Destruction of Bird Life.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 July 1911, Page 4

Destruction of Bird Life.

Thirty years ago there ■\vcre millions of white herons in the United States. To-day only a few colonies guarded hy armed warders, are-left "When the egrets of China had been exterminated dfcalers fell (hack on Venezuela, where they kill between a million and two million 'birds a year. So, too, the mills and terns on the east coast of America have been practically exterminated, and the present bird reservations have probably como too late. Some years ago there was a rage for humming birds in hats. While that fashion was at its height one- dealer received from . the' West Indies 400,000 skins in a year. Several species were swept out of existence before the fashion changed. The 'bird of paradise has almost disappeared ; previous to 1907 two Chinese traders w-ere exporting 12,000 skins every three months. Seabirds, likewise, fell a victim to the 'hunter; albatross wings are collected hy the hundred thousand, and tho albatross is by no moans a prolific bird. - . - - ' ,'r - i