image65Myrl's Studio, Bakersfield, CaliforniaA "gusher" in a California oil field wasting great quantities of oil and gas.
Myrl's Studio, Bakersfield, California
A "gusher" in a California oil field wasting great quantities of oil and gas.
Gas has been escaping during many years from hundreds of wells in the Pennsylvania, Ohio Valley, Oklahoma, Texas, and California oil fields. The gas from all these wells togetherhas been estimated to be equal in value to a river of oil flowing several hundred thousand barrels each day. In many districts the gas was nearly gone before people discovered its great value. It is impossible for us to realize the waste which this represents.
It has taken Nature a long time to make the oil and gas which we are losing. When she began this work, the oil regions which have been mentioned were beneath the sea. In its waters lived countless numbers of minute organisms, as well as fish of many kinds. As they died, their bodies accumulated in beds which finally became thousands of feet thick. Then the currents of the water changed and sand and mud were washed over these beds, burying them deeply.
Finally the bottom of the sea was lifted and became dry land. The movement squeezed and folded the rocky layers made of the skeletons of the animals and plants. The soft parts of their bodies held in these rocky layers produced a greenish or brownish oil and gas. The gas tried to escape from the rocks, for they were hot and it wanted more room. In some places it found openings through the rocks and escaped to the surface, usually bringing some of the oil with it. The gas was lost, but a part of the oil remained, forming deposits of tar. In other places the oil and gas could not reach the surface, but found porous, sandy rocks into which they went and remained until the oil driller found them.
The tar springs, or "seepages," indicate to the oil prospector where deposits of oil may possibly be found. He examines the country about and, selecting a favorable place, drills a well. If he is successful, he will strike oil-bearingrocks. The oil may be a few hundred feet below the surface, or it may be a mile below. In the latter case it takes months to drill the well.
If a robber came and attempted to take by force the coal, oil, and gas which we are daily losing through our carelessness and indifference, even though he might put it to better use than we put it, there would at once go up a great cry. We would raise an army and fight for our property, and perhaps suffer great loss in defending it. But, day by day, without making any serious objection, we are letting these natural resources go to waste.
Perhaps in some far distant future, after we have used up the stores of fuel in the earth, we may discover something to take its place; but wise and thoughtful people should make the most of what they have.
Perhaps you think it is absurd to talk about caring for the creatures that live in the water, since they can so easily hide away in its depths where we cannot follow. Perhaps you think that because the ocean is so great it would be impossible ever to catch all the fish that live in it. It is easy to understand how all the fish might be caught out of the creeks, rivers, and shallow lakes, since fish are hungry and we put before them such attractive bait; but with the ocean it seems different. It stretches so many thousands of miles and is so very deep that there does not appear to be any danger of exterminating the animals of the ocean as we have some of those of the land.
Is it true, however, that all the vast waters of the ocean are full of fish, or are they found only in certain parts? The fishermen can tell us about this matter. They know where to set the hooks and nets, and where they are most likely to get a good catch. They do not go far out where the water is deep but seek, instead, the shallow waters near the shore or about the reefs and islands. They know that the deep water of the ocean contains very few fish and none that are of any value as food.
Each kind of fish has become adapted to certain parts of the ocean, for both the food supply and the pressure of the water differ with different depths. Fish caught in deep water are often dead before reaching the surface, because of the decrease in the water pressure.
One reason why fish are not numerous far out in the oceanis because there is little food to be had there. The reason no fish are found in the very deep parts of the ocean is because the water there contains no air particles. Strange as it may seem, although fish breathe water, they cannot live unless it contains oxygen from the air.
The fish, then, that interest us because of their value for food, are found only in the shallow waters usually near the shore and in the lakes and rivers. Because of this fact it is possible, as we have learned from experience, to set so many traps and use so many nets and hooks as entirely to destroy certain species.
The fish have their natural enemies, and there is warfare among them just as there is among the land animals. The larger and more powerful live upon the smaller ones, but, seemingly to make up for this, Nature has given the small fish quickness of movement—which the large fish do not possess—to aid them in escaping. They have also the power of increasing very rapidly. The little herring, which is the chief food of many of the large fish, maintains its countless numbers against all its enemies except the fishermen.
