign year of 1911-1912. But I cannot do it. The showing is too +painful, too humiliating. From it our enemies would derive too much +comfort. + +Even in New York State, in view of the great interests at stake, the +showing is pitiful. But what shall we say of Massachusetts, +Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, and a dozen other states where +the situation is much worse? In the winter of 1912 a cry for help came +to us from a neighboring state, where a terrific fight was being made by +the forces of destruction against all reform measures, and in behalf of +retrogression on spring shooting. The appeal said: "The situation in our +legislature is the worst that it has been in years. Our enemies are very +strong, well organized, and they fight us at every step. We have _no +funds_, and we are expected to make bricks without straw! Is there not +_something_ that you can do to help us?" + +There was! + +Only one week previously, a good friend (who declines to be named) gave +us _two thousand dollars_, of real money, for just such emergencies. + +Within thirty-six hours an entirely new fighting force had been +organized and equipped for service. Within one week, those +reinforcements had made a profound impression on the defenses of the +enemy, and in the end the great fight was won. Of our small campaign +fund it took away over one thousand dollars; but the victory was worth +it. + +With money enough,--a reasonable sum,--the birds of North America, and +some of the small-mammal species also, can be saved. The big game that +is hunted and killed outside the game preserves, and outside of such +places as New Brunswick and the Adirondacks, can _not_ be saved--until +_each species_ is given perpetual protection. Colorado is saving a small +remnant of her mountain sheep, but Montana and Wyoming are wasting +theirs, because they allow killing, and the killers are ten times too +numerous for the sheep. They imagine that by permitting only the killing +of rams they are saving the species; but that is an absolute fallacy, +and soon it will have a fatal ending. + +With an endowment fund of $2,000,000 (only double the price of the two +old Velasquez paintings purchased recently by a gentleman of New York!) +a very good remnant of the wild life of North America could be saved. + +But who will give the fund, or even a quarter of it? + +Thus far, the largest sums ever given in America for the cause of +wild-life protection, so far as I know personally, have been the +following: + +Albert Wilcox, to the National Association of Audubon Societies, $322,000 +Mary Butcher Fund, to the National Association of Audubon + Societies 12,000 +Mrs. Russell Sage, for the purchase of Marsh Island 150,000 +American Game Protective and Propagation Association, from + the manufacturers of firearms and ammunition, annually 25,000 +Charles Willis Ward and E.A. McIlhenny, purchase of game + preserve presented to Louisiana 39,000 +Mrs. Russell Sage, miscellaneous gifts to the National Audubon + Society 20,000 +The American Bison Society for the Montana National Herd 10,526 +New York Zoological Society, total about 20,000 +John E. Thayer, purchase of game preserve 5,000 +Caroline Phelps Stokes Bird Fund, N.Y. Zoological Society 5,000 +Boone and Crockett Fund for Preservation 5,000 +A Friend in Rochester 2,500 +Henry C. Frick 1,500 +Samuel Thorne 1,250 + +Of all the above, the only endowment funds yielding an annual income are +those of the National Association of Audubon Societies and the Caroline +Phelps Stokes fund of $5,000 in the treasury of the Zoological Society. + +A fund of $25,000 per year for five years has been guaranteed by the +makers of shot-guns, rifles and ammunition, to the American Game +Protective and Propagation Association. This is like a limited +endowment. + +In the civilized world there are citizens of many kinds; but all of them +can be placed in two groups: (1) those with a sense of duty toward +mankind, and who will do their duty as good citizens; and (2) those who +from the cradle to the grave meanly and sordidly study their own selfish +interests, who never do aught save in expectation of a quick return +benefit, and who recognize no such thing as duty toward mankind at +large. + +Men and women of the first class are honored in life, mourned when dead, +and gratefully remembered by posterity. They leave the world better than +they found it, and their lives have been successful. + +Men and women of the second class are merely so many pieces of animated +furniture; and when they pass out the world cares no more than when old +chairs are thrown upon the scrap-heap. + +There are many men so selfish, so ignorant and mean of soul that even +out of well-filled purses they would not give ten dollars to save the +whole bird fauna of North America from annihilation. To all persons of +that brand, it is useless to appeal. As soon as you find one, waste no +time upon him. Get out of his neighborhood as quickly as you can, and +look for help among real MEN. + +The wild life of the world cannot be saved by a few persons, even though +they work their hearts out in the effort. The cause needs two million +more helpers; and they must be sought in Group No. 1. They are living, +somewhere; but the great trouble is to find them, _before it is too +late_. + +There are times and causes in which the good citizen has no option but +to render service. The most important of such causes are: the relief of +suffering humanity, the conservation of the resources of nature, and the +prevention of vandalism. If the American Nation had refused aid to +stricken San Francisco, the callous hard-heartedness of it would have +shocked the world. If the German army of 1871 had destroyed the art +treasures and the libraries of Paris, it would have set the German +nation back ten centuries, into the ranks of the lowest barbarians. + +And yet, in America, and in the regions now being scourged by the +feather trade, a wonderful FAUNA is being destroyed! It took _millions +of years_ to develop that marvelous array of wild life; and when gone +_it never can be replaced_! Yet the Army of Destruction is sweeping it +away as joyously as a hired laborer cuts down a field of corn. + +That