KILLING EIDER DUCKS.

Forest and Bird, Issue 21, 1 July 1930, Page 13

KILLING EIDER DUCKS.

We note in a Maine paper that a prominent Bostonian, dealer in automobiles, has been fined 2,700 dollars (£556) in Portland for having in his possession ninety eider ducks, killed in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. These birds are protected at all times because of their value as producers of a fine quality of down, which is taken from the nest without interfering with the increase of the species. The female replaces the lining that has been purloined, and proceeds to raise her family as if nothing had happened. To the inhabitants of the Labrador Coast, who jealously guard the birds from harm, the eider is thus a source of income in a land where living is hard. Besides the fact that the bird is of economic importance as a live bird, the eider is not a sporty duck, and the motive back of this act of vandalism is a mystery. It would seem that to some person the opportunity to kill a bird whose taking is denied to law-abiding citizens is a temptation difficult to resist. This incident, however, should serve as a warning to those who think they can violate a beneficent statute with impunity, that sentiment for the protection of our birds is becoming a vital force. When this feeling shall have become general a new era in wild life protection will be born. —American Nature Magazine.