The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-10-12
GUARD BIRD BROODS Audubon Wardens Report on
 Nations Nestlings

Sea Bird Scavengers and Insect Eating Waterfowl Grow Scarce-Country's Health and Crops at Stake.
 New York, Oct. 12-That the threat ened extermination of the valuable birds of the sea coasts and lakes of this country has been checked to some extent by the operation of reserva- tions during the past year was an- nounced at the headuuarters of the National Association of Audubon So- cieties in this city to-day. At some fifty points along both shores of the continent and on it's inland waters the breeding birds have this season been shielded from the ravages of egg poachers. plume hunters and market butchers according to annual reports that have just been received from the In over 90 per cent. of these bird refuges. which the Audubon workers are struggling to maintain with the help of the government. increases of from ten to sixty per cent. in the sea birds and water fowl most economical ly useful to the people of the nation are reported.
 On the waters of Maine. Massachu- setts, New York, New Jersey, Virginia. North Carolina. South Carolina. Flori-
 
 Minnesota. North Dakota. Washington and Oregon careful census has been made of the bird broods or leased by state and national Audubon societies. that the sea birds and water fowl are rapidly multiplying with the limited territory in which they, are guarded from human devastation storm tides the wholesale checks of nature-are held responsible in half a dozen not al inS 10 Of thousands of the young of species on whose activities the country must rely for the disposal of floating refuse and the consuming of harmful insects. shore birds must still breed unguard ed the raids of plume hunters are threatening the nation with the rapid extinction of some species of these have summarized the situation on the basis of these records.
 More than 25, 900 eggs of gulls. her ons and terms are reported as taken, in the temporary absence of one war den, by an egging expedition on the Breton Island Reservation eff Louisi- ana, in violation of federal statute. Only a score of the aerons whose nup- tia1 plume furnishes the aigrette to the millinery market are repoTbed as sur vfving recent butchery on each of two Audubon reservations~i in South Caro- lima and Florida. From wardens sta toned on both the upper Atlantic and Pacific coasts and the inland waters of the country good promise of saving and increasing the birds in their charge is held out.
 Plague and pestilence will surely follow the extermination of the sea bird Scaveng3rS along our coasts and crop pests will run riot about the in land waters if their insect-eating wa ter fowl are allowed to become ex- tinct," said William Butcher, Presi- dent of the National Association of Audubon Societies at it's headquarters. Al Broadway, to-day. "Our wardens are doing a noble work in shielding the breeding birds from human harm; but the natural checks to bird life. such as storm hides. fogs. forest fires and cold storms during migration, operate each year to thin the ranks of the birds. The only way to offset the natural losses of bird life is to ex- tend this bird refuge work and pre- vent the activities of the commercial despOilerS"