The Indians, with their crude traps, hooks, and spears, could obtain but few fish at a time and did not reduce their numbers. But civilized man, with his cunningly contrived hooks and nets, has the same advantage over the fish that the hunter, with his repeating gun, has over the land animals. Nature, not foreseeing how destructive man would be, has armed neither the creatures of the land nor the creatures of the water against him.
image66Edward S. CurtisA rocky island in the Pacific Ocean, used by seals as a sunning place.
Edward S. Curtis
A rocky island in the Pacific Ocean, used by seals as a sunning place.
The fisherman does his work just as thoughtlessly as the hunter whose business it is to supply the market. He seemsto think no more about the effect upon next season's supply, of his stretching a net across a river and catching all the fish going up to spawn, than does the market hunter who would, if he could, shoot the last duck. Is it not strange that many fishermen will do anything in their power to evade the laws governing the catching of fish when by doing so they injure their own business?
We have already nearly destroyed the mammals that live in the ocean. Among them are the whales, which were once numerous in the arctic regions. Few whaling ships now arrive with profitable cargoes of oil or whalebone. The sea otter, the fur of which is more highly prized than that of any other animal, and the walrus, valuable for its oil, are also nearly extinct.
No more cruel hunting was ever carried on than was that of the seal mothers in the open ocean where they go in search of food. When the mothers are killed the young ones, left in the rookeries upon the Pribilof Islands, soon die of starvation. The fur seal has thus been so reduced in numbers that it was threatened with extinction. Now Russia, Japan, England, and the United States have agreed to stop all killing of the fur seal for a number of years.
As a result of the great demand for fish, and the careless methods used by the thousands of men engaged in catching them, Nature unaided cannot keep up the supply. For the purpose of assisting her, strict laws have been passed in many states. These laws prohibit fishermen from stretching their nets or weirs across the streams so as to block the passage of the fish when going to their spawning grounds. They also prohibit the taking of undersized fish and in some cases allow none at all of some kinds to be taken for a giventime. Our government is now doing a great deal to save the food fishes of the country, but some varieties are still decreasing.
image67H. W. FairbanksAn Indian fish trap.
H. W. Fairbanks
An Indian fish trap.
The little herring is the most valuable of all the sea fish. Enormous numbers are captured in nets, and still greater numbers form the food of other fish. The herring has so many enemies that it must increase rapidly in order to hold its place in the sea. Nature has arranged that this fish should produce twenty thousand or more eggs at each spawning season. It is thought that if only two eggs out of this great number hatch and grow up, the supply of herring will be maintained. This estimate does not, however, take into account the present terrible waste of herring inthe Chesapeake and other bays on the Atlantic coast, where it is taken in nets and used for making land fertilizer. Is it any wonder that the herring is now decreasing in numbers?
The oyster was once hunted so closely that it would have disappeared from our coast waters if the young had not been taken and raised artificially. Is it not interesting to know that we plant young oysters on oyster farms, and raise oyster crops, all below the level of high tide? The greatest oyster farms in the world are upon Chesapeake Bay. There are also oyster farms in other bays upon the Atlantic seaboard, and lately the oyster has been transplanted to the bays upon the Pacific Coast.
The lobster was trapped so industriously that it also began to grow scarce. Finally the government took up the matter of protecting it. The eggs and the young were guarded, and now it is increasing in numbers.
Once the sturgeon was very plentiful in the lakes and rivers of our country. For a long time it was thought to be of no value and was thrown away when caught in nets set for other fish. Then it was discovered that its flesh was delicious, and its eggs, known ascaviar, became a very fashionable dish. After this there followed a period of most destructive fishing, and now sturgeon are quite scarce and high priced.
Herring, shad, and salmon are migratory fish. By this we mean that they spend a part of their lives in the ocean but enter the bays and streams at the spawning season. You can readily understand that if the bays are blocked with nets the fish cannot reach the spawning grounds and their numbers must decrease. Chesapeake Bay contains such a maze of nets, many of them extending out ten milesfrom the shore, that it is a wonder that any fish get past them.
image68H. W. FairbanksA fish wheel on the Columbia River, in which salmon are caught on their way to the spawning grounds.
H. W. Fairbanks
A fish wheel on the Columbia River, in which salmon are caught on their way to the spawning grounds.
The waters of New England were once filled with striped bass, smelt, salmon, and shad, but now these fish are almost gone. The shad are rapidly decreasing all along the Atlantic Coast. The nets in Lake Erie extend out sometimes ten miles from shore, and the whitefish as well as the sturgeon have been greatly reduced in numbers there.
