The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-04-02
GRAssHoPPER PLAGUE.
How it Might Have Been Averted-spar
tine Birds.

A1VW ~ nAh5n@ nave Been AVGFfe0-SpDEGe
tine Birds.
To the Editor Of the Hartford ccurant.
And NO wonder. The marvel is that
1t does not sweep over that whole region,
when we read of the wanton destruction
OF It's birds. An item in Chicago paper
not long since, stated that 10000 quail
and prairie chickens were fed to swine in
single day, IN that city. It goes ON to
say that in the country west of Chicago,
quail, rutted grouse, and prairie chick
ems are destroyed by the million. ire
spective of law or season. Tons of BIRDS
SHARED and shot out of season are boiled
down and fed to swine. On one day
there stood wagon on the corner of two
streets containing $50 dozen of prairie
chickens, while on the near sidewalk
were piled thirty boxes, containing
$50 dozen of quail, corrupt, decompos-
ing, and condemned by the health officers
as only fit for swine. They are trapped,
shot, and snared and sent to the market.
where they find q ready sale mp to the
middle of March, and yet the indiscrirn-
mate slaughter continues. The young
birds and setting hens all alike are cap
tured and sent to Chicago and other cities
on commission, and destined to be fed
to swine. The birds, the editor saya.
must soon disappear before such reck-
lessness and vice. Yes, the birds have,
disappeared, almost entirely, from many
Western localities, and grasshoppers and
other noxiOus insects have multiplied and
swarmed forth, to spread famine and des--
olation. The divinely arranged balancep
between birds and insects han Deens
destroyed by ruthless bird-Hllers, and
the cry of famine rings out over the
Land. Such is the retribution for the.
violation of the equipoise of nature and
the making of discord in the divine har-
mony of nature's works.
This harmony runs through the whole
creation, and its disturbance always pro
duces suffering. The innumerable rivers
which roll into the sea are freighted with
all the impurities of the land which, if
not abated In some way, would turn the
ocean into q vast cesspool But these
impurities and foreign ingredients are alb
sorbed, or worked up into islands for the
future occupancy of man, by millions and
millions of animalcules, and other marine
scavengers. To them is given q task, in
fnitely greater and more laborious than
the building of the pyramids, or the tuHl-
neling of granite mountains, which all
the mighty men of the earth could not
perform.
So the birds have q task, which various
governments have tried in vain to get
done, by offering bounties as induce
ments to their citizens to destroy the
insect pests. But it has been found that
the-birds are the only exterminators of
the enemy, without whose divinely ap-
pointed labors, In keeping the insect
world in check, the earth would soon
be made void as at the beginning, and
gaunt famine would reign over all it's
realms.
Some predict that the winged scourge
is outward bound. This is not I'M
probable and whence will come our de-;
hverance2 Our natural helpers hang up
in our meat-markets by millions, sacri-
feed to the qualification of epicl1rean
ties, but the little tiny birds with their
! crops full Of insects, are brought to the
New York markets In barrels and sold for
few cents a dozen.
The older civilizations of the East are
more appreciative and protective of birds
! han our own. In Japan they are held
sacred and never destroyed. On the oo-
casion of the visit TO that country in
! 1854, Of the squadron commanded by
Commodore Perry, who opened it to the
/ commerce of the United States, several
of his officers, one day, went cut to
shoot birds for their amusements. The
natives were horror stricken when seeing
the destruction of their favorite birds,
and ran to the Commodore to remon-
strate against the cruel conduct of his
suborGiinntes This soon put an end to
the sport of American bird-killers in
Japan and when the treaty between
the two countries was negotiated, the
Japanese authorities were careful Go
have inserted an article protective of the
birds of that country from American
fowlers.