Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-04-07

rookery In one afternoon. Another proud
killed 10000 birds-herons, egrets and
terns-during one winter. But the de-
struction of these birds is an unpleasant
subject. 1t is a blot on Florida's his
tory
Unfortunately. the demands of the mil
linery trade are not confined to plume
birds and terms, or to any particular
state, and the slaughter SO destructive to
the Florida herons is being repeated in
several sections of the country in the
case of other birds.
Among the few redeeming features of
the feather trade should be mentioned
the esta olishment of new industry
through the Introduction of the South
two in number, reached New York in De-
cember; 1852, and few months b later
cal There are today several ostrich
farms in Southern California. and one
each in Arizona. Florida Texas and tr IN
, farming in the United States has passed
| through many vcissitudes and Is still In
| its infancy. the important fact mas peen
be produced in this country which are
| equal to the best grades imported from
| abroad. , -
birds annually killed for game in the
United States has Increased largely WIN
the development of railway systems a, anu
tha perfection of cod-storage faculties
for shipping game to market. Quantities
of game are frequently kept i'll cold stor-
age tor months at a time, or even from
one season to another, 50 that our large
cities can now receive their supplies not
only from neghboring regions but from
distant states and even Foreign countries
for instance. South American tinamouS,
! shipped from Argentina to London, ana
then imported into this country, have
been sold in the markets OF Washington.
D. &. .
So long ago as 1864 one dealer in New
| York was known to receive twenty tons
of prairie chickens In single consign-
| III ,k, n
| % 900 birds and some of the larger pOul-
try dealers sold from 100000 to 100000
game birds in the course 81 SIX months
The consumption of game today is much
greater than it was thirty-tiVe years ago.
and the effect of such enormous slaugh-
ter has become very apparent IN the case
7 Of several species. as for example. tho
| .orairie hen and the passenger pigeon
| The range of the prairie chicken in the
T. asst is rapidly contracting; q lew ar
still found in Kentucky, but the species
is rare in Indiana and northwestern Ohio
1t usually lays from eleven to fourteen
| ege-.; in A set. ana is considered one OF
the most prolific Of game birds. ranking
next to the quail in this respect. Audu-
bon the great ornithologiSt, wrote that
When he first moved to kentucky about
1SoS) prairie hens We're very abundant,
and could be seen frequently i'm the farm
yards with the poultry and even in the
streets of the villages. 50 little Were
| they esteemed as game that hunters
scarcely dciGned to shoot them, and they
could hardly be sold for more than 4
cent apiece.
\ still more striking case of eXtcrmna-
ton is that of the passenger pigeon
which has been reduced almost to the
point Of extinction, except in two or
three Northern states. To-day its breed
ing range is restricted to the thinly set
tied Wooded region along the northern
border of the United States chiefly in
Michigan and Wisconsin. Audubon
| speaks of seeing schnOncrs at the
wharves in New York in 1905 that Were
loaded in bulk with pigeons taken on the
Hudson river, and states that the birds
sold for only a cent apiece. In March,
1890 he found them 50 abundant in the
New York markets that piles OF them
could be seen in every direction He
apiece. most Of which were carried alive
| to England. Although the wild pigeon Is
now protected by law at all seasons in
| er il can be saved from extinction. Like
! the bison, il has been sacrificed through
| wasteful and useless slaughter.