wild life _can_ be saved! If done, it must be done by the men and +women of Group No. 1. The means by which it can be saved are: _Money, +labor_ and _publicity. Every man of_ ordinary means and intelligence can +contribute either money or labor. The men on the firing line must not be +expected to furnish their own food and ammunition. The Workers MUST be +provided with the money that active campaign work imperatively demands! +Those who cannot conveniently or successfully labor should give money +to this cause; but at the same time, every good citizen should keep in +touch with his lawmaking representatives, and in times of need ask for +votes for whatever new laws are necessary. + +With money enough to arouse the American people in certain ways, the +wild life of North America (north of Mexico) can be saved. _Money_ can +secure labor and publicity, and the People will do the rest. For this +campaign work I want, _and must have_, a permanent fund of $10,000 per +annum,--cash always ready for every emergency in field work. I greatly +need, _and must have, immediately_, an endowment Wild-Life Fund of at +least $100,000, and eventually $250,000. I can no longer "pass the hat" +each year. This is needed in addition to the several thousands of +dollars annually being expended by the Zoological Society in this work. +The Society is already doing its utmost in wild-life protection, just as +it is in several other fields of activity. + +Outside of New York many wealthy men will say, "Let New York do it!" +That often is the way when national campaigning is to be done. In +_national_ wild-life protection work, New York is to-day bearing about +nine-tenths of the burden. It is my belief that in 1912 outside of New +York City less than $10,000 was raised and expended in wild-life +protection save by state and national appropriations. We know that in +the year mentioned New York expended $221,000 in this cause, all from +private sources. + +In a very short time I shall call for the $100,000 that I now must have +as an endowment fund for nation-wide work, to be placed at 5-1/2 per +cent interest for the $5,500 annual income that it will yield. How much +of this will come from outside the State of New York? Some of it, I am +sure, will come from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; but will any of it +come from Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco? + + * * * * * + +THE DUTY OF THE HOUR + + +I have now said my say in behalf of wild life. Surely the path of duty +toward the remnant of wild life is plain enough. Will those who read +this book pass along my message that the hour for a revolution has +struck? Will the millions of men commanded by General Apathy now arouse, +before it is too late to act? + +Will the true sportsmen rise up, and do their duty, bravely and +unselfishly? + +Will the people with wealth to give away do their duty toward wild life +and humanity, fairly and generously? + +Will the zoologists awake, leave their tables in their stone palaces of +peace, and come out to the firing-line? + +Will the lawmakers heed the handwriting on the wall, and make laws that +represent the full discharge of their duty toward wild life and +humanity? + +Will the editors beat the alarm-gong, early and late, in season and out +of season, until the people awake? + +On the answers to these questions hang the fate of the wild creatures of +the world,--their preservation or their extermination. + + * * * * * + +INDEX + +Abundance of wild life. +Accuracy, value of, in campaigning. +Acklen, J.H. +Actinomycosis. +Adams, Cyrus C., on the lion. +Adirondack State Park. +Adjutant. +Africa, + big game of + game preserves in + rinderpest in + "soon to be shot out". +African big game disappearing. +African game that needs exemption. +Agriculture, Department of. +Aigrette. +Akeley, C.E. +Alabama, + deer killed in + laws of. +Alabama Game Commissioner. +Alaska, + brown bears of + new laws needed in + game of + Sitka National Monument in. +Alaska--Yukon region. +_Albatross_, steamer, seals taken by. +Albatrosses, Laysan. +Alberta, + at fault on antelope-shooting + laws of parks of. +Alden, M.P., Percy. +Algonquin National Park. +Aliens, + game wardens killed by + prohibited from owning firearms + slaughter of song-birds by. +Altai Mountains of western China. +American Bison Society. +American Game Protective and Propagation Association. +"American Natural History" on hawks and owls. +American, North, Fish and Game Protective Association. +American private game preserves. +Amsterdam. +Animallai Hills to-day and in 1877. +"Animal Life in Africa," on status of settlers. +Animals, + predatory + caught by cats + wild, may become nuisances. +Antelope, + prong-horned + attempts to transplant + in Alberta + in Montana + in Nevada + in Texas + in Wyoming + lumpy jaw in + physical weakness of + present status of + preserve in Montana + wrong to kill. +Anthony bill for migratory birds. +Antelopes, African, for the South. +Aphis devouring potato-tops. +Apple crop, losses on. +Aquarium, West Indian seals in. +Areas inhabited by big game. +Argali, Siberian. +Arizona + new laws needed in + national monuments in. +Arizona elk exterminated. +Arkansas + new laws needed in. +Army of Defense. +Army of Destruction. +Army worm. +Arnold, Craig D. +Ashe, T.J. +Asia, future of big game of. +Asiatic game that should be close-seasoned. +Askins, Charles, article in _Recreation_ by. +Association in Pennsylvania fighting Game Commission. +Association, Wool-Growers, fighting antelope preserve. +Astley, Hubert D. +Atkinson, George. +_Atlanta Journal_. +Audubon Societies, National Association of. +Auk, Great. +Austrians in Minnesota. +Australia, + animal pests in + game preserves in. +Automatic and pump shot-guns + campaign against, won in New Jersey + denounced by organizations + use of, prohibited by law. +Automobile, use of, in hunting forbidden. +Automobiles detrimental to wild life. +Avare, Game Warden Henry +Avery, Carlos +Avery Island, La., robin slaughter at +_Avicultural Magazine_ +Avocet + + + + + + + + +Bag insects +Bag limit, + in Africa; + a delusion, + Alberta, + British Columbia, + Manitoba, + Saskatchewan +Baird, Spencer F. +Baker, Frank +Bancroft, W.F. +Barber, Charles +Barren grounds of the Arctic regions +Baynard, Oscar E. +Bayne law + against sale of game in New York + bill, + breeding game under, + genesis of +Beal, F.E.L. +Bear, + black, in South Carolina + grizzly, ethics of hunting the, + almost gone from United States, + California grizzly +Bears, + Alaskan brown; + alleged damages by, + grizzly, bag limit demanded on, + in Yellowstone Park, estimated, + killed by Forestry Bureau, + of Yellowstone Park +Beard, Daniel C., + cartoon by + on bird destruction +Beaver in New Brunswick +Bedford, Duke of, David's deer saved by, +Beebe, C. William; + chapter written by +Bell, Rudolph +Bell, W.B. +Berlin feather trade +Beyer, G.E. +Big Horn Game Preserve +Biological Survey; + on duck disease, + work of, + on wood-duck +Biology, Elementary, by Peabody and Hunt +Bird, Charles S. +Bird boxes distributed by J.M. Phillips +Bird Day in various states +Bird Refuges, National, full list of +Birds, + becoming extinct in North America; + feeding in winter, + killed by cats, + by dogs, + by foxes, + by mongoose, + by negroes, + by telephone wires, + by wild animals, + destruction of, in Far East, + extinct, + food habits of certain, + extinct in North America, + in distress, + killed in New York City, + list of, that devour codling moth, + threatened with extermination +Bird skins purchased in London +Bishop, Dr. Louis B. +Bison, American, + now living; + last of Colorado, killed, + Yellowstone Park, + wild, in Yellowstone Park, + value of +Bison herd, Wichita National +Bison ranges created +Bison ranges, National: + in United States, + in Canada +Bison Society, American + proposes National herd +Beaman, D.C. +Blackbird, Crow +Blackbirds, + destroy cotton-boll weevil + killed as "game" +Black-Snake, Pilot +Blair, Dr. W. Reid +Blaubok, extinct +Blauvelt, George A. +Blesbok in Cape Colony +Blinding decoy birds +Blooming Grove Park +Bluebirds killed by cold weather +Blue Mountain Forest Association +Bontebok in Cape Colony +Bob-White, food habits of +Boone and Crockett Club +Boston Society of Natural History +Bowdish, B.S. +Boxes for birds distributed +Boy Scouts of America, appeal to +Bradley, Guy M., killed by a plume-hunter +Brazil, birds' plumage from +Breeding, + ducks in captivity + game and fur in captivity +Breeding wild animals need seclusion +Brett, Lieut.-Col. L.M., animal census from +Brewster, William +Brimley, H.H. and C.S. +Bringing back + birds and game + vanishing species +British Columbia + game conditions in, + game preserves in +British East Africa, remarkable bag "limit" in +Bronx River, ducks killed by pollution of +Brooklyn Institute +Brooks, Earle A. +Brown, William Harvey, at Salisbury +Brown, William P. +Bryan, W.A. +Buckland, James +Buckskin Mountain +Buffalo Academy of Sciences +Buffalo in Cape Colony +Buffalo, American, + now living, + _see_ Bison. +Buffalo Park, Alberta +Bunting, Snow, + killed for food. +Burnham, John B. + portrait. +Burtch, Verdi. +Bustard being exterminated. +Butcher bird. +Butler, A.L. +Butler, Amos W. + + + + + + + + +California, + grizzlies + new laws needed in + Academy of Sciences + National monuments of + State Game Preserve + University of. +Call, San Francisco. +Calliste, Superb. +Camp-Fire Club of America + code of ethics of. +Camp-Fire Club of Detroit. +Campion, C. +Camp laborers as game destroyers. +Canada + game laws and preserves in. +Cape Province, South Africa, big game in. +Carbonell, E.T. +Caribou + in Nova Scotia + in general, status of + killed for their tongues + Osborn + slaughtered and wasted, in Quebec. +Caribou disease. +Carleton, L.T. +Carnegie Institute of Washington. +Carrick, Penn., bird day at. +Cartridges, estimated annual production of. +Cat and its victim. +Cats, birds destroyed by. +Caterpillars eaten by shore-birds. +Caton, John Dean. +Cause, choice of a. +Cedar Bird, eaten as "game". +Cereals, losses on, from insects. +Corbin bison herd. +Chambers, Fred. W. +Chamois, slaughter of protected, in Switzerland. +Chapman, Arthur. +Charles, Salem D. +Cheney, Henry W. +Chicago Academy of Sciences. +Chicago + as a plague-spot for sale of game + devours Norway ptarmigan + University of +Chimpanzee. +China + barren of wild life + raked and scraped for ducks. +Chinch-bug. +Chinese now buyers of game. +Christian, L.T. +Cigarette beetle. +Cincinnati Zoological Gardens. +Clark, J.C. +Clark, W.A. +Claxton, Dr. P.P., on Tennessee robin slaughter. +Clergy, Italian, duty of. +Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. +Close season law in New York. +Close season, + at discretion + long, needed. +Clubs opposed to automatic guns. +Coccidiosus, intestinal, in ducks. +Cock of the Rock. +Codling moth, birds that devour the. +Cold storage of game in New York. +Cold storage warehouses and steamers in China. +Collier's Weekly. +Colonist, Victoria. +Colorado + new laws needed in + game-breeding laws of + national monuments of +Comity between states, lack of. +Commission, New York Conservation. +Commissions, State Game. +Comparative Zoology, Museum of. +Condor, California. +Conference of Powers on African wild life. +Congo Free State. +Congress + acts of, for wild life + creates National Bison Range + creates National monuments + saves the starving elk. +Connaught National Park. +Connecticut + new laws needed in + protects wood-duck. +Conrad bison herd. +Conrad, Charles H. +Corbin, Austin + deer sold by. +Cormorant, Pallas. +Corn and hogs, and wild life protection. +Corn, losses on. +Corn-root worm. +Cornell University. +Cotton-boll weevil. +Cotton, + loss on + rise in price of, affects birds. +Cougars destroyed in British Columbia. +Country Life in America. +Cox, J.D. +Coyotes; + destroyed, + destroyed in British Columbia +Crandall, L.S., on breeding mallard duck, +Cranes in Alberta +Crane, Whooping +Crater Lake National Park +Crayfishes eaten by shore-birds +Credit for work done +Cree Indians +Crow, ducklings destroyed by +Crow, F.L., robins slaughtered by +Cruelty + of "aigrette" hunters + of albatross killers +Cuppy, W.B., deer raised by +Curculio +Curlew, + Eskimo + long-billed +Currituck County wild-fowl slaughter +Currituck Sound, N.C. +Cuthbert Rookery +Cut-worm + + + + + + + + +Dakota, South, National monuments of +Dallas, Tex., disgraced