Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-06-16
KILLING OFF THE BIRDS.
tNotc Of Alarm Is Sounded from tho Smith
s0nian Institute.

| All that has recently been said in
support of efforts toprevent the slaugh-
ter Of birds is corroborated in the
main by this testimony from expert
AUTHORITY Rene ache writes for The
Boston Transcript on this subject the
Following interesting article which it
lis to be hoped viii be widely read:
The Smithsonian institution sounds a
| Il note Of alarm. 1t declares that civil
lied man is sweeping the wild birds off
the face of the earth at such a rate
that before long hardly any species of
lfeathered creatures will survive save
Those which are domestcated. The
world is being literally depopulated SO
| far as this great class of animals Is
concerned. They are being destroyed
Everywhere with the utmost ruthless
mess, and numerous genera hitherto
plentiful in numbers are being wiped
lout en- bloc as it were. The next few
years must witness the extinction Of
many species already becoming rare,
| while during the last quarter of CEN
fury scores Of other species have been
Totally extirpated. Thus is threatened
| a great change in the fauna of the
| world-a change that is only too apt to
he attended by results most damaging
| TO the interests of mankind.
Take for example that wonderful
| bird called the "rhea which repre-
SCENTS the ostrich on the American con-
tinent Though already becoming
are, the survivors of this magnificent
lspecies are being hunted Systematically
lin Argentina and North Patagonia for
THE sake of their feathers. And what
do you suppose the long and handsome
feathers are used for? For millinery
Not bit of it. They are employed in
the manufacture of feather busters.
Thus it appears that one of the most
beautiful creatures placed on the earth
by beneficent Creator for the benefit
and admiration of mankind is to be de-
latroyed forever for the sake Of cheap
ming the production of featherdusters,
The millinery feather market Is sup
lplied chiefly by laying waste the breed
ing places OF birds. This means that
the creatures are not killed casually.
and here and there but blow is struck
ut the future of whole species by at
lacking them on the grounds where
hey reproduce their kind, and destroy
ling them en- rnasse. Where business is
concerned. it matters not whether en-
tire feathered tribes are exterminated,
Ileaving not 81 single pair to give hope
lei perpetuation of the family. Natur-
lally. the most beautiful birds are Sc
ected for extirpation by such means,
Accounts given of the ravages Of bird
plumers" at breeding stations on the
Florida coast are sickening. Formerly
thronged with happy feathered popu-
llaticn. they are now either made desert
Ior else are resorted TO by only a few
surviving specimens.
The islands of the sea win be first to
lose their avi-fauna for obvious rea-
sons. The birds in such localities have
no place to which they can retreat.
The burning of woods incidental to hui
man settlement, to make clearngs, de-
prives them of their food supply. and
they starve to death. The famous Lab
rador duck used to be common enough
| in the markets of the United States.
migrating in winter as far South as
New England. In summer it was plen
tiful along the Labrador coast and
about the mouth of the st. Lawrence
river Like the elder duck, to which it
was allied, it bred on rocky islets,
where it was safe from foxes and other
lcarnivorous quadrupcds. But sports
men visited the islets annually and de-
lstroyed the breeding birds wholesale.
| They had no asylum to turn to, the
shore of the mainland being infested
by four-footed enemies. and the result
Twas inevitable. The last known bird of
this species was killed in 1852. There
are now thirty-eight stuffed specimens
| in various museums. a pair of them
now in the national museum was shot
by Daniel Webster.
The bird fauna of the West Indies is
rapidly disappearing Among the spe-
cies already extinct are three kinds of
petrels-birds which roam the seas and
usually breed in the mountainous in
lteriors of islands. One of the petrels
lalluded to was formerly common in
Jamaica, where it was popularity known
as the Blue Mountain duck. weasel
Hike animal, called the mongoose, was
| imported into Jamaica for the purpose
tof killing rats which attacked the
lcrops. The rats took to the trees, the
lmongoose being unable to climb. while
the latter devoted its attention to poul-
TRY and wild birds that build their
nests on the ground. 1t soon exter-
minated the Blue Mountain duck. and
its agency Will go a long way towards
finishing up the birds of Jamaica.
A species Of macaw, about half the
size of the ordinary macaw of Mexico.
used to be plentiful in Cuba. Not a
specimen has been seen for thirty-five
years. though ii is believed that a few
tstill exists in swamps in the interior
Several species Of handsome parrots
were formerly numerous in Dominica
Santa LUCIA and Martinique; they were
lof large size, of brilliant plumage and
quite different from any other parrots.
Though very rare, a few survivors live
ITO this day in inaccessible parts of the
islands. There is a kind of heath-hen
which exists to this day on the island
Iof Martha's Vineyard off the coast of
Massachusetts. though found nowhere
iGlSp hn oF