The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-10-12
PROTECTION OF SEA BIRDS.
Good Results of the Efforts Along the
Coast of the Eastern Shore.

Good Results of the Efforts Along the
Coast of the Eastern Shore.
Frank c. Kirkwood, secretary of the
MARYLAND Game and Fish Association,
has returned from a tour of inspection
of the breeding places of the sea birds
along the coast of the eastern shore OF
Maryland and Virginia. Mr.. Kirkwood
made the tour under the auspices of
the American Ornithological Union,
which has taken up the protection Oh
the breeding sites and stationed nine
wardens along the coast for that pur-
pose. He used an open bateau ana
cruised about 100 miles in eight days
among the coast lands. William RI.
Fisher. a locally we'll known naturalist,
ACCOMPANIED him and secured a series
of fine pictures of fowls and their sum-
mer homes. Mr. Kirkwood said;
s'There are more birds along the
coast this season probably by 30 per
cent than there were last year when
visited the coast. 1t Is extremely dill
cult. however, to even approximate the
numbers When you stand and look
at an ever moving mass of birds lying
close to you and one another the eye
gets confused by the incessant move
ment and the ear is dulled by the babel
of sounds. While the result of this IN
spection has been very satisfactory,
still an observer who has visited the
scene no longer than eight or ten years
ago cannot avoid a feeling of sadness
ct the fact that there is not more than
one bird to thousands then. But there
are enough to reproduce the stock, and
the compromise is that in a. few years
the birds may reach the oldtime num-
hers If the present good policy is con-
tinued.
"The money for the work of preserva-
tion is supplied by the Thayer fund.
When the question of protecting these
birds was brought up by some of the
members of the American Ornithologi-
cal Union a doubt was expressed as to
whether a sufficient amount could be
secured to make protection possible.
Mr.. Thatcher of New York. treasurer
of the American Ornithological Union,
has been sufficient to accomplish the
desired result. The convocation last
winter of $500 terms under the Macy
act was the first result in the way of
actual prosecution after the birds had
been shipped from the breeding
| grounds Since that time there nave
haen several prosecutions in different
sections of the country, and the market
being cut off the incentive to shoot the
| birds upon breeding grounds has been
| destroyed.
| "when I sneak of shooting the birds
m fine breeding grounds alone ! speak
with a thorough knowledge of the i'm
possibility of shooting them at any
other time of the year. If one or more
persons were to locate themselves in the
| center of the breeding colony where the
nests-simply constructed of hollow
scooped out in the sand-are so close
together that one has to watch his feet
| TO keep from walking upon them, it
would only be a matter of how many
| shells were in the party as to how
much shooting would be done; and at
close range, in which the birds come
sometimes almost in ones face and in
compact bodies of several hundreds of
thousands, it is readily seen how terri
! fc the slaughter would be. And the
| birds killed would not be the worst
| feature of the slaughter, but the three
or four eggs of the dead bird would
| he left to rot upon the sand, or the nest
of Young left to die of starvation.
"As soon as the young are able to
accompany their parents the birds
scatter all over the coast and ocean,
and but few are to be found in any
one locality. Even when at roost on "a
sandbar they are wary and difficult to
! approach, for even if the majority are
asleep there are enough sentinels on
! duty to sound the alarm before the