by robin slaughter +Dalton and Young +Damages by deer in Vermont +David's deer +Davis, C.B., narrative of elk slaughter +Davis, Capt. M.B. +Deadfall traps in Burma +Deer, + accept protection + as a food supply, + cash value of, + caught in Hudson River, + damages to crops by, + danger from, + in New York City, + killed in Louisiana, + killed in Vermont since 1897, + pamphlet on raising, + possibilities in, + present status of, + slaughter in Montana, + value of, + black-tailed, + European red, + fallow, + Indian sambar, + red, of Europe, + white-tailed, breeding, + future of, + in Iowa, + killed in various states, + portrait of, + weights of, in Vermont +Defects in the protection of western big game +Defenders of wild life +Delaware + new laws needed in +Denmead, Talbott +Destroyers of wild life +Destruction, Army of +Detroit, Camp-Fire Club of +Dike, A.C., on cats +Dill, Homer R. +Dimock, Julian A. +Diseases, destruction of wild life by +District of Columbia, new laws needed in +Ditmars, Raymond L. +Dix, Governor John A. +Dodo +Dogs as destroyers of birds +Doves + killed and eaten as "game," + killed 1909-10 in Louisiana +Dowitcher +Downham, C.F. +Downtrodden hunters and anglers +Duck disease +Duck, + Labrador + mallard, breeding of, in captivity +Duck breeder, ducks killed by +Duck Mountain Game Preserve +Duck-shooting preserves +Ducks, + accept protection + in distress from severe winter, + killed 1909-10 in Louisiana +Dutcher fund, Mary +Dutcher law against bird millinery +Dutcher, William; +denounces automatic guns +Duties of the hour +Duty + of nations, states and lawmakers + of zoologists +Dyche, Lewis Lindsay + + + + + + + + +Eagle, golden, + destroys sheep and goats + in British Columbia +Eagles being exterminated +Ear-worm +Eastgate, Alfred +Eaton, Howard +Edgell, George S. +Egret, + American + colonies in Florida, + preserve of E.A. McIlhenny, + snowy +Egrets, + being exterminated + slaughter of, in Venezuela, + young, starving on nest, +Eland in Cape Colony +Elephant, Congo Pygmy +Elephant Seals taken by C.H. Townsend +Elk, + Arizona, now extinct + calves killed by pumas, + distribution of living, + easily bred in captivity, + fed in Jackson Hole, + of Yellowstone Park and Jackson Hole, + progressive extermination of, + saved by Congress in 1911, + Seton's map of former and existing ranges, + slaughter on Buffalo Flats, Mont. + supply of elk wasted +Elk Island Park +Elk River Game Preserve, B.C. +Elm beetles +Elrod, Morton J. +Emeu +Engel, C.M., on the lion +Epicure and quail +Espeut, W.B. +Estes Park +Ethics of sportsmanship +Eaton's "Birds of New York," +Evans, Game Commissioner Kelly +Ewbank, E.L. +Exempt species, lists of proposed +Extermination, + African animals in line for + birds threatened with, + defined, + of big game, + of birds for women's hats, + of birds of paradise, + of species, by states, +Extinct species of North American birds + + + + + + + + +Falcon, perigrine +Fallow deer; introduced in Lambay +Farmers, supineness of +Farming, fox +Feather sales in London +Federal migratory bird law needed +Felton, W.R. +"Fence" for sale of stolen game, in Washington +Ferry, John F. +Fever tick eaten by plovers +Field, George W. +Field, The American +Field and Stream +Figgis & Co. +Fines, schedule of suitable +Finley, W.L. +Firearms, + owned by natives in India + unfair +Fisher, Walter K. +Flamingo, American +Fleming, James W. +Flies eaten by quail +Florida + deer killed in, + new laws needed in +Flycatchers + destroy boll weevil +Foes of wild life +Food for winter birds +Food habits of certain birds +Food supply of deer, possible +Forbes, Professor +Forbush, E.H. + on heath hen, + quotation from, + on the Sunday gun, + on upland plover, + portrait of +Forest and Stream +Forestry Bureau, United States + on predatory animals +Forests, + losses on + National, should be game preserves, + of the Far East, + preservation of National, +Fox, black or "silver" +Fox pest in Australia +Fox skins sold in London +Foxes as bird destroyers +Fruit, losses on +France, + bird plumage trade in + song birds sold for food in, +Frazer River Game Preserve +Frick, Henry C. +Fullerton, Samuel +Fund, wild life endowment +Funk Island +Fur-bearing mammals killed in Louisiana +Fur News Magazine +Furs, degradation of fashions in +Fur Seal +Furs sold in London + + + + + + + + +Game, + and agriculture + as a state asset, + belongs to the People, + big, of North America, + bill, how to draw a, + birds, as a mass, + in Yellowstone Park, + in Glacier Park, + killed in Louisiana, + law, how to make a new, + market value of, + dead game in New York, + of Africa, absurd bag limit on, + preserves, map of national, + slaughter with automatic guns +"Game Birds, Wild Fowl and Shore Birds," +Game-hog; + not easily educated +Game preserve, _see_ Preserve. +"Garceros," +Gardiner, Montana; + antelope attacked in, +Gaspesian F.F. and G. Preserve +Geay, F. +Geer vs. Connecticut, decision in Supreme Court +Geese, + killed 1909-10 in Louisiana + slaughter of, by automatic guns +Gemsbok in Cape Colony +Georgia; + deer killed in, + new laws needed in +Gerard, W.W. +Gerhardt, Fred. +German Carp +Gibb, Walter S. +Glacier Park, Alberta; + game in, +Glenn County Club, record slaughter at. +Globe, New York. +Globe-Democrat, St. Louis. +Goat, White Mountain, present status of. +Goats, + in Glacier Park + killed for food + mountain, killed by eagles. +Goding, Edward N. +Godwit + Hudsonian. +Goeldi, E.A. +Goodnight, Charles. +Gorilla. +Goshawk. +Grand Canyon Game Preserve. +Grant, General, National Park. +Grant, Madison + portrait of + game laws proposed by. +Grasshoppers eaten + by quail + by shore-birds. +Gray, J.C., protector of ducks. +Grinnell, G.B. +Grinnell, Joseph, on California condor. +Grisol, Mayeul. +Grizzly, California, + almost extinct + punishing an impudent + silver-tip, in British Columbia. +Grosbeak. +Grouse becoming extinct in + California + Idaho + Montana + North Dakota + Virginia + Wisconsin + Wyoming. +Grouse, Canada. +Grouse, pinnated, diminishing in + Manitoba + Illinois + Indiana + Iowa + Kansas + Missouri + North Dakota + Oklahoma + increasing in Manitoba + shot in Kansas. +Grouse, Prairie Sharp-Tailed. +Grouse, Ruffed, illegally shipped. +Grouse, Sage + in California + Idaho + becoming extinct in Montana. +Guadaloupe Island, elephant seals on. +Guanaco in Patagonia. +Guerrillas of destruction. +Guessaz, O.L. +Gulls, + slaughtered on Laysan Island + and terns saved by Audubon Societies. +Gunners, + two, of Kansas City + who kill to the limit + will not give up shooting "rights". +Guns, automatic or machine + bill to prohibit use of + increase in deadliness of + four machine + statistics of + swivel and punt, suppressed. +Gurkha soldiers destroying game. +Gypsy Moth + cost of fighting. + + + + + + + + +Hagenbeck, Carl + agent for. +Hale & Sons. +Halifax, Curator of Museum at. +Hankow, cold storage plant in. +Harrison, George L., experience of. +Hartebeest in Cape Colony. +Hathaway, Harry S. +Hawaiian Islands Reservation (Laysan). +Hawk, + Cooper's + sharp-shinned + pigeon + duck + red-shouldered + red-tailed. +Hawk law of Pennsylvania. +Hawks, + being exterminated + general status of. +Hay, loss on. +Heath hen, + present status of. +Henshaw, Henry W., pamphlet by. +Herald, New York. +Heron, + colonies under protection + plumage sold in London. +Hessian fly. +Hippopotami for the South. +Himalayan birds being exterminated. +Hodge, C.F. +Hog-and-corn area of extermination. +Holman. Ralph. +Hooper, Franklin W. +Hopkins, A.D. +Hornaday, W.T., + bison census + code of ethics written by. +Horse, bicolored wild. +Hough, Emerson, gloomy views of. +Howard, P.M. +Howard, James. +Huffman, L.A. +Hume, A.O. +Hummingbirds, + being exterminated + skins sold in London. +Humphrey, J.J. +Humphrey, William E. +Hungarian partridge. +Hungarians, song birds killed by. +Hunt, Arthur E., text book by. +Hunter, W.D. +Hunting licenses in all states. +Hurd, Lyman E. + + + + + + + + +Ibis being exterminated. +Ibis, Scarlet. +Idaho + grizzlies + new laws needed in + slaughter of starving elk in + state game preserve. +Illinois + new laws needed in. +Impeyan pheasant not bred in captivity. +In-and-in breeding in wild animals. +Independent, New York. +Index-Appeal, Pittsburgh +India, sasin antelope in +Indiana; + new laws needed in +Indianapolis assists in exterminating bird-of-paradise +Indians, + and game of Alaska + as game exterminators + rights of, in game + unjustifiable license given to +Insect ravages in New South Wales. +Insectivorous birds killed for food in Minnesota. +Insects, + eaten by quail + eaten by shore-birds + losses by +In the Open magazine. +Introduced pests; + English sparrow; + fox in Australia; + gypsy moth; + mongoose; + pheasants; + rabbits in Australia and New Zealand. +Iowa; + new laws needed in; + deer in. +Iroquois Theatre fire, lesson of the. +Italian peninsula a migration route. +Italian population, + in Minnesota; + must be educated. +Italians, + slaughter of song birds by; + song birds caught alive by; + song birds sold as food by; + vulture, eaten by. + + + + + + + + +Jabiru. +Jackson Hole, starving elk of. +Jacobs, Captain of the _Thetis_. +Jacobs, J. Warren. +Japanese poachers on Laysan Island. +Jasper Park. +Jones, C.J. ("Buffalo"); + captures nine pumas. +Jordan, Arthur. +Journal, Minneapolis. +Judd, Sylvester. + + + + + + + + +Kadiak Island, bear slaughter proposed on. +Kaegebehn, Ferdinand. +Kaibab Plateau, catalo herd on. +Kalbfus, Joseph; + portrait. +Kamchatka. +Kangaroo skins. +Kansas; + new laws needed in; + University of. +Kansas City gunners. +Kashmir, game protection in. +Keller, II. W. +Kelly, A.F. +Kennard, Frederic H. +Kentucky; + new laws needed in; + robbed of game for Pittsburgh. +Keuka Lake, ducks in distress on. +Kildeer Plover; + portrait of. +Killing men by "mistake". +Kingfisher, Belted. +Kite, White-Tailed. +Klamath Lakes of Oregon. +Kleinschmidt, Frank E. +Kudu in Cape Colny. + + + + + + + + +Laborers as game-killers. +Labrador. +Lacey, John P. +Laglaize, Leon. +Lampson & Co., C.M. +Lark, meadow, eaten as game. +Laurentides Park. +Law, + making close seasons by petition; + of Nature, an inexorable; + prohibiting firearms to aliens; + proposed for animal nuisances; + proposed for Sunday gun. +Lawmakers, work with. +Lawrence, S.C. +Laws, + absolutely necessary to wild life; + how to secure new; + new, needed. +Lawyer, George A. +Laysan Island, bird tragedy on. +League of American Sportsmen. +Leek, S.N.; + elk photographs by. +Lemon, Frank E. +Le Souef, W.H.D. +Lewis and Clark Club. +Lewis & Peet. +Licenses, hunting, in all states. +"Life Histories of Northern Animals". +Lincoln, Robert Page. +Lion, map of disappearance of the. +Lobbying a duty. +Locusts eaten by shore-birds. +Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot. +London Chamber of Commerce. +London feather trade. +Lord, William R. +Loring, J. Alden, wild birds tamed by. +Louisiana; + deer killed in; + game in; + new laws needed in; + state game preserve; + state wild-fowl refuge. +Lumpy-jaw in antelope and sheep. +Lydekker, Richard, on rabbits. +Lynxes destroyed. +Lyre bird being exterminated. + + + + + + + + +MacDougal, Dr. D.T. +McAtee, W.L., + on enemies of codling moth; + on "Our Vanishing Shore-Birds" +McBride, scout, counts game in Yellowstone Park +McIlhenny, Edward A.; + on egret preserve, + on Louisiana birds, + robin slaughter mentioned by, + testimony from, on shed plumes +McLean, Marshall, on codification of New York game laws +McLean, Senator George P.; + bill for migratory birds +Macaw, Gosse's; + Guadeloupe +Mackay, G.H. +Mail and Express, New York +Maine; + deer killed in, + new laws needed in, + protects wood-duck +Malayana, wild life in +Mammals, wholly or nearly extinct +Manitoba; + game reserves of +Map, + of game preserves in Africa, + of National game preserves, + of states prohibiting sale of game, + of wilderness area of North America, + used in campaign for Bayne law +Market-gunners +Marlatt, C.L., on losses by insects +Marlin Fire-Arms Co. +Marsh Island, + a market-gunner on; + map of +Martin, A.P. +Martin, Purple; + shot for food, + disappearing +Maryland; + deer killed in, + new laws needed in +Mashonaland +Massachusetts; + deer killed in, + excellent laws of + Fish and Game Protective Association, + Game Commission, + protects wood-duck, + State Board of Agriculture, +Megantic Club, +Meloy, Andrew D. +Merkel, Hermann W. +Mershon, W.B. +Mesa Verde National