Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-06-19
BIRDS BEING EXTERMINATED.
Wicked and Senseless Slaughter Of
Birds and Animals.

Birds and Animals.
"Wild pigeons have been slaughtered !
just for the fun of slaughtering until /
there are few left said a man connected /
with the Smithsonian Institution. wild /
pigeons are fast becoming extinct along /
with hundreds OF other American birds /
and animals, ,and Americans are respon-
sible for it. out west few years ago |
men would 20 to a pigeon roost at night
and cut the trees down, just to see how
many of the birds they could Kill. The
Ohio Valley and other regions were full
of them, and in many of the Western
States | have seen the heavens black
with these birds morning and evening.
Unless stringent laws adopted and
enforced animal after animal and bird
after bird will be eXterminated. The
Creator put them here for some purpose,
and yet some people seem to think that
the best thing to be done is to wipe them
off the face of the earth. Many of the
most valuable species Of animals at pres
ent inhabiting the world will inevitably
be rendered absolutely extinct within
few years unless something is done.
Fashion to a great extent, is respon-
sible. but the whole truth is that man,
and especially the American, is by nature
the most destructive creature in all ere
alton. The marked and rapid changes
being wrought in the fauna of the world
are largely attributal to his insa liable
appetite for killing. He seems to want
to be eterually and everlastingly slaugh-
tering something-would as soon kill a
humming bird an elephant, pet rab-
bit a snake. 1t makes no difference
to him. just so he stops the breath of
some living thing. | regard it as pure
| unadulterated cussedness.' and would
suggest the Delaware whipping post as
cure for it. Men who have devoted their
/ lives to such work as we are engaged in
D III g.sl 1
the sad havoc which is going on more
/ keenly than those who only give the
! matter an occasional thought.
Now, think of It, the pair of stuffed
! Labrador ducks here in the museum
/ were killed by Daniel Webster. and were
| the originals from which Audubon made
his plates. Those ducks became extinct
| about 1870. and so 1t goes. Take. for in
/ stance, the only little parrot known as
/ native of this country, which was for
merry plentiful as far north as Kansas.
1t is now being finally eXtirpated in the
/ lowlands of Florida 10y visitors who re-
/ gard IL as sport TO shoot IL. The beau
tiful birds of India. Australia and other
| countries are slaughtered by the million
| for their pumage, but here birds are
| slaughtered just for the fun of killing
| There are birds in this and other coun-
tries that amount to nothing when it
/ comes to adjoining some wOman's hat or
bonnet but they are slaughtered just
the same, and often they are not even
good to eat, but they make such a pretty
mark for gun. Birds which measured
six feet from hip TO foot formerly inhab-
tied New Zealand but they are now en-
tirely extinct, though many of the ma
lives still wear their feathers for orna-
ments That country has produced
many wonderful and beautiful birds of
which there are number OF specimens
in the museum. The most interesting of
the extinct birds is the dodo which was
a kind Of pigeon, some what larger than a
fly its wings being almost rudimentary.
Its tail resembled a feather buster, and
ii waddled about on short legs. Seventy
| five years ago the aux was found on
Funk Island, off the Newfoundland
coast, by the millions, but now one of
their eggs will sell a public auction for
as much as $500 The aux was a splen-
did bird for food and the feathers were
valuable, consequently it was soon eN-
terminated. There are number OF
valuable skeletons of the birds here in
the Smithsonian which We're secured by
Professor Lucas several years ago he
having made a trip to Funk Island fol
the purpose of getting them and making
other inVes legations.
Elephants are getting scarce; they are
! nearly all gone. l suppose most of them
, We're killed to get the ivory, notwith-
standing the fact that Henry NJ. STANLEY
] reaches Europe costs the life of a man
woman or child, and that every twenty
tusks are secured al the price of an en-
tire district in Africa. The Arabs who
e carry the ivory to the coast attack anC
destroy the villages and make captive:
of the inhabitants.
Fur seals are doomed, and they are
already eXterminated from the rookerle!
I in the southern seas, where a few year:
, | ago they could be found in counties!
: millions. Pirates are fast killing then
out in the Behring Sea. The demand
p for leather and oil is causing the rapiC
\ wiping out of the hair seal, and ever
l | crocodIles and other reptiles are no
spared, because their hides are wante,
for satchels, pocket books and like arti
cles. This is one of fashions DEGREES
but it is a minor item when YOU know
' that Australian opossums and monkeys
| are slain al the rate of three millions
year for their skins.
But l could go on until Congress ad
: journs and give you instances of wher
y animals and birds have become, or ar,
u becoming, extinct, and it is something
we regret to see for they can never b.
replaced, no matter how much we ma,
e want them. They are never prop
I erly appreciated until they become scare
a or are entirely gone. Still our sports
T men will go out and fire at anything
that they can get a pop at, and call 1
d fine sport ] wish l had all such sport
= men TO pass before me in review, and 1
d l had a good thick board I'd know wha
= to do with it."