When the Pacific Coast was first settled, the "salmon run" in the Sacramento, Columbia, and other rivers was a wonderful sight. The waters were fairly alive with these huge fish. Hydraulic mining so muddied the waters of the Sacramento that their numbers greatly decreased. Then came the fishermen and stretched their nets across the rivers, so nearly blocking the channels that the salmon were rarely seen on their old spawning grounds. Now salmon fishing is carefully regulated and salmon are increasing.
The shallow waters of San Francisco Bay, the ocean for some miles out from shore, and the waters about the islands of Southern California form very valuable fishing grounds, which, if they are taken care of, will furnish much larger supplies of fish than are now obtained.
The interesting discovery has been made that the waters around the islands of Santa Catalina and San Clemente form important spawning grounds for many food fish, including the great tuna. These waters were fished so destructively that many of the fish were found to be decreasing. This has led to the establishment of a fish preserve for three miles about Santa Catalina Island. Within this area no fish are allowed to be taken except with a hook and line. Some of the most valuable fish, which were almostgone, are now becoming more numerous. The fact that the fish stay close about the island where the water is shallow makes the establishment of the preserve possible.
The salmon and halibut fisheries of the Alaskan waters have long been the source of much profit. This region, owing to the many bays and islands, fairly swarms with fish of many kinds. Protection will soon be needed here if this great storehouse of fish is to be kept filled.
The cod fisheries of the Newfoundland banks are among the most valuable in the world, and are almost the only ones where fishing has long been carried on and where the supply is not decreasing. The "banks" are formed by a great flat reef four hundred miles long, over which the water is shallow enough to offer a fine home for cod.
Hatcheries have been established in many parts of our country for the purpose of collecting and hatching fish eggs. These are used for restocking those waters that have been fished out. After the eggs have hatched and the young fish have reached a certain stage, they are shipped to the streams where they are needed. The United States fishery on the McCloud River, California, has distributed rainbow trout all over the United States. Shad and striped bass have been brought from Eastern fisheries and planted in Pacific Coast waters, where they are now rapidly increasing.
Thus we learn that valuable food fish live within certain narrow bounds instead of being distributed all through the waters of the globe. It is as easy, with our many ingenious devices of net and weir, to destroy the inhabitants of the water as it is to destroy those of the land with guns.
We have learned something about the struggle among the plants and animals for food and for room on the earth. We must not think, however, that this struggle is at all like the war that is carried on between different nations. Wars are usually unnecessary and do more harm than good, for they result in the loss of the strongest and best men. But the struggle among the animals and plants has resulted in good, for it has crowded out the weakest and those less fitted to live.
The struggle among all living things for food and a share of the sunshine has covered the earth with a far greater variety than there would otherwise be. Because so many more are born than there is room for, they crowd and elbow each other. Many are forced to make their homes in regions which they would not have chosen if they had been free to do as they pleased. It is partly because of this crowding that some of the animals which once lived on the ground became changed into birds and made their homes in the trees. A number of the mammals found more freedom in the water and finally became whales, seals, and walruses. Many moved into deserts and, in learning to live with very little water, developed curious bodies and habits. Some have found a home in the cold North, where they have become suited to a climate which would quickly kill those which had held their ground in the warm and moist tropical regions.
Nature has thus filled the earth with an infinite variety of living things, each of which is doing its part in makingthe world beautiful and attractive. Man is Nature's last and most wonderful creation. He has learned to fly like the birds, to swim under the sea like the fish, and to harness Nature's forces and make them work for him. But man, with all his wisdom, has too often forgotten that he is really a brother to the lower creatures. The inhabitants of the air, the land, and the water could, if they were able to talk, tell the most pitiful tales of man's cruel treatment of them.
Of course we have to eat, as do all other living creatures, but for thousands of years people have supplied their wants largely from agriculture and from the domestic herds. Although very few of us now have to hunt for our food, and these few are those who live far out on the borders of newly settled regions, yet we have not forgotten the hunting instincts of our ancestors.
Our ancestors of long ago, like the savages on the earth today, seldom killed game unless they needed it for food. We, who think ourselves far better than they, now kill wild life for the pleasure of the chase. The professional hunter who seeks the glossy coats of the fur-bearing animals or the beautiful plumage of certain birds gives no thought to the wasted bodies that he leaves behind.
