season on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 40,000 were killed, and an equal number on Cobbs' Island, Virginia.

The destruction of herons has been, if possible, even more vile. In 1880 the eastern coast of Florida and the bayou districts of the Gulf States swarmed with herons, eight different species of them. The white herons, or egrets, which furnish the aigrette-plumes, were so abundant that the broad savannas were often white with them, and the mangrove islets on which they roosted are said to have looked as though a great white sheet had been thrown over them; especially in the nesting season, during which the herons gathered at accustomed places, to rear their young in a sort of communal nursery. Here they would assemble by hundreds or even thousands of pairs, and in such close company that fifty or even a hundred nests were often built on a single tree.

Unfortunately for these birds, both sexes during the nesting season become adorned with delicate spraylike plumes, the "aigrettes," which constitute the heron's wedding-dress and which are worn only during that season. Covetous millinery traders thought these beauties valuable acquisitions to their stock and offered to pay five cents, ten cents, and later more than that for an aigrette. Mercenary hunters were set loose upon these birds. In order to secure the plumes at their best, the hunters concealed themselves in one of the breeding-grounds or "heronries," and killed the parent birds as they returned with food for their young.

This simple but effective method resulted not only in the death of the old birds but in the starvation of the young, who stretched their little thin necks and piped piteously a while for the food that never came for the parents that were murdered at the regular market price of 5 or 10 cents apiece.

Unfortunately, the demands of the millinery trade were not confined to herons and terns. Anything wearing feathers was acceptable, none being too plainly colored to be worn, birds with bright colors naturally being preferred. And so, after

the coasts of the Southern States had been devastated, the destruction was repeated in California, Washington, and Oregon; and later on in the West Indies, in Mexico, Central and South America. Species that are extensively employed for decorative purposes, as the ibises, flamingoes, roseate spoonbills, king birds, plovers, sandpipers, and others, were threatened with extermination the world over.

Collectors of birds' eggs are also responsible for the destruction of the bird species. The collections in scientific societies are of small importance. Probably there are not 500,000 specimens in all the collections made in a hundred years. Much greater harm is done by the eggers, who collect eggs for marketing purposes. In May, 1900, Government ornithologists reported that on some of the Hawaiian Islands the albatross was destroyed literally in myriads by egg-hunters. Though the birds themselves were not seriously disturbed, the removal of their eggs, by the wheelbarrow load and by the carload, must soon result in the practical extinction of the species in that locality.

The eggs of the Pallas murre are collected for food on the Pribylof Islands, in Bering Sea. W. H. Elliott, the naturalist, reports that on the occasion of his first visit to Walrus Island, in July, 1872, six men in less than three hours loaded with eggs to the water's edge a large boat, carrying four tons. Large colonies of water birds such as pelicans, gulls, terns, and herons may be found at points along the coasts of the United States during the breeding season, and in certain localities the eggs of some of these species are highly esteemed and find a ready market, as on the eastern shore of Virginia. There the eggs of the laughing gull are considered a great delicacy, and are gathered in large numbers for sale to hotels and private individuals. But in the gratification of this taste there is the same tendency toward extermination which is manifested in the case of feather collecting.

Eminent authorities on agriculture have stated that at least one-tenth of all the cultivated crops of the United States are

annually destroyed by ravenous insects, and that the aggregate amount of damage done is upward of three hundred to four hundred million dollars every year. The products of agriculture and of our forests are the fundamental causes of our wealth. But these products would be impossible without the help of our birds. The damage done to our crops and forests by insects and rodents amounts to $800,000,000 annually! When the public begins to think of these enormous losses, which can be prevented to a great extent by such work as that of the Audubon Societies, I feel convinced that we shall find all the moral and financial support we need.

The fact that insect depredations are increasing in extent each year makes it plain that something must be done to prevent it, and that quickly. We have found that although we are continually making increased efforts to destroy these pests, our efforts avail but little and the destruction of our crops goes on. What, then, is to be done?

The answer is plain. Heed the advice of the naturalist, who has made a study of the life histories of the various other living creatures in the world. Do not condemn what he says, without at least examining into it a little. In his desire for bird protection the naturalist is not prompted by sentiment alone; far from it; although from the sentimental standpoint alone the friend of birds would have more than sufficient grounds for making such an appeal.

Briefly told, the economic relation of birds to man lies in the services which they render in checking undue increase of insects, in devouring small rodents, in destroying the seeds of noxious weeds, and in acting as scavengers on land and water. A perusal of the various works that have been written on the economic relations of birds to man will support the statement that if we were deprived of the services of birds the earth would soon become uninhabitable.

CLASS ACTIVITIES

1. Name the three chief reasons why the birds of America have been recklessly destroyed. What purpose lay back of most of the destruction? Does Cronau think that such enormous numbers of carrier pigeons were desirable?

2. What parts of Cronau's discussion do you select to show that the poem, Stupidity Street," rests on facts? What is the chief penalty the nation pays for the destruction of birds?

3. How did the carrier pigeons protect themselves against the hawk? Tell of similar devices of protection by other creatures.

4. Write after the Roman numerals in the following outline the chief causes for destruction of birds and fill in the subheads with the proper details taken from the selection.

a. Supplement with pictures, poems, descriptions, or facts the information about several kinds of birds named in this selection.

b. Ask an old resident about birds once plentiful in your locality.

6. Topics for talks.

a. Birds found in my yard or garden.

b. Why national rather than State protection of birds is necessary. c. A bird with interesting habits. (Supplement with pictures.) d. How birds help the farmer.

e. Shutting a canary in a cage.

ADDITIONAL READINGS.

1. “The Value of Birds to Man,” J. Buckland, in Report of Smithsonian Institution, 1913. 2. "Federal Protection of Migratory Birds," G. Gladden, in Outing, 62:345-349. 3. "Shall We Feed the Birds ?" in Literary Digest, 52: 1214-1217. 4. A City Bat Roost," ibid., 50: 873. 5. "A New Method of Bird Study," ibid., 48: 102-103. 6. "Our Greatest Travelers," W. W. Cooke, in National Geographic Magazine, 22: 346–365. 7. “The Fight for Bird Protection," T. G. Pearson, in World's Work. 8. "Birds and Saving," R. H. Moulton, in St. Nicholas, 40:651.

3. A PETITION OF THE BIRDS

GEORGE F. HOAR

George F. Hoar, a United States Senator of Massachusetts, presented an appeal for bird protection to the legislature of his State. He made the birds speak for themselves.

THE BIRDS' LETTER

To the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: We, the song birds of Massachusetts and their playfellows, make this petition.

We know more about you than you think we do. We know how good you are. We have hopped about the roofs and looked in at the windows of the houses you have built for poor and sick and hungry people and little lame and deaf and blind children. We have built our nests in the trees and sung many a song as we flew about the gardens and parks you have made so beautiful for your own children, especially your poor children, to play in.

Every year we fly a great way over the country, keeping all the time where the sun is bright and warm; and we know that when you do anything, other people all over the land between the seas and the Great Lakes find it out, and pretty soon will try to do the same thing. We know; you know. We are Americans, just as you are. Some of us, like some of you, came from across the great sea, but most of us have lived here a long while; and birds like ourselves welcomed your fathers when they came here many years ago. Our fathers and mothers have always done their best to please your fathers and mothers.

Thoughtless people

Now we have a sad story to tell you. are trying to destroy us. They kill us because our feathers are beautiful. Even pretty and sweet girls, who we should think would be our best friends, kill our brothers and children so that they may wear their plumage on their hats.

Sometimes people kill us heedlessly. Cruel boys destroy our nests and steal our eggs and our young ones. People with