Our Vanishing Wild Life: Its Extermination and Preservation

by William T. Hornaday

This volume is in every sense a contribution to a Cause; and as such it ever will remain. I wish the public to receive it on that basis. So much important material has drifted straight to it from other hands that this unexpected aid seems to the author like a good omen.

The manuscript has received the benefit of a close and critical reading and correcting by my comrade on the firing-line and esteemed friend, Mr. Madison Grant, through which the text was greatly improved. But for the splendid encouragement and assistance that I have received from him and from Professor Henry Fairneld Osborn the work involved would have borne down rather heavily.

The four chapters embracing the "New Laws Needed; A Roll-Call of the States," were critically inspected, corrected and brought down to date by Dr. T.S. Palmer, our highest authority on the game laws of the Nation and the States. For this valuable service the author is deeply grateful. Of course the author is alone responsible for all the opinions and conclusions herein recorded, and for all errors that appear outside of quotations.

I trust that the Reader will kindly excuse and forget all the typographic and clerical errors that may have escaped me in the rush that had to be made against Time.

University Heights, New York,	W.T.H.
December 1, 1912.

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CONTENTS

Part I.—Extermination
Chapter		Page
I.	Former Abundance Of Wild Life	[ 1 ]
II.	Extinct Species Of North American Birds	[ 7 ]
III.	The Next Candidates For Oblivion	[ 17 ]
IV.	Extinct And Nearly Extinct Species Of Mammals	[ 34 ]
V.	The Extermination Of Species, State By State	[ 42 ]
VI.	The Regular Army Of Destruction	[ 53 ]
VII.	The Guerrillas Of Destruction	[ 63 ]
VIII.	The Unseen Foes Of Wild Life	[ 73 ]
IX.	Destruction Of Wild Life By Diseases	[ 82 ]
X.	Destruction Of Wild Life By The Elements	[ 88 ]
XI.	Slaughter Of Song-Birds By Italians	[ 94 ]
XII.	Destruction Of Song-Birds By Southern Negroes And Poor Whites	[ 105 ]
XIII.	Extermination Of Birds For Women's Hats	[ 114 ]
XIV.	The Bird Tragedy On Laysan Island	[ 137 ]
XV.	Unfair Firearms And Shooting Ethics	[ 143 ]
XVI.	The Present And Future Of North American Big Game—I	[ 156 ]
XVII.	The Present And Future Of North American Big Game—II	[ 171 ]
XVIII.	The Present And Future Of African Game	[ 181 ]
XIX.	The Present And Future Of Game In Asia	[ 188 ]
XX.	Destruction Of Birds In The Far East. By C. William Beebe	[ 195 ]
XXI.	The Savage Viewpoint Of The GunneR	[ 203 ]
Part II.—Preservation
XXII.	Our Annual Losses By Insects	[ 208 ]
XXIII.	The Economic Value Of Birds	[ 213 ]
XXIV.	Game And Agriculture: Deer As A Food Supply	[ 234 ]
XXV.	Law And Sentiment As Factors In Preservation	[ 244 ]
XXVI.	The Army Of The Defense	[ 247 ]
XXVII.	How To Make A New Game Law	[ 258 ]
XXVIII.	New Laws Needed: A Roll-Call Of The States—I	[ 265 ]
XXIX.	New Laws Needed: A Roll-Call Of The States—II	[ 275 ]
XXX.	New Laws Needed: A Roll-Call Of The States—III	[ 283 ]
XXXI.	New Laws Needed: A Roll-Call Of The States—IV	[ 292 ]
XXXII.	Need For A Federal Migratory Bird Law, No-Sale-Of-Game Law, And Others	[ 304 ]
XXXIII.	Bringing Back The Vanished Birds And Game	[ 313 ]
XXXIV.	Introduced Species That Have Been Beneficial	[ 324 ]
XXXV.	Introduced Species That Have Become Pests	[ 330 ]
XXXVI.	National And State Game Preserves And Bird Refuges	[ 335 ]
XXXVII.	Game Preserves And Game Laws In Canada	[ 350 ]
XXXVIII.	Private Game Preserves	[ 358 ]
XXXIX.	British Game Preserves In Africa	[ 364 ]
XXL.	Breeding Game And Fur In Captivity	[ 369 ]
XLI.	Teaching Wild-Life Protection To The Young	[ 376 ]
XLII.	Ethics Of Sportsmanship	[ 382 ]
XLIII.	The Duty Of American Zoologists To American Wild Life	[ 386 ]
XLIV.	The Greatest Need Of The Cause; And The Duty Of The Hour	[ 393 ]
ILLUSTRATIONS