Since men have become civilized and their needs have become so many, Nature's arrangements have been seriously disturbed. She has not armed the wild creatures against men, who, with all kinds of marvelous weapons, are able to take advantage of them. The wild creatures discover very quickly that they can find little protection against this new enemy, no matter how quick and sharp their senses are.
image69Eastman Kodak CompanyThe only right way to hunt birds' nests—with a camera.
Eastman Kodak Company
The only right way to hunt birds' nests—with a camera.
The blue jay has only his sharp eyes to help him when heseeks the cunningly hidden nest of another bird with the hope of being able to dine upon eggs. The breakfast of the wolf depends alone upon his quickness in catching a rabbit. The mountain lion depends upon his stealthiness when stalking a deer. The Indian relies upon his skill in imitating the call or the appearance of an animal when he tries to approach near enough to use his bow and arrow. Civilized men have lost much of the keenness of sight and hearing they once had, but they have far more than made up for this through their ingenuity in making deadly weapons.
We depend no longer upon the hunt for each day's supply of food. But the instinct to hunt which still remains we use to amuse ourselves while upon our camping trips. Some people even made a living by hunting for the market, although, fortunately for the wild creatures, little of this kind of hunting is now permitted.
The desire to get out of doors and live for a time each year among the wild mountains is another instinct which comes to us from our savage forefathers. This is a beneficial instinct, for life in the fresh air gives us new strength. The hunting instinct is not wrong in itself. It is the manner in which we hunt that is wrong. But how much finer it would be if, instead of using an outing as an excuse to destroy the wild creatures, we should use it to learn about them and their curious ways. How much more real pleasure there is in studying the habits of the denizens of the woods and fields than there is in killing them!
Many a boy wants to carry a gun, because he has read lurid stories of Indians and robbers, or of hunting in the jungles where lions and tigers abound. This often leads to the killing of harmless birds for the lack of bigger game.Boys should be taught either at home or in school the sacredness of life, and a feeling of pity and love for the wild creatures that are surrounded by enemies on every side. They should be taught that animals have feelings and that they want to live. They should be taught how wrong it is to destroy life uselessly. The nest of eggs or helpless young left to their fate through the thoughtless killing of a mother bird is a sight which must arouse the sympathy of every boy who has been taught what it means.
The killing of the mothers is the surest way to destroy a species. The laws in most of our states now regulate hunting during the breeding season and limit the number of wild animals or birds that may be taken in a given time. Whenever the numbers of any species become so reduced that it is in danger of extinction, all hunting of that species should be prohibited for a number of years.
We should feel sorry for those men who live in a civilized land and get the benefit of its advantages and yet are worse than savages at heart. If these men who are so wasteful of wild life could be stripped of their destructive weapons and sent into the wilds to make their living as savages do, they would soon learn to be more careful.
The animals prey upon each other because it is their nature to do so and because their lives depend upon it. Savages hunt because they must have food. We do not need to hunt, but, because of our higher intelligence, our hunting methods are far more destructive than are those of either animals or savages.
image70"There is no recovery of an extinct species. Conservation or devastation—which shall it be? Common sense demands the regulation of hunting in such a way that our wild life will persist as a permanent asset."Western Wild Life Call, published by the California Associated Charities for the Conservation of Wild Life.
"There is no recovery of an extinct species. Conservation or devastation—which shall it be? Common sense demands the regulation of hunting in such a way that our wild life will persist as a permanent asset."Western Wild Life Call, published by the California Associated Charities for the Conservation of Wild Life.
Nature has done more for our land than for almost any other. She has given it vast forests, fertile soil, favorable climate, enormous water power, many minerals, and a wonderful variety of animal life.
During all the centuries that the Indians lived here before the coming of white men, wild game furnished them their chief food, but in spite of this, the amount of game was not decreased. When our forefathers landed upon this continent, it fairly swarmed with animals and birds. With the clearing away of the forests and the settling of the prairies men could not help depriving many wild creatures of both their shelter and their food, but this was not the chief cause for their rapid decrease in numbers. Hunters followed them persistently into the wilder hills and mountains, and many, not needed for food, were killed for their furs.
Now we may travel for days through the remote and still unsettled parts of our country and see very little life of anykind except birds and the smaller animals, such as squirrels. Occasionally we may start up a deer that flees away from us like the wind. Still more rarely we come upon a bear and are fortunate if we get even the merest sight of him before he is gone.
The fear of man has spread among all the wild creatures. There is good reason for this fear, because man has completely exterminated some species and so reduced the numbers of others that careful protection will be needed to save them. Travelers tell us that in those lands where man rarely goes the wild creatures have little fear of him.
