Our Vanishing Wild Life Part 9

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND:

(Reported by E.T. Carbonell): Eskimo curlew, horned grebe, ring-billed gull, Caspian tern, pa.s.senger pigeon, Wilson's petrel, wood-duck, Barrow's golden-eye, whistling swan, American eider, white-fronted goose, purple sandpiper, Canada grouse, long-eared owl, screech owl, black-throated bunting, pine warbler, red-necked grebe, purple martin and catbird; beaver, black fox, silver gray fox, marten and black bear.

QUEBEC:

Pigeon.

SASKATCHEWAN:

Pigeon; bison.

BIRDS AND MAMMALS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION

The second question submitted in my inquiry produced results even more startling than the first. None of the persons reporting can be regarded as alarmists, but some of the lists of species approaching extinction are appallingly long. To their observations I add other notes and observations of interest at this time.

ALABAMA:

Wood-duck, snowy egret, woodc.o.c.k. "The worst enemy of wild life is the pot-hunter and game hog. These wholesale slaughterers of game resort to any device and practice, it matters not how murderous, to accomplish the pernicious ends of their nefarious campaign of relentless extermination of fur and feather. They cannot be controlled by local laws, for these after having been tried for several generations have proven consummate failures, for the reason that local authorities will not enforce the provisions of game and bird protective statutes. Experience has demonstrated the fact that no one desires to inform voluntarily on his neighbors, and since breaking the game law is not construed to involve moral turpitude, even to an infinitesimal degree, by many of our citizens, the plunderers of nature's storehouse thus go free, it matters not how great the damage done to the people as a whole."--(John H.

Wallace, Jr., Game Commissioner of Alabama.)

ALASKA:

Thanks to geographic and climatic conditions, the Alaskan game laws and $15,000 with which to enforce them, the status of the wild life of Alaska is fairly satisfactory. I think that at present no species is in danger of extinction in the near future. When it was pointed out to Congress in 1902, by Madison Grant, T.S. Palmer and others that the wild life of Alaska was seriously threatened, Congress immediately enacted the law that was recommended, and now appropriates yearly a fair sum for its enforcement. I regard the Alaskan situation as being, for so vast and difficult a region, reasonably well in hand, even though open to improvement.

There is one fatal defect in our Alaskan game law, in the perpetual and sweeping license to kill, that is bestowed upon "natives" and "prospectors." Under cover of this law, the Indians can slaughter game to any extent they choose; and they are great killers. For example: In 1911 at Sand Point, Kenai Peninsula, Frank E. Kleinchmidt saw 82 caribou tongues in the boat of a native, that had been brought in for sale at 50 cents, while the carca.s.ses were left where they fell, to poison the air of Alaska. Thanks to the game law, and five wardens, the number of big game animals killed last year in Alaska by sportsmen was reasonably small,--just as it should have been.--(W.T.H.)

ARIZONA:

During an overland trip made by Dr. MacDougal and others in 1907 from Tucson to Sonoyta, on the international boundary, 150 miles and back again, we saw not one antelope or deer.--(W.T.H.)

CALIFORNIA:

Swan, white heron, bronze ibis. California valley quail are getting very scarce, and unless adequate protection is afforded them shortly, they will be found hereafter only in remote districts. Ducks also are decreasing rapidly.--(H.W. Keller, Los Angeles.)

Sage grouse and Columbian sharp-tailed grouse are so nearly extinct that it may practically be said that they _are_ extinct. Among species likely to be exterminated in the near future are the wood-duck and band-tailed pigeon.--(W.P. Taylor, Berkeley.)

COLORADO:

Sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse; nearly all the sh.o.r.e birds.

CONNECTICUT:

All the sh.o.r.e birds; quail, purple martin.

DELAWARE:

Wood duck, upland plover, least tern, Wilson tern, roseate tern, black skimmer, oystercatcher, and numerous other littoral species. Pileated woodp.e.c.k.e.rs, bald eagles and all the ducks are much more rare than formerly. Swan are about gone, geese scarce. The list of ducks, geese and sh.o.r.e-birds, as well as of terns and gulls that are nearing extinction is appalling.--(C.J. Pennock, Wilmington.)

