The
Newfoundlanders and other strangers gather all the eggs they see, put
them into water, and throw away every one that floats. Thus many more
bird lives are destroyed than eggs are eaten or sold, because schooners
appear towards the end of the regular laying season, when most of the
eggs are about to hatch out--and these are the ones that float. But even
greater destruction is done when a schooner stays several days in the
same place. For then the crew go round, first smashing every egg they
see, and afterwards gathering every egg they see, because they know the
few they find the second time must have been newly laid.
Many details were given of other forms of destruction, and some details
of the revolting cruelties practised there, as in every other place
where wild life is grossly abused instead of being sanely used. All
classes of legitimate human interest were dealt with in turn; and it
was shown that the present system--or want of system--was bad for each
one: bad for such wild life as must still be used for necessary food,
bad for every kind of business in the products of wild life, bad for the
future of sport, bad for the pursuits of science, and bad for the
prospects of wild "zoos".
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25