Park, +Mexico; + elephant seals of, + Sierre Madre of +Meyer, A.H. +Mice and rats destroyed by owls, +Michigan; + deer killed in, + good laws of +Migratory birds, federal protection demanded for +Miles, George W., Indiana Game Commissioner +Miller, Frank M., on wood-duck +Miller, H.N. +Milliners' Association, American +Millinery, bird extermination for +Miners as game destroyers in Wyoming +Minnesota; + deer killed in, + National Game Preserve in + new laws needed in +Mississippi; + deer killed in, + new laws needed in +Missouri; + new laws needed in +Mitchell, Consul Mason, and the takin +Mitchell, W.I. +Monachus tropicalis almost extinct +Monal pheasant skins +Money, need for +Mongoose pest in various islands +Montana; + grizzlies of, + National Bison Range, + National monuments of, + new laws needed in, + state game preserves +Monuments, National, full list of +Moody, C.S. +Moore, John D. +Moose, + in Alaska; + increasing in New Brunswick, + in Glacier Park, + in the United States, + season in Wyoming +Mosquitoes eaten by quail +Moth, + codling; + gypsy +Mt. Olympus National Monument +Mulberry, Russian, as food-tree for birds +Murder of wild animals +Museum, + American; + Carnegie + Field, + Milwaukee Public, + of Comparative Zoology, + United States National +Musk-Ox, previous slaughter of + + + + + + + + +Napier, Ernest; + arouses New Jersey against machine guns, + portrait +Nash, C.W. +National Academy of Sciences +National measures for wild-life protection +National Museum, United States +National organizations of New York City +National Zoological Park +Natives, rights of, in game +Nebraska; + protection for extinct game in, +Needs of wild-life cause, greatest. +Negroes, song-bird slaughter by, in the South. +Nelson, E.W. +Nepal, destruction of pheasants in. +Nets used in taking pigeons. +Nevada; + new laws needed in. +New Brunswick; + game laws of. +Newfoundland. +New Hampshire; + deer killed in; + new laws needed in. +New Jersey; + deer killed in; + few new laws needed in; + game commissioner. +New Mexico; + good game laws in; + National monuments of. +New South Wales, birds destroyed in. +New York; + Academy of Sciences; + Conservation Commission; + deer killed in; + excellent laws of; + nuisance law of; + protects wood-duck; + state game preserve of. +New York City + formerly a "fence"; + wild deer in. +News, Buffalo. +Newspapers, value of, in campaigns. +New Zealand + game preserves; + red deer in. +Niagara Falls, swans swept over. +Nice, Margaret M. +Nicol, G.H. +Nighthawk + as insect-destroyer; + shot for food. +Niobrara Bison Range. +Nooe, Bennet. +Norboe, R.M. +Norris, Governor Edward P. +North, Paul. +North American, Philadelphia. +North Carolina; + deer killed in; + hopeless condition of; + private preserves in. +North Dakota; + new laws needed in. +Norton, Arthur H. +Nova Scotia; + game laws of. +Nuisances, wild animals may become. + + + + + + + + +Observer, Utica. +Ohio; + hopeless condition. +Oklahoma; + bison in; + new laws needed in; + new code of game laws needed. +Oldys, Henry, + on sale of game; + on value of game. +Olympus, Mount. +Ontario; + game preserves of. +Opposition, + to game protection + in Pennsylvania; + in Montana; + to legislation, how to meet. +Oregon; + grizzlies of. +Oriole; + destroy cotton-boll weevil. +Orlady, Judge, decision of. +Ornithologist, + case of the; + Italian, kills song birds for food. +Osborn, Prof. Henry Fairfield. +Otter, sea. +Outdoor Life magazine. +Outdoor World magazine. +Outing magazine. +Owl, + barn; + great horned; + long-eared; + screech. +Owls, + general status of; + horned, in British Columbia. + + + + + + + + +Pacific bird refuges. +Page wire fence. +Palmer, Theodore S.; + circular on National Reserves; + deer statistics from; + game laws proposed by; + Olympus National Monument; + on antelope; + on laws. +Paradise, birds of, + being exterminated; + greater bird of. +Parakeet, + Carolina; + purple Guadeloupe. +Parasitic infection of ducks. +Parents, duty of. +Park, + Crater Lake; + General Grant; + Laurentides; + Mt. Rainier; + Platt; + Sequoia; + Sully Hills; + Yosemite. +Parliament, British. +Parrot, Yellow-Winged Green. +Patagonia, guanaco in. +Peabody, James W., text book by. +Pearson, T. Gilbert; + portrait. +Pelican Island bird sanctuary. +Pellett, F.C. +Penalties, schedule of. +Pennock, C.J. +Pennsylvania; + aliens may not own firearms; + decision on automatic guns; + deer killed in; + game wardens killed; + new laws needed by; + state game preserves. +Penrose, Dr. C.B. +Pests, introduced species that have become. +Petrel, Black-Capped. +Phalaropes +Pheasants, + being exterminated; + blood, + English, value of in market, + impeyan, + introduced species of, + not bud-eaters, + shipped from China to England, + shipped at Hankow, China +Philadelphia Academy of Sciences +Phillips, John M.; + educational campaign in schools by, + on goats killed for food, + Pennsylvania Game Commissioner, + portrait +Photographing live game, code of ethics on +Pickhardt, Carl, on caribou slaughter +Pierce, Ray V., + private game preserve of; + sambar deer acclimatized by +Pigeon, + Band-Tailed; + Passenger, + Victoria crowned +Pinchot, Gifford +Pinnated Grouse disappearing, in + Kansas; + Nebraska, + Montana, + Minnesota, +Pioneer, value of game to the +Pittsboro, disgrace of, by robin slaughter +Pittsburgh, City + ornithologist of; + illegal sale of game in +Plague-spots for sale of game +Plant-lice in wheat +Platform, Sportsman's +Platt National Park +Plover, + black-bellied; + golden, + upland +Plume-hunters +Post, New York Evening +Posting farm lands advised +Potato-bug bird +Pot-hunter defined +Poultry destroyed by hawks and owls +Predatory wild animals +Preserve, every National forest should be a game +Preserve, + Alberta; + Angoniland, + Athi Plains, + British Columbia, + Budonga Forest, + Duck Mountain, + Elephant Marsh, + Freycinet's Peninsula, + Grand Canyon, + Hargeis, + Jubaland, + Kangaroo Island, + Little Barrier Island, + Luangwa, + Manitoba, + Mirso, + Nweru Marsh, + Ontario, + Pennsylvania State, + Riding Mountain, + Rustenburg, + Sabi-Pongola, + Snow Creek, + Spruce Woods, + Superior National Game, + Swaziland, + Teton, + Toro, + Turtle Mountain, + Wichita, + Wilson's