Page 50 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

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OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
land. By 1900 it was an established success. To-day 20,000 pairs of egrets and herons are living and breeding in that bird refuge, and the two egret species are safe in at least one spot in our own country.
Three years ago, I think there were not many bird-lovers in the United States, who believed it possible to prevent the total extinction ofbothegretsfromourfauna. Alltheknownrookeriesaccessibleto plume-huntershadbeentotallydestroyed. Twoyearsago,thesecret discovery of several small, hidden colonies prompted William Dutcher, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies, and Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary, to attempt the protection of those colonies. With a fund contributed for the purpose, wardens were hired and duly commissioned. As previously stated, one of those wardens was shotdeadincoldbloodbyaplumehunter. Thetaskofguardingswamp rookeries from the attacks of money-hungry desperadoes to whom the accursed plumes were worth their weight in gold, is a very chancy pro- ceeding. ThereisnowonewardeninFloridawhosaysthat"beforethey get my rookery they will first have to get me."
Thus far the protective work of the Audubon Association has been successful. Nowtherearetwentycolonies,whichcontainalltold,about 5,000 egrets and about 120,000 herons and ibises which are guarded by theAudubonwardens. OneofthemostimportantisonBirdIsland,a mile out in Orange Lake, central Florida, and it is ably defended by Oscar E. Baynard. To-day, the plume hunters who do not dare to raid the guarded rookeries are trying to study out the lines of flight of the birds, to and from their feeding-grounds, and shoot them in transit. Their motto is—"Anything to beat the law, and get the plumes." It is there that the state of Florida should take part in the war.
The success of this campaign is attested by the fact that last year a
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The Wood-Duck {Aix sponsa), by many bird-lovers regarded as the most beautiful of all American birds, is threatened with extinction in all the states that it still inhabits with the exception of eight. Long ago (1901) the U. S. Biological Survey sounded a general alarm for this species by the issue of a special bulletin regarding its disappearance, and advisingitsprotectionbylongcloseseasons. Totheireverlastinghonor, eightstatesresponded,bytheenactmentoflongclose-seasonlaws. This- is the
for the first time in many years. And so to-day the question is, can the wardens con-
number of egrets were seen in eastern Massachusetts,
tinue to hold the plume-hunters at bay ?
Roll of Honor
Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire
New Jersey New York Vermont West Virginia