	The Folly of 1857 and the Lesson of 1912	[ Frontispiece ]
	Shall We Leave Any One of Them Open?	[ 6 ]
	Six Recently Exterminated North American Birds	[ 9 ]
	Sacred to the Memory of Exterminated Birds	[ 15 ]
	Whooping Cranes in the Zoological Park	[ 19 ]
	California Condor	[ 22 ]
	Primated Grouse, or "Prairie Chicken"	[ 25 ]
	Sage Grouse	[ 26 ]
	Snowy Egrets in the McIlhenny Preserve	[ 27 ]
	Wood-Duck	[ 29 ]
	Gray Squirrel	[ 32 ]
	Skeleton of a Rhytina	[ 36 ]
	Burchell's Zebra	[ 37 ]
	Thylacine, or Tasmanian Wolf	[ 38 ]
	West Indian Seal	[ 39 ]
	California Elephant Seal	[ 40 ]
	The Regular Army of Destruction	[ 55 ]
	G.O. Shields	[ 58 ]
	Two Gunners of Kansas City	[ 61 ]
	Why the Sandhill Crane is Becoming Extinct	[ 62 ]
	A Market Gunner at Work on Marsh Island	[ 64 ]
	Ruffed Grouse	[ 65 ]
	A Lawful Bag of Ruffed Grouse	[ 66 ]
	Snow Bunting	[ 68 ]
	A Hunting Cat and Its Victim	[ 76 ]
	Eastern Red Squirrel	[ 79 ]
	Cooper's Hawk	[ 80 ]
	Sharp-Shinned Hawk	[ 81 ]
	The Cat that Killed Fifty-eight Birds in One Year	[ 81 ]
	An Italian Roccolo on Lake Como	[ 95 ]
	Dead Song-Birds	[ 104 ]
	The Robin of the North	[ 107 ]
	The Mocking-Bird of the South	[ 107 ]
	Northern Robins Ready for Southern Slaughter	[ 108 ]
	Southern-Negro Method of Combing Out the Wild Life	[ 111 ]
	Beautiful and Curious Birds Destroyed for the Feather Trade—I	[ 115 ]
	Sixteen Hundred Hummingbirds at Two Cents Each	[ 116 ]
	Beautiful and Curious Birds Destroyed for the Feather Trade—II	[ 118 ]
	Beautiful and Curious Birds—III	[ 123 ]
	Fight in England Against the Use of Plumage	[ 128 ]
	Young Egrets, Unable to Fly, Starving	[ 132 ]
	Snowy Egret Dead on Her Nest	[ 132 ]
	Miscellaneous Bird Skins, Eight Cents Each	[ 135 ]
	Laysan Albatrosses, Before the Great Slaughter	[ 138 ]
	Laysan Albatross Rookery, After the Great Slaughter	[ 139 ]
	Acres of Gull and Albatross Bones	[ 140 ]
	Shed Filled with Wings of Slaughtered Birds	[ 141 ]
	Four of the Seven Machine Guns	[ 144 ]
	The Champion Game-Slaughter Case	[ 147 ]
	Slaughtered According to Law	[ 149 ]
	A Letter that Tells its Own Story	[ 151 ]
	The "Sunday Gun"	[ 154 ]
	The Prong-Horned Antelope	[ 160 ]
	Hungry Elk in Jackson Hole	[ 168 ]
	The Wichita National Bison Herd	[ 179 ]
	Pheasant Snares	[ 197 ]
	Pheasant Skins Seized at Rangoon	[ 198 ]
	Deadfall Traps in Burma	[ 199 ]
	One Morning's Catch of Trout near Spokane	[ 205 ]
	The Cut-Worm	[ 209 ]
	The Gypsy Moth	[ 211 ]
	Downy Woodpecker	[ 214 ]
	Baltimore Oriole	[ 217 ]
	Nighthawk	[ 218 ]
	Purple Martin	[ 219 ]
	Bob-White	[ 221 ]
	Rose-Breasted Grosbeak	[ 223 ]
	Barn Owl	[ 225 ]
	Golden-Winged Woodpecker	[ 227 ]
	Kildeer Plover	[ 230 ]
	Jacksnipe	[ 230 ]
	A Food Supply of White-Tailed Deer	[ 235 ]
	White-Tailed Deer	[ 239 ]
	Notable Protectors of Wild Life: Madison Grant, Henry Fairfield Osborn, John F. Lacey, and William Dutcher	[ 249 ]
	Notable Protectors: Forbush, Pearson, Burnham, Napier	[ 251 ]
	Notable Protectors: Phillips, Kalbfus, McIlhenny, Ward	[ 255 ]
	Band-Tailed Pigeon	[ 273 ]
	Six Wild Chipmunks Dine with Mr. Loring	[ 315 ]
	Chickadee, Tamed	[ 316 ]
	Chipmunk, Tamed	[ 316 ]
	Object Lesson in Bringing Back the Ducks	[ 317 ]
	Gulls and Terns of Our Coast	[ 321 ]
	Egrets and Herons in Sanctuary on Marsh Island	[ 363 ]
	Bird Day at Carrick, Pa	[ 379 ]
	Distributing Bird Boxes and Fruit Trees	[ 381 ]
MAPS
	The Wilderness of North America	[ 155 ]
	Former and Existing Ranges of the Elk	[ 164 ]
	Map Showing the Disappearance of the Lion	[ 183 ]
	States and Provinces Requiring Resident Licenses.	[ 303 ]
	Eighteen States Prohibit the Sale of Game	[ 307 ]
	Map Used in Campaign for Bayne Law	[ 309 ]
	United States National Game Preserves	[ 339 ]
	Bird Reservations on the Gulf Coast and Florida	[ 349 ]
	Marsh Island and Adjacent Preserves	[ 361 ]
	Most Important Game Preserves of Africa	[ 366 ]

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OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE