The Daily spy., 1850-07-15
THE YALUE OF BIRDS.



SPoRTsMEN, BEWARE. The last Legislature
enacted that it shall not be lawful in the State of
New jersey for any person TO shoot or ia any other
manner to kill or destroy, except on his prem-
ses any of the following description of birds the
night or mosquito hawk, chimney swallow, martin
or swift, whip-poorwill, cuckoo, kingbird, or bee
martin, woodpecker, claip highhole, catbird,
wren, buebird, meadow lark, brown thresher, dove,
hrebrd, or summer redbird, hanging bird, ground
robbln or chewink, boblink rice bird, robbn,
snow or chipping bird, blue Jay, and the small owl
The penalty is five dollars for each offence, OIL for
the destruction of the eggs of such birds-Iribune
What's a bird good for What dainty sentimen-
taism has set a Legislature at such enactments p
Not SO fast. Although we should greatly respect
Legislature that had the humanity to think of birds
among other constituents bipeds yet experience has
taught farmers and gardeners the economic value of
birds.
There are no such indefatigable entomologists as
birds. Audubon and Wilson never hunted for spec
linen birds with the perseverance that birds them
selves exhibit in their researches. They depasure
In the air, penetrate every nook and corner or thick
ct, hedge and shrubbery; they search the bark,
pierce the dead wood lean the surface of the soil
watch for the spade trench, and follow the furrow
after worms and larve. A Single bird in one season
destroys millions of insects for lis own food and for
insects which birds devour. We do not think of
another scene more insprtng than the plowing sea-
son, In this respect. Bluebrds are in the tops of
trees practising the scale; crows are cawng as they
aziy swing through the air toward their companions
In the tops Of distant dead and dry trees robins and
blackblrds are wide awake, searching every clod
that the plow turns, and venturesome almost TO the
farmer heels Even boys relent, and seem touch
ed by the birds appeal to their confidence, and un-
a SOnal truIt5 hi IL
gin to appear, the buffoon among BIRDS and half sing
and half f@sle. How our young blood sparkled
amid such scenes, we could not tell why ; neither
why we cried without sorrow or laughed without
mHth, but only from vague sympathy with that
which was beautiful and Joyous.
Were there ever such neat scavengers, Were
there ever such nimble hunters Were there ever
such adrot butchers? No Grahamite scruples to
agtate this seed-loying and bug-oving tribe. They
do not show their teeth to prove that they wer de-
signed for meat They eat what they like, wipe
their mouths on limb, return thanks in song, and
wing away to quiet nook to doze or mediate, snug
from the hawk that spheres about far up in ether
10 be sure, blrds like men, have relish for varie-
ty There are no better pomologiss. five beev-
ed IN transmigraton should be sure that our dis
tinguished fruit culturists could be traced home
Longworth was brown-thresher; Downing lark,
sometimes IN the dew and sometimes Just below the
sun; Thomas was plain and sensible robin; junior
Prince was bobolink, irreverently called skunk
blackbrd; Ernst dove; Parsons woodpecker
Wilder king bird. We could put our finger, too,
upon the human black-bird, wren, bIueay and small
owl-bu prudence forbids; as it also does the men,
ton of certain clerical mocking- bird that makes
4 game of his betters
But we wander from the point We charge
every man withpositive dishonesty who drives blrds
from his garden in fruit-time The fruit is theirs
well as yours. They took care of it as much as YOU
did Ifthey had not eaten egg, worm and bug, your
fruit would have been pierced and ruined. Ihey
only come for wages No honest man will cheat 4
bird of his spring and summers work.-Iadepen.
dent.