A War of ExterminationSource: The American Naturalist, Vol. 32, No. 378 (Jun., 1898), p. 429Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of NaturalistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2452558 .

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EDITORIALS.

A War of Extermination. -The Second Annual Report of the New York Zoological Society contains a graphic and startling report on anr inquiry into the destruction of our native birds and mammals, made by Mr. W. T. Hornaday, the Director of the Society's Park. Observers in every state and territory were asked whether a decrease of these animals was noticeable in their locality, and, if so, what the causes were and which species were most affected. From nearly two hundred replies the conclusion is drawn that, in the thirty states reporting a decrease, there is a diminution in the number of birds, as compared with fifteen years ago, of fifty per cent. The results concerning mammals are equally startling, and the list of the better- known mammals on the verge of extinction includes seventeen species. The replies indicate that sportsmen, boys who shoot and who collect eggs, market hunters, and milliner's hunters are chiefly to blame. The most outrageous perversion of the sportsmen's instinct is seen in the atrocious " side hunts," in which a graded count is put on all the different kinds of birds and mammals killed, such as squirrels, chip- munks, chipping sparrows, nuthatches, blue jays, and woodpeckers. In one of these " side hunts " forty adult men secured in a few hours 2 12 gray squirrels, 2io red squirrels, 56 partridges, 25 blue jays, 41 woodpeckers, 6 owls, and so on; altogether 565 active, beautiful wild animals slaughtered in one day in one locality to make counts ! Truly there is only one other mammal with which such men can be com- pared, and that is the tiger, which kills not for food, but for the love of killing. This is an evil which must be cured at once, or the remedy will be applied too late. Societies, sportsmen's clubs, and legislatures are beginning to make feeble attempts at control; but a more thoroughgoing, far-reaching organization is necessary to secure uniform action throughout all the states regulating the destruction of wild animals and providing for an enforcement of the laws. In the absence of such legislation, circulars cannot be relied on to influence " sportsmen " so thoughtless of the practical needs of agriculture as well as the equally important esthetic needs of human beings who love nature. Personal influence must be exerted everywhere by friends of the cause to save the remnant of our mammalian and avian fauna. As a campaign document get the Report from Mr. Hornaday, 69 Wall Street, New York City.

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