The story of the slaughter of the buffalo is known to us all. Once this noble animal roamed from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains. Countless thousands were killed merely for their hides, and other thousands were killed for sport. Finally, when they were almost gone, people awoke to the importance of saving them. Several small herds, not more than a few hundred in number, that had escapedthe hunters were placed under protection and now they are slowly increasing.
The grizzly, king of bears, was once abundant in parts of the Rocky Mountains and upon the Pacific slope, but now he is found only in the Yellowstone Park region. The man who killed the last specimen in California is proud of his great achievement.
image71L. A. Huffman, Miles City, Mont.Why the buffalo have nearly disappeared from the land.
L. A. Huffman, Miles City, Mont.
Why the buffalo have nearly disappeared from the land.
Of all the elk which once spread over the western part of our country, only a few remain outside of the Yellowstone region. A protected herd exists in the San Joaquin Valley, California, and another small herd roams through the wilder parts of the northern Coast Ranges. The antelope, so common on the plains only a few years ago, are all gone except for small, scattered herds in the more remote parts of the West.
image72American Museum of Natural HistoryA group of Roosevelt elk.
American Museum of Natural History
A group of Roosevelt elk.
Of the many fur-bearing animals which once inhabited the Northwest, beavers were the most widespread and abundant. Their pelts were so valuable that they were used as money. For many years the trapping of these little animals was an important industry, until at last they were practically exterminated in every stream throughout the western half of the country. A few beaver are known to remain in the Yellowstone Park, where they are of course carefully protected. In Oregon a few escaped and have been carefully protected for some years. In certain places they are now quite abundant. In parts of New England and Canada they are now increasing under the protection of the game laws.
The sea otter, now extremely rare, is so highly valued for its fur that it soon may become extinct, although completely protected by law.
image73New York Zoölogical SocietyA beaver and its lodge.
New York Zoölogical Society
A beaver and its lodge.
The passenger pigeon, whose flights almost covered the sky at times not more than forty years ago, and whose numbers seemed so great that no one believed it possible of extermination, is now gone forever. The extinction of these birds was due chiefly to their being slaughtered at their roosting places.
image74Finley & BohlmanA California condor.
Finley & Bohlman
A California condor.
The California condor, one of the largest of birds, is almost extinct. The prairie chicken has disappeared from the prairies and plains. Certain species of grouse, and especially the sage grouse, mountain quail, and others, which inhabit sparsely settled regions, are thought to be still holding their ground, but should be more carefully protected. The valley quail is, however, much reduced in numbers; while ducks, geese, and smaller shore birds are decreasing with each succeeding year.
Even in the jungles of far-away Africa, where we would think the animals are exposed to little danger of extinction, some of them, such as the elephant, are in urgent need of protection. In the far North the great polar bear will not long survive unless rigidly protected.
What terrible scourge has so suddenly come upon the birds and animals that once adorned our country? How is it that in the short space of fifty years many of them have almost disappeared from their ancient haunts? We feel like hiding our faces in shame, for it is the same man scourge that for many hundreds of years has been destroying the forests, the animals, and the birds of many other countries.
The helplessness of all the wild creatures before man's destructive weapons should arouse our sympathy, if nothing else does. Leaving out of account a few predatory animals that destroy large numbers of other animals, we should most earnestly try to protect those that remain.
The beauty of the birds, their sweet music, the companionship which they afford, and, last but not least, their great value to the farmer and fruit grower, should arouse our earnest efforts in their behalf.
In our country alone an army of five million men and boys go out to hunt wild creatures every year. The animals are so defenseless against man's weapons that it is not a fair fight, in which the quicker or sharper escape, but a slaughter.
If these hunters were savages armed only with bows and arrows, then the wild creatures would have a chance for their lives. Besides, savages do not kill for sport, nor do they purposely destroy Nature's most valuable gifts to them.
The forest that has been cut down will grow again. The soil that has been made poor will, if let alone, sometime become fertile again. But those species of birds, animals, and fish which we have completely destroyed will never be restored to us.
image75Nat'l Ass'n Audubon SocietiesThe sage grouse, which is in danger of extinction.
Nat'l Ass'n Audubon Societies
The sage grouse, which is in danger of extinction.
Our savage ancestors depended largely for food upon animals, birds, and fish which they obtained. They used the skins and furs for clothing and the plumes for decorating themselves. They allowed no part of the bodies of the animals they killed to go to waste.
