Soh
FD oF THE TRA
DRONE HOR AVTZLOPE
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
NOTHER American has
reached the end of the trail
From Martha's Vineyard off
of Massachuselts
heath
t BR
another
native almost
the
word
the
coast COMPS
that
tinction tha
took
passenger
the hen is fachig ex
fow
American
years ago os er
bird the
all
the rapid-
pigeon Despite the
efforts that have been made to preserve
ly decreasing numbers of this species of grouse
(“or the conservation of which more than 360.000
already has been spent), the heath hen seems to
be doomed. Martha's Vineyard is the only place
in the world where it can be found and it is be
lieved that there are now only about twenty speci
mens of the bird left on the island, a decrease of
fifteen from last year.
The story of the heath hen Is a tragic but by
no means an unusual one in a country which has
hecome notorious for its prodigality in wasting its
natural resources. In many respects it is similar
to the story of the passenger pigeon whose num-
bers were at ore time so countless that no one
pelleved that they could ever be entirely killed
off. So an appalling slaughter of the birds went
on for vears until a passenger pigeon hecame a
rarity and before sportsmen and bird lovers
realized it, It was too late to save the species
from extinetion. The last surviver died in the
Cincinnati Zeslogical gardens in 1014. These birds,
once so numerous that within the memory of
thousands of persons now living their flight liter
ally “darkened the sky.” were wiped out of exist-
once in a little more than two decades!
A hundred and fifty years ago the heath hen
was one of the principal game birds of New Eng-
tand and the middle Atlantic states. It was dis
tributed from Cape Ann to Virginia and it was
especially abundant in the lowlands of Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut and Long island. When the
early settlers began to cut off the forests the
decline of the heath hen started. Its straight
unswerving flight made It an easy target for the
hunter in the open, and it was shot and trapped
at all seasons, The spread of civilization and the
Increasing number of cats and dogs which killed
its young further decimated the heath hen until
it was practically extinet on the mainland and the
few left were on Martha's Vineyard, Apparently
no measures were taken for its protection until
this time, but on account of the scareity of preda:
tory animals on the island, the strict fire patrol
and the legislative measures which were finally
taken to save the birds, the heath hen seemed to
have a good chance to increase in numbers,
Such has not been the case, however, Twenty
yours ago there were about fifteen hundred birds
on the Island, By 1924 that number hpd shrunk to
less than fifty. Last year the census taken by
Prof. Alfred Gross of Bowdoin college, one of
the foremost ornithologists in the country, showed
that there were only thirty-five left, and now bird
lovers of New England are alarmed to learn that
this pitiful remnant apparently has been still
further reduced In spite of all the efforts that
have been made to save them.
The heath hen closely resembles the western
prairie chicken, It Is a light reddish brown above,
barred with black and buff. At the sides of the
neck there are tufts of black feathers, on each
side 1s an orange-colored suc and over each
eye Is un small orange-colored comb. Like the
pratrie chicken it hag the curious habit of “boom-
ing” early in the spring each year, This call Is
gaid to be similar to the whistle of a distant tug-
pout in a fog. It heralds the mating season and Is
a preliminary to and a part of what has been
described as “the strangest sight ever seen
m the
At daybreak the heath her
jancing grounds, which
picked out In advance,
n series of antl
iT
they
and thee
watcl
for the heath
how foot
beings to
would be
run, jump
pastime, Their sh
their backs. the
stiffly at different mm
ns no doubt
ort talls are
black ned
gles until at
directly forward over the crested head
ears of a
up
fack.-rabbit. Their breasts
and the alr sacs are distended wm
looks almost twice his natural siz
backward and forward, flapping thelr wing
from their
cackles,
Often, two birds
they are
motionless
fight, but
throats
clocks,
come a series of
and
run toward each
chuckles laughing
will
heak
for several
or the part,
in tooting and ing. The n
usually lasts until the sun is high in
then the birds hack
the 5.000 acres of scrub oak
island which they frequent,
out to repeat
other 1
almost to henk Then they remain
minutes. Sometimes they
most their time Is spent
dane orning dance
the sky and
of
center of the
scuttle into the re
in the
Somet
Pau
imes they come
thelr dance again just after sunset,
If the efforts to save the heath hen are unsuc-
cessful it will be a tragle recurrence of the
which overtook the passenger pigeon, although the
fate
ruthless slaughter of these birds is a more shame
ful record to be laid at the of Americans
than will be their fallure to the hen
The destruction of the pigeons began within forty
years after the first New Eng-
door
save heath
geottiers came to
LOOOOOOGGO0OSGOGOC0CEDDODO000T
The End of the Trail
Far to the west the vanished herds they
followed
And came at last unto the journey’s end;
Naught have they found save bones where
bisons wallowed,
& Naught now Is theirs—nor food, nor fire,
nor friend.
Pony and man alike completely weary,
Even the rainbow hope at last long fled;
Sadly they face a darkness cold and dreary,
Broken, they seek the company of the
dead. -M. Beatrice Sumner,
SOSGOOGOAGOSNGGOGOROTO000
oo
land, and for the next two hundred years the
killing continued. Finally, In 1878 the birds, hav-
ing been driven by persecution tron: Many states,
concentrated in a few localities in Michigan, and
it was during the next two decades that the whole
sale slaughter which wiped them out of existence
took place, The last important nesting place of
the passenger pigeon was near Petoskey, in Em-
met county, Michigan, There, in 1881, an army of
five thousand men gathered for civilization's at
tack on the defenceless birds which had come
there to rear their young. The attack continued
from March until August and daring this period of
twenty weeks It is estimated that one billion birds
were killed and shipped from this and neighbor-
ing nesting places, |
One morning America woke up to find that the
passenger pigeon was virtually extinct, It became
go rare that prizes were offered for the discovery
of a single specimen, The last individual definitely
recorded In a wild state was captured at Bar
Harbor, Maine, in 1804, In various zoological gar.
dens a few Individusls were preserved. David
Whittaker of Milwaukee, Wis, procured a palr
of young birds from an Indian in that state in
1888, and during the next eight years these in-
creased to fifteen, By 1008, however, only seven
of this number had survived, and at last only one,
a female, was left, This bird, known as “Martha,”
was sent to the Cincinnati zoo and there she be
came famous as the last of the race,
Since the death of “Martha” persons in various
parts of the country have reported from time to
time the discovery of passenger pigeons, but in
a
:
:
:
:
|
*
A FULL-ANILERED FLAK
every
had
which Is {
i And so d
ne for
rage It has turned out
seen sowe other
ment
ens
hut the passenge
existence thentic
y he nledd, No
single anu
the next
BR Dewsp g that one of
has heen seen
The
IS
bird which
the passen
wera] other
tion. One of
wn, the
prairie chicken. Only a few ) ago the booming
of these 1
the
irds was still to be ard everywhere Ir
prairies of the Middle and the
of the Plains
i« becoming rare, a1 d
not Dow seen
easiern
Great this
chicken does
danger of extinction certainly
that 1
so greatly reduced
American
been
Vanishing
Not only in the bird world, but In the animal
Ameri
There was a time when the buffalo was =o numer
that, of the
pigeon, Americans would have scoffed at the idea
that this noble animal
of extinction Ro
world as well there are Vanishing ans
ous just as in the case passenger
could ever be In danger
long as the buffalo killed
the food needs of the Indian
was
only to supply
first white
no danger,
scene, Again
native Americans headed for oblivion.
of the eighties, the last wild herd of buffalo had
been killed off and, of all the countless mililons
that once roamed the plains, only a few scaltering
herds In private game parke and public preserves
wore left Fortunately public was
aroused just In time and, due to the efforts of
several conservation societies during the first part
of the present century, the bison was saved. There
are now enough of these animals in Canada and
the United States to guarantee thelr preservation
and in recent years they have actually increased
to such an extent that there has been an over
crowding on the avallable space which mankind
has grudgingly allotted to them,
The settling up of the last West and the Increas-
ing number of farms which replaced the open
range of the cattle man's day have threatened the
existence of two other species of animals-—the
wapiti or elk and the prong horn antelope, It
must be sald to the eredit of Americans, however,
who waited until It was almost too late before
they set about to save the buffale from annihila-
tion, that they have taken a lesson from this
experience and have taken the “eceasary steps
to prevent the history of the elk and the prong
horn from being a repetition of that of the hisen,
Perhaps it Is not strictly accurate to include
the buffalo, the elk and the antelope, the heath
hen and the prairie chicken in the same category
as the passenger pigeon, ag has been done in this
article. But the fact remains that they, like
the Indian, are vanishing races, Of course, gov-
ernment authorities will tell you differently ahout
the Indian and point to the fact that he is not
only holding his own, but Is actually increasing
in numbers, That is true If you take into account
the fact that many persons having more white
blood than Indian in their veins are called Indians,
But In the truest sense df the word, the old.
