Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation
by William T. Hornaday · English · Gutenberg #13249 · 1,094,603 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation
Author: William T. Hornaday
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE: ITS EXTERMINATION AND PRESERVATION ***
"_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 for
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