Promontory +Preserved game, murdering, +Preserves, + private game; + private and public interests in +Press, + duty of Italian; + New York, + value of, in campaigns, +Prichard, W.H.H., on guanaco +Prospectors, license given to +Protection, + accepted by + antelopes; + bears, + mule deer, + song-birds, + chipmunks, + of shore-birds +"Protected" game, sale of, forbidden +Protective Association, Wild Life +Prince Consort of England +Prince Edward Island; + breeding foxes on +Prince, German Crown +Ptarmigan, Norway, eaten in Chicago +Publicity + in campaign work; + value of +Puma as a game-destroyer +Pumas destroyed in British Columbia +Pump guns; + campaign against, won in New Jersey + + + + + + + + +Quagga, extinct +Quail; + food habits of, + portrait of, + protection recognized by, + failures in restocking with, + California Valley, very scarce, + Egyptian, + feeding, + introduced, + killed in 1909-10 in Louisiana, + killed by cats +Quebec +Quetico Forest Reserve + + + + + + + + +Rabbit plague +Rabbits; + killed in Louisiana, + introduced on Laysan Island +Rangoon, pheasant plumage seized in +Ranier National Park +Rainey, Paul J. +Rats and mice destroyed by owls +Reasons against sale of game +Recreation Magazine +Refuges, National bird +Red deer, + introduced in New Zealand; + of Europe +Reed, Elizabeth A. +Remington Arms Co. +Renshaw, Graham +Republican, Springfield +Resident game-butchers +Rhea being exterminated +Rhinoceros, + great Indian; + white +Rhodesian fauna +Rhode Island; + new laws needed in +Rhytina, extinction of +Rice, Jr., James H. +Riding Mountain Game Preserve +Rifles in hands of boys +Rinderpest in Africa +Roberts. Mrs. Mary G., of Tasmania +Robin slaughter, + in Pittsboro, N.C. + by Italians + by negroes + in eight southern states + in Texas + in Tennessee + in Louisiana. +Robins, + food of + killed by cats. +Robinson, Arthur, on automatic guns. +Roccolo, Italian, for catching birds. +Rochester Academy of Sciences. +Rocky Mountain Park. +Rod and Gun in Canada. +Rod and Gun Club of Sheridan, Wyoming. +Rogers, Josiah. +Roosevelt, Kermit. +Roosevelt, Theodore. +Rose, John J. +Rothschild, Walter. +Rubber culture and wild life. +Ruffed Grouse. +Rush, Frank. + + + + + + + + +Sage Grouse in California. +Sage, Mrs. Russell, gifts by, to cause of bird protection. +Sale of game, + plague spots for + proposed for California + suppress, the. +Salt Lake, mortality in ducks on. +Sambar deer. +Sanctuaries, demand for forest reserve. +Sanctuaries in India. +Sandhill Crane nearly extinct in Alberta. +Sandpipers + killed for food + Bartramian + pectoral + red-breasted. +Sandwichmen employed in London. +Sanford, L.C. +Saskatchewan. +Sauter, Frederick. +Scab in Mountain Sheep. +"Scatter" rifle for ducks. +Schlemmer, Max. +Sconce, Harvev J. +Scott, Thomas H. +Sea-lion accepts protection. +Seal, + California Elephant + West Indian, in New York Aquarium. +Sea otter. +Seaman, Frank, phoebe birds of. +Sentiment in preservation of game. +Sequoia Park. +Seton, Ernest T. + map of elk by. +Sharp-shinned hawk. +Shea plumage bill. +Sheep, + big-horn + next species to become extinct + killed by pumas + in Colorado + present status of + in Lower California + in Glacier Park + domestic + curse of cattle and game + opposition from owners of. +Sheep-herders of Wyoming. +Sheep, black, lumpy-jaw in. +Sheep owners exterminating Thylacine. +Shields, G.O. + protects birds of New York City. +Shield's Magazine. +Shikar Club of London. +Shiras, 3rd, George. +Shikaree, new status of native. +Shooting game in preserves. +Shore birds, + becoming extinct, in + Montana + Kansas + Massachusetts + Michigan + New York + North Dakota + South Carolina + Texas + Wisconsin + general status of + killed in Louisiana + disappearing. +Shore, W.B., on elk shipments. +Shrike. +Skunk as bird destroyer. +Slaughter-grounds for wild fowl. +Slaughter, + of wild fowl in North Carolina + of non-game birds in North Carolina + in Tennessee + of deer in Montana + in Louisiana + of geese in California + of band-tailed pigeons + of protected chamois + of song birds in New York City + of starving elk. +Sloanaker, J.L., on pinnated grouse. +Smith, Charles L. +Smith, Lee II. +Smyth, C. II. +Snakes as bird destroyers. +Snares for pheasants. +Snipe, Jack, portrait of. +Snow Creek + antelope preserve + game preserve. +Society, + Audubon, National, _see_ Audubon, + Royal, for the Protection of Wild Birds + N.Y. Zoological, _see_ Zoological Society. +South America. +South Carolina + deer killed in + almost hopeless condition of + private preserves in. +South Dakota + few laws needed by. +Sparrow pest. +Sparrows consume weed-seeds. +Spoonbill, Roseate. +Sportsman, + case of a + character of true + definition of a. +Sportsman's Platform. +Sportsman's Review. +Sports Afield. +Sprague, John P. +Spruce Woods Game Preserve. +Squirrel, + fox, extinct in New York; + gray, in danger, + red, as bird destroyer +Squirrels killed in Louisiana +Standard-Union, Brooklyn +Stanford, Harry P.; + on deer slaughter +Staley, Walter C. +Star, Washington +States, a roll-call of the +State game preserves; + New York, + Pennsylvania +Stratton, James W. +Stebbing, E.P. +Stephan, S.A., agent for Carl Hagenbeck, +Stevens Arms Co. +Stevenson-Hamilton, Maj. J., of the Transvaal; + status of the settlers, + on Sportsman's Platform +Stilt +Stokes fund, Caroline Phelps +Stone, Witmer +St. Vincent Island game preserve +Sully Hills National Park +Sunday gun +Sunken Lands of Arkansas +Sun, New York +Superior National Game Preserve +Supreme Court decision +Swan, Trumpeter +Swans swept over Niagara Falls +Swallows, as insect destroyers +Switzerland, chamois slaughter in + + + + + + + + +Tagging game for sale +Taming wild birds and mammals +Taylor, W.P. +Taylor, W.J. +Teachers, duty of +Teaching wild life protection to the young +Telegraph wires, birds killed by +Tener, Governor, at Carrick, Pa. +Tennessee; + a reformation needed in, + Game Commissioner of +Tern, Common +Terns and Gulls saved by Audubon people +Terns becoming extinct + in Delaware; + in North Carolina +Teton Game Preserve +Texas; + insects destroyed by birds, + laws needed in +Text-books; + duty of writers of +Thayer John E. +Thome, Samuel +Thylacine of Australia disappearing +Tibet +Tilcomb, John W. +Timber in National forests not to be cut +Times, New York +Tinkham, H.W. +Tobacco pest +Tomalin, Richard W. +Tortoises +Toucan, toco, being exterminated +Toumay, James W. +Towne, S.G. +Townsend, C.V.R. +Townsend, Charles C., on protected ducks +Townsend, C.H., elephant seals taken by, +Tragopans +Trapper uses game for bait, in Wyoming +Trappers as game destroyers +Trapping grizzly bears strongly opposed +Traps on Burma-Chinese border +Treaty, international, for protecting migratory birds +Triangle Islands, seals on +Tribune, New York +Trogon being exterminated +Trophies, purchase and sale of +Trout caught near Spokane +Trouvelot, Leopold, introducer of gypsy moth +Truck crops +Tuna Club, angling ethics of +Turkey vulture + incident on Long Island; + eaten by Italians +Turkey, Wild, in + South Carolina; + Texas, + Missouri +Turner, J.P. +Turtle Mountain Game Preserve + + + + + + + + +Union and Advertiser +Union Fire-Arms Co. +United States Government, recent work in game protection by +Upp, Thomas M. +"Useful Birds and Their Protection," +Utah; + new laws needed in, + national monuments of + + + + + + + + +Vancouver Island, elk on +Vanishing species not always recoverable +Van Kennan, E.A. +Venezuela, + a plume-hunter in + wild birds' plumage from +"Vermin" destructive to birds +Vermont; + deer killed in, + deer killed in Vermont since 1897, + few new laws needed in, + management of deer in, + protects wood-duck + re-stocking, with deer +Viquesnev, J.A. +Virginia; + deer killed in, + many new laws needed in +Vreelarid, Frederick K. + + + + + + + + +Wagner, George E. +Wallace, Dillon + estimates 3,500 sheep in Colorado +Wallace, John H., Jr. + on Florida laws +Wapiti; + in Alt. Olympus National Monument, + (_see also_, Elk) +Ward, Charles Willis; + donor of bird preserve +Ward, Henry L. + seals discovered by +Warden service based on merit system +Wardens, game; + killed on duty, + number of salaried +Ward-McIlhenny Wild Fowl Preserve +Waterton Lakes Park +Washington + grizzlies in, + a new code of laws needed in +Wayne, Arthur T. +Weasel +Webber, F.T., on Colorado quail +Webster, F.M. +Webster, Frederic S. +Weed seeds eaten by quail +Weeks, J.W., bird bill of +Weevil, cotton-boll +Western Districts Game and Trout Protective Association +Western Field +West Virginia; + deer killed in, + good conditions in, + protects wood-duck +Wharton, William P. + bison, + census by +Wheat, losses on +Whipple, James S. +Whitney, Caspar +Whooping Crane extinct; + in Manitoba, +Wichita National Bison Herd +Wichita National Game Preserve +Wilcox, Albert; + bequest from +Wild fowl; + slaughter grounds, + refuge, Louisiana State +Wildebeest in Cape Colony, +Wild Life Call +"Wild Life in Australia" +Wild Life Protective Association +Wilderness area of North America; + game will disappear from +Willet +Williams, A. Bryan, British Columbia game warden +Wilson, Mrs. Minnie Moore +Wilson, Alexander, on the passenger pigeon +Wilson, Erasmus, + on quail feeding; + on Carrick's bird day +Wilson, Governor Woodrow, signs bill against machine guns +Wilson, James, Secretary of Agriculture +Winchester Arms Co. +Wind Cave Bison Range +Wisconsin; + deer killed in, + new laws needed in +Woburn Park, David's deer at +Wolves destroyed; + in British Columbia +Wombat in list of fur-bearers +Women promote bird slaughter +Wood, George E. +Wood, Lieut.-Col. William +Woodcock +Wood-Duck + eaten in seventeen States, + disappearing in Louisiana, + nesting in Zoological Park +Woodpecker, + Downy + golden-winged, + hairy +Woodpeckers, food of +Wooley-Dod, Arthur G. +Wool-Growers' Association + opposes game preserves +World, New York +Worthington, C.C. +Wrens destroy boll weevil +Wyoming + efforts by, to feed starving elk, + elk case, + deer, + grizzlies, + laws needed, + succor of elk in, + National Monuments in, + State Game Preserve in + + + + + + + + +Yale University +Yalakom Game Preserve, British Columbia +Yellowstone Park, + animals in; + bison herd of, + elk in, + protected animals of, +Yoho Park +Yosemite National Park +Yukon Territory, sale of game in + + + + + + + + +Zebra, + Burchell's, extinct + in Cape Colony +Zoological Park, New York + ducks killed in, + thylacine in, + wood-duck, quail and rabbits in, + woodpeckers decreasing in +Zoological Society, New York + gift of bison herd from, + on "extermination," + protects birds of New York City +Zoologists, duty of American + +BOOKS BY W.T. HORNADAY + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK + +=THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY= + + Illustrated by 220 original drawings by Beard, Rungius and + Sawyer, and 100 photographs by Sanborn, Keller and Underwood, and + with numerous maps and diagrams. Treats of the most important + mammals, birds, reptiles and fishes of North America. More than + 400 pages, double column, 5-1/2 x 8 inches. $3.50, net. + +=CAMP-FIRES IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES= + + Illustrated photographically by John M. Phillips. Adventures and + observations in the home of the White Goat, Grizzly Bear and + Mountain Sheep. Awarded gold medal by Camp-Fire Club of America. + 8vo., pp. 353. Net, $3.00. + +=CAMP-FIRES ON DESERT AND LAVA= + + Illustrated by MacDougal, Phillips, and the author. Explorations + and adventures in the wonderland of the Sonoran Desert: Tucson, + Arizona to the Pinacate Mountains. 8vo., pp. 366. Net, $3.00. + +=TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE= + + The adventures and explorations of a hunter-naturalist in India, + Ceylon, the Malay Peninsula and Borneo. (Eighth edition). + Illustrated. 8vo., pp. 512. Net, $2.50. + +=TAXIDERMY AND ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING= + + A complete handbook for the amateur taxidermist, collector, + osteologist, sportsman and traveller. (Seventh edition). + Illustrated. 8vo., pp. 364. Net, $2.50. + +=OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE: Its Extermination and Preservation= + + A book of warning and appeal, for use in defense of wild life. + Illustrated. 8vo., pp. 428. Net, $1.50. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Our Vanishing Wild Life, by William T. 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