time Indian in all his former glory as a pletur.
esque war-bonneted nomad and “first-class fightin’
man” in the magnificent pageant of the American
frontier is a Vanishing American. He belongs to
the past, the past of the wilderness era, ns do the
buffalo, the elk, the antelope, the passenger
pigeon, the heath hen and the prairie chicken,
What if there still are enough individuals of each
so that the cbhnquering white man can point to
them and say “See, they are not yet EXTINCT
For they are following the Indian Into the sunset,
and James Fraser's “End of the Trail” is sym-
bolical of them all, They ARE Vanishing Americans.
the settlers on Its ranges, there
Then the hide hunter came ug the
pon
two decades saw another race of
iy the end
sentiment
i
i
|
i
PERFECTLY SAFE
Youthful Mother-in-Law — George
foesn't kiss you good-by every morn
ing, 1
Twentieth Century Wife—Mamimna,
you can't ask much of a man!
George 18 a bit absent-minded, but he
always makes up for it, He'll kiss his
stenographer instead, when he gets to
the office
Mother-in-Law
notice,
{no
jut surely you don’t
him to kiss his stenographer!
Why not, mamma? It's a man,
Humor.
Wife
More Swag
“Martha,” a farmer who had driven
into town phoned to wife, “an
automobile load of robbers just held
up the city bank and they're headed
out our way. Don't outdoors.”
“I'll have te,” was the frantic reply.
“Your Sunday shirt’s hanging out on
the line in plain sight"—Country
Gentleman.
his
go
THE POUTER PIGEON
“You must be a maire or some
thing the way you're all puffed up”
“No, I was born this way!”
Slinging Mud
My dad to say
“When people sling mud
used
of shame oF
blame
Let
And
it dry a little while
off clean”
A Future Highbrow
little boy
ther will brush
He and
counter
was a solemn
ion room,
one of
shall It
said
attendants, “what book
today?”
“Osh ¢
something about life,” returned
the little fellow philosophicaliy.—Bos-
ton Transcript
Admits of No Rivalry
“1 dont know
Robert or not”
“Does he piay golf?
whether to Ing
ArTy
“1 should say he does. He's an ex.
pert at it"
“hen | shouldn't marry him; he has
"
selected his life
interest
His Impression
Pollceman—What did the
weapon look like?
Vietim—It looked like a
siz inches in diameter,
NOT A CROWD
bandit's
hole about
“You sald you had room for one |
“Yes, lady, but only one more”
Day Lost
Count that day lost
Descending sun
Pindes not some greyhound
Race course begun,
whose low
Such a Sweet Girl
“It was so funny.” said the Gushing
Young Thing, “I just thought I should |
die!” {
“Well,” asked the Social Wet |
Blanket, “why did you change your |
mind?”
Small Boy—What's leisure, daddy?
His father—lelsure, my son, Is two
minutes’ rest a man get's while his
wife ia hunting up something else for
him to do,
You'd Be Surprised
Car Salesman~-This car has all the
atest attachments, This, for instance,
is the trouble light,
Binks—Humph! That doesn’t inter
est me.
Car Salesman—Oh, you'll use it oft
en, sir!
Yes, Indeed!
He-I've got something to tell you
«but I den't know how to start
She—Well, If 1 said “yes” would
that help yout—London Passing Show,
Persuasion
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er's going to give us
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= Horse's Odd “Pickup”
Warren E
A horse belonging to
accountable manner picked up a gold
and it became S50
the calk that it
was
did some
on its shoe,
firmly embedded In
seen when Mr. White
plowing with the horse,
Dawdling Process
“What ao you think of evolution?
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—PBoston Transcript.
akes Out
all pain instantly