seriously
discussed.

The shore-birds must be saved; and just at present it seems that the
only persons who will do it are those who are _not_ sportsmen, and who
never kill game! If the sportsmen persist in refusing to act, to them we
must appeal.

Besides the woodcock and snipe, the species that are most seriously
threatened with extinction at an early date are the following:

SPECIES IN GREAT DANGER

Willet _Catoptrophorus semipalmatus_
Dowitcher _Macrorhamphus griseus_
Knot: Red-Breasted Sandpiper _Tryngites subruficollis_
Upland Plover _Bartramia longicauda_
Golden Plover _Charadrius dominicus_
Pectoral Sandpiper _Pisobia maculata_

Of these fine species, Mr. Forbush, whose excellent knowledge of the
shore birds of the Atlantic coast is well worth the most serious
consideration, says that the upland plover, or Bartramian sandpiper, "is
in imminent danger of extinction. Five reports from localities where
this bird formerly bred give it as nearing extinction, and four as
extinct. This is one of the most useful of all birds in grass land,
feeding largely on grasshoppers and cutworms.... There is no difference
of opinion in regard to the diminution of the shore birds; the reports
from all quarters are the same. It is noteworthy that practically all
observers agree that, considering all species, these birds have fallen
off about 75 per cent within twenty-five to forty years, and that
several species are nearly extirpated."

[Illustration: THE GRAY SQUIRREL, A FAMILIAR FRIEND WHEN PROTECTED]

In 1897 when the Zoological Society published my report on the
"Extermination of Our Birds and Mammals," we put down the decrease in
the volume of bird life in Massachusetts during the previous fifteen
years at twenty-seven per cent. The later and more elaborate
investigations of Mr. Forbush have satisfactorily vindicated the
accuracy of that estimate.

There are other North American birds that easily might be added to the
list of those now on the road to oblivion; but surely the foregoing
citations are sufficient to reveal the present desperate conditions of
our bird life in general. Now the question is: What are the great
American people going to do about it?

THE GRAY SQUIRREL.--The gray squirrel is in danger of extermination.
Although it is our most beautiful and companionable small wild animal,
and really unfit