The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1879-01-30
CLAY ON CROWS.

CLA1 UN ChUWS.
| 80 - ~
Cnssius M. Clay Raises His Voice in Behal
Of tho Birds-Whar Keeps From Us th
Plaques Of Egypt. rs... co.,.
Cassius M. Clay writes to the Rich
mond Register as follows was pain
ed to see in your journal lately an ac
count of the slaughteripg Of the crows
without protest.
Nature seems to have provided fol
the greatest sum Of animal life. First
vegetables, then insects. and then high
or animals, man standing at the apex
All insectivorous birds are the allies ol
man; without birds the human rack
would have hard struggle for exist.
ence, and would perhaps be e1terminat.
ed. Over all the world the great
breeders of famine-tte 1ocusts and
grasshoppers-are ruinoas only where
birds cannot exist. .snrs
The swarms of locusts, which the
Bible tells infested Egypt, exist yet,
and will exist until trees shall be
planted or caused to grow in all places
where grass grows; then the
birds will have come and destroyed
the loeusts. 30 the same law pre-
walls in interior Africa and in
the United States. All along the
Platte river for hundreds Of miles,
wherever I saw few trees and shrubs
there were hawks lowering over to
pounce down