We do not now have to depend upon the wild creatures for food, because our flocks and herds supply all that we require. But Dame Fashion has decreed that furs and feathers are still the proper thing to wear. Thus it has come about that those animals that have soft, furry coats and those birds that have bright plumage are hunted more eagerly now than they were long ago when food was the most important thing.
The demand for furs has always been great and the trapping industry has employed thousands of men ever since our land was discovered, but in recent years feathers have become almost as important. No region where fur-bearing animals have their lairs, or birds of beautiful plumage have their nests, is too far away or too difficult for the hunters and trappers to go and hunt.
The business of killing wild creatures for money makes beasts out of men and has led to most heartless cruelties. The savage, hunting for food, kills his prey at once; but the fur trapper with a circuit which takes sometimes a week to cover often has to leave his prey, tortured in the traps, until it starves to death.
If the wearer of that handsome warm fur coat could know what was, perhaps, the story of the wild creature to which itonce belonged, would she enjoy it so much? Could the wearer of that gay hat, for the making of which not only a mother bird, but perhaps a whole family of little ones, gave up their lives, take so much pleasure in it if she knew the history of its plumes?
It is not the desire for warm furs about our necks or for beautiful feathers in our hats that is wrong. It is the needless suffering that those who hunt and trap cause the wild creatures that we should be ashamed of and insist upon having stopped.
The work of the trapper and hunter is nearly done. These men have despoiled for money the life of a whole continent in a few short years. The fur-bearing animals, if hunted in moderation, would have continued to people the wilds for all time to come. But neither the wearer of furs nor the hunter has given one thought to their preservation.
In the getting of bird plumage for millinery purposes we find cruelties practiced which are almost beyond our belief. The lowest savage that ever lived on the earth could be no worse than many of our bird hunters.
Birds have habits which make them easier to kill than fur-bearing animals. Although the modern fashion for feathers began less than fifty years ago, the birds that afford bright and graceful plumage have already been nearly exterminated. Now most of them are protected in our country, and the sale of feathers from other countries is prohibited in our markets. But there are some places where the law is not enforced, as well as many other countries where there are no laws, and thoughtless women still wear plumes. To supply the demands of fashion all the remote lands as well as islands of the sea are being searched.
image76Finley & BohlmanYoung great blue herons in their nest.
Finley & Bohlman
Young great blue herons in their nest.
The slaughter began with the bright-colored songbirds, terns, gulls, herons, egrets, and flamingos. Then it extended to other sea birds, including the albatross, to bright-colored tropical birds, and to the wonderful birds of paradise. How true is the following statement made in a millinery store:
"You had better take the feather for twelve dollars," said the clerk, "for it is very cheap at that price. These feathers are becoming scarce and very soon we shall not be able to secure them."
Here is milady's beautiful cape glistening with all the colors of the rainbow. Of what is this gorgeous thingmade? Would you believe it possible that it is formed entirely of humming birds' skins, with the heads and long, slender bills? Perhaps a thousand of the tiny birds were sacrificed that some woman might have a beautiful cape. Does it seem possible that any gentlewoman could wear this cape, who had any realization of the tragedies that had to take place in humming-bird life in order that it might be made? Could she wear this cape if she knew of the forsaken nests and the hundreds of dying young ones waiting for the mothers that never returned?
image77Finley & BohlmanFinley & Bohlman
Finley & Bohlman
Finley & Bohlman
But more terrible, if anything, than the story of the humming-bird cape is the story of the delicate egret plumes on yonder hat. They once adorned the mother bird at nesting time in some far marsh. The feathers are almost perfect at this time, and to get them the bird must be killed. Each bunch of egret feathers represents a family tragedy,—anest of little birds left to die, because the mother has been sacrificed to satisfy the demands of fashion.
The plume hunters invade the nesting places of the egrets, herons, and flamingos, often leaving not a single bird in what were once happy colonies, except the starving little ones. Millions of these plumes have been obtained along our seacoasts and about the interior lakes and marshes. Is it any wonder that the egrets are nearly extinct as a result of this merciless slaughter?
Now, when it is almost too late, protection has been given these beautiful birds. Bird refuges have been established at different favorable points along the South Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in the Klamath and Malheur Lake regions of Oregon. These refuges are watched over by wardens, and we hope that the birds inhabiting them will thus be enabled to increase and again fill the almost forsaken marshes.