Wood-duck, woodc.o.c.k, turtle dove and bob-white.--(A.R. Spaid, Wilmington.)

FLORIDA:

Limpkin, ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r, wild turkey (?).

GEORGIA:

Ruffed grouse, wild turkey.

IDAHO:

Harlequin duck, mountain plover, dusky grouse, Columbian sharp-tailed grouse, sage grouse. Elk, goats and grizzly bears are becoming very scarce. Of the smaller animals I have not seen a fisher for years, and marten are hardly to be found. The same is true of other species.--(Dr.

Charles S. Moody, Sand Point.)

ILLINOIS:

Pinnated grouse, except where rigidly protected. In Vermillion County, by long and persistent protection Harvey J. Sconce has bred back upon his farm about 400 of these birds.

INDIANA:

Pileated woodp.e.c.k.e.r, woodc.o.c.k, ruffed grouse, pigeon hawk, duck hawk.--(Amos W. Butler, Indianapolis.)

In northern and northwestern Indiana, a perpetual close season and rigid protection have enabled the almost-extinct pinnated grouse to breed up to a total number now estimated by Game Commissioner Miles and his wardens at 10,000 birds. This is a gratifying ill.u.s.tration of what can be done in bringing back an almost-vanished species. The good example of Indiana should be followed by every state that still possesses a remnant of prairie-chickens, or other grouse.

IOWA:

Pinnated grouse, wood-duck. Notwithstanding an invasion of Jasper County, Iowa, in the winter of 1911-12 by hundreds of pinnated grouse, such as had not been known in 20 years, this gives no ground to hope that the future of the species is worth a moment's purchase. The winter migration came from the Dakotas, and was believed to be due to the extra severe winter, and the scarcity of food. Commenting on this unprecedented occurrence, J.L. Sloanaker in the "Wilson Bulletin" No.

78, says:

"In the opinion of many, the formerly abundant prairie chicken is doomed to early extinction. Many will testify to their abundance in those years [in South Dakota, 1902] when the great land movement was taking place.

The influx of hungry settlers, together with an occasional bad season, decimated their ranks. They were eaten by the farmers, both in and out of season. Driven from pillar to post, with no friends and insufficient food,--what else then can be expected?"

Mr. F.C. Pellett, of Atlantic, Iowa, says: "Unless ways can be devised of rearing these birds in the domestic state, the prairie hen in my opinion is doomed to early extinction."

The older inhabitants here say that there is not one song-bird in summer where there used to be ten.--(G.H. Nicol, in _Outdoor Life_ March, 1912.)

KANSAS:

To all of those named in my previous list that are not actually extinct, I might add the prairie hen, the lesser prairie hen, as well as the prairie sharp-tailed grouse and the wood-duck. Such water birds as the avocets, G.o.dwits, greater yellow-legs, long-billed curlew and Eskimo curlew are becoming very rare. All the water birds that are killed as game birds have been greatly reduced in numbers during the past 25 years. I have not seen a wood-duck in 5 years. _The prairie chicken_ has entirely disappeared from this locality. A few are still seen in the sand hills of western Kansas, and they are still comparatively abundant along the extreme southwestern line, and in northern Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle.--(C.H. Smyth, Wichita.)

Yellow-legged plover, golden plover; Hudsonian and Eskimo curlew, prairie chicken.--(James Howard, Wichita.)

LOUISIANA:

Ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r, b.u.t.terball, bufflehead. The wood-duck is greatly diminis.h.i.+ng every year, and if not completely protected, ten years hence no wood-duck will be found in Louisiana.--(Frank M. Miller, and G.E. Beyer, New Orleans.)

Ivory-billed woodp.e.c.k.e.r, sandhill crane, whooping crane, pinnated grouse, American and snowy egret where unprotected.--(E.A. McIlhenny, Avery Island.)