The preservation of animal and plant life, and of the general beauty
of Nature, is one of the foremost duties of the men and women of
to-day. It is an imperative duty, because it must be performed at
once, for otherwise it will be too late. Every possible means of
preservation,--sentimental, educational and legislative,--must be
employed.

The present warning issues with no uncertain sound, because this great
battle for preservation and conservation cannot be won by gentle tones,
nor by appeals to the aesthetic instincts of those who have no sense of
beauty, or enjoyment of Nature. It is necessary to sound a loud alarm,
to present the facts in very strong language, backed up by irrefutable
statistics and by photographs which tell no lies, to establish the law
and enforce it if needs be with a bludgeon.

This book is such an alarm call. Its forceful pages remind me of the
sounding of the great bells in the watch-towers of the cities of the
Middle Ages which called the citizens to arms to protect their homes,
their liberties and their happiness. It is undeniable that the welfare
and happiness of our own and of all future generations of Americans are
at stake in this battle for the preservation of Nature against the
selfishness, the ignorance, or the cruelty of her destroyers.

We no longer destroy great works of art. They are treasured, and
regarded as of priceless value; but we have yet to attain the state of
civilization where the destruction of a glorious work of Nature, whether
it be a cliff, a forest, or a species of mammal or bird, is regarded
with equal abhorrence. The whole earth is a poorer place to live in when
a colony of exquisite egrets or birds of paradise is destroyed in order
that the plumes may decorate the hat of some lady of fashion, and