In our plea for the protection of the birds of attractive plumage, we must not forget those of the tropical jungles. Remote as many of these jungles are, the plumage hunter is devastating them already. The bird of paradise, found in the East India islands, will soon be extinct unless protected.
Once upon a time, not very long ago, the birds and animals were brought into court to be tried on the charge of committing all sorts of misdeeds. Some of their accusers wanted to shoot them for food. Others said they did much harm and should be destroyed, while still others envied their beautiful coats of fur or feathers. To settle the matter fairly, the judge decided that each prisoner should be tried by itself.
The first case called was that of the English sparrow, who made such a noisy disturbance that the bailiff had to call for silence. All witnesses asserted that the bird was a foreigner and did not belong in this country. They further testified that the sparrow was a meddlesome, gossiping neighbor, always fighting the other birds and driving them away. The sparrow looked around, but not a single friend could he find. The court decided that he should be driven out and made the lawful prey of every one. He cautioned all present, however, always to be very careful to distinguish between the English sparrow and the other sparrows. The latter birds must on no account be molested, for they were without any exceptions most useful citizens.
In regard to the linnet the judge hardly knew what to say. The bird was shown to be a sweet singer, but very destructive of fruit. It was finally decided that a census of the linnets must be taken occasionally. Whenever their number was found to be so great as to endanger the fruit crop in any particular place, the farmers were to be allowed to dispose of a certain number.
The bobolink had many friends as well as enemies present. Every one that knew the bobolink in its summer home in the North insisted that this beautiful singer must be protected. But the people from the South, where it spends the winter, wished the privilege of shooting it. They said that its flesh formed a delicious morsel and also that in the rice fields, where it was known as the "rice bird," it did a great deal of harm. The judge refused to listen to the plea of the hunters and said that this attractive bird must be protected in both its winter and summer homes.
The turn of the blue jay came next. Every one wondered what the charge against this bird with the beautiful blue plumage could be. Some thought that he was on trial for his discordant screeching, which alarmed all the inhabitants of the woods. The charge against the jay was, however, far more serious. He had been caught while making his breakfast of some baby birds which a mother robin had just hatched. The quail and every other small bird present called for vengeance on this ruthless destroyer of their homes. The gardener also added that the bird ate his cherries and apples.
The jay now presented a strong defense, saying that most of his food was made up of harmful insects and worms. He proved that he did almost as much good as harm. The judge, knowing what a wise bird the jay was, told him to go but that he must thereafter look out for himself.
The family of hawks was next examined. There were many witnesses who declared that they were the most destructive of neighbors and lived entirely upon small birds and chickens. The songbirds all raised their voices against hawks, saying that when they left their nests to hunt forfood for their children, they were never sure of finding them alive upon their return. The judge inquired carefully as to the truth of these complaints, but found that only a few of the hawks were guilty as claimed. These included the peregrine falcon, sharp-shinned hawk, and Cooper's hawk. The other hawks proved that they were the farmers' best friends, for they waged endless war upon mice, rats, ground squirrels, gophers, and rabbits, and only occasionally caught other birds. They had evidence also that in those places where their numbers had been much reduced by the hunters, the small rodents increased enormously.
image78Finley & BohlmanFull-grown young red-tailed hawks.
Finley & Bohlman
Full-grown young red-tailed hawks.
The court had to be held at night to accommodate the owls and give them justice. The judge decided from the evidence that, in this family as in the last, there were goodmembers as well as bad and he could not condemn them all to death. The owls proved that they were of even more benefit to the farmers than were the hawks, because of the large number of rats which they ate. The great horned owl and the barred owl only were singled out for punishment.
image79Finley & BohlmanThe screech owl at home. This is a well-known bird, of great economic value because it catches so many mice.
Finley & Bohlman
The screech owl at home. This is a well-known bird, of great economic value because it catches so many mice.
The case of the meadow lark was called next. An old farmer complained that this bird had destroyed his young grain. Then the hunters made the plea that the meadow lark was really a game bird and that they ought to be allowed to shoot it. In defense of these birds the stomachs of many of them that had been killed were shown in court.It was proved that two thirds of all their food was made up of harmful insects and that the farmers ought to be glad to have them about. It was further shown that if the insects killed by the meadow larks in one day in the San Joaquin Valley, California, were loaded on the cars and hauled away, it would take a train of twenty cars of ten tons each. The meadow lark, upon this showing, was allowed to go unmolested and at once began a happy carol.