Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1913-04-26
AMERICAN BIRDS
NEARLY EXTINCT

Only Long Closed Seasons will Save
Wild Life Of the Country, 10 ExPsrts'
osstruetien OF inject Eaters
I Causing Big Loss 70 Farmsrs-Star.
tlina Facts Prsss ntsd.
That American birds. like the Amerl-
Fan bison. soon will be extinct unless
Immediate measures are taken for
their protection is the prediction OF an
Investigator who recently set forth bis
views in the Chicago I.ecord-Herald.
OrnithoIogists and sportsmen for
several years have been calling atten-
ton to the same fact and have repeat
eddy pointed out that better game laws
must be passed and rigidly enforced
IL we are to save the wild life of our
country.
The robins. whose arrival in the
north IL considered one OF the first au-
thentir signs OF spring. are heing
! slaughtered by tens Of thousands every
year. authorities say. In fact. no bird.
from humming bird to eagle. is safe
/ IrOu1 tUe craze 10 XII.
! As for the so called game birds. the
ducks and snipe and prairie chickens.
| they are already so source that their
busy haunts OF twenty years ago are
silent and deserted today. Some species
are already extinct. and many others
are almost gone. vet the sportsmen
who make our game laws refuse to
save any OF the vanishing species by
the only possible neans-a long closed
season. Emerson Houch. who Is n
citizen first and a sportsman after
ward. frankly writes:
"Omr game laws have failed. and we
know they have failed Our game is
almost gone. and we know it IL al
most gone America has cha ngeti. and
VIC know 1t has changed. although We
have not changed with 1t. We have
handled orr game in n wholly greedy,
INSCRIPTIONS and selfish fashion. This
has been our policy as a nation"
Loss to Farmers.
The game OF North America does not
belong exclusively to the men who kill
The other 81 per cent of the people
have vested rights In it far exceeding
those Of the ? per cent
Farmers are alrendy suffering mil
lions OF loss from insects that used to
be kept within bounds by the quai!
and other birds. Yet ut the present
moment we are permitting the cxter-
mination OF our finest species Of birds.
mammals and fishes according to
law"
There Is not a single state in our
country" says William 7. Hornaday.
director Of the New York geological
park. from which the killabie game
is not being rapidly and persistently
shot to death. legally or illegally. very
much more rapidly than It is breeding.
with the determination OF most Of it
In sight. We bave reached the point
where the alternatives are long closed
seasons or gameiess continent. and
we must choose one or the other speed
lily"
Startling Facts Cited.
Mr.. Hornaday has written book.
"Our Vanishing Wild Life" in which
he sets forth some startling facts
Here are some figures be compiled:
In 1860 pot hunters in Hartford.
Mich. shipped three carloads OF dead
passenger pigeons to market each day
for forty days. making a total OF H.
SSO.UO birds Another Michigan town
marketed 15.S4O.OOO in two years.
Today the passenger pigeon IS total
" extinct save for one lonely female
bird twenty years old in the Cincin-
natti geological gardens. The greed OF
man has wiped it from the face OF the
earth. aud. like the great nuk. It must
be numbered with the dead species.
Other species that have been exter-
minated in our own day are the Lab
rador duck. the pnilas cormorant. the
Eskimo cnrlew. the Cuban inacaw. the
Carolina parrakeet and the yellow
winged green parrot.
Mr.. Hornaday names more than
twenty-five other North American
birds that are threatened with early
ex termination. He says it is already
too late to save the stately white
whooping crane and the trumpeter
swan. Three Of the most beautiful
and curious water haunting uTuS u
the southern United States-the Ia
mingo. scarlet ibis and roseate spoon
bill-are doomed unless the European
feather trade can be stopped from,
having them shot into total oblivion.
The upland plover black capped petrol
aud California condor are about gone
The wood duck. one Of the most ex'
qnisitely plumaged birds in America.
Is threatened with extinction. Yet
many states are actually encouraging
It's destruction by giving extra long
open Seasons for the killing Of this
species.
Birds Were Shipped.
For forty years the marshes. prai-
lies, farms and streams of the whole
upper Mississippi valley bnve been
cUmbed over year after year BY the
guns of the market shooter.
Often the migratory game was To-
Gated by telegraphic reports. Game
birds were slain By the wagon load.
tno%iooA harroi and IN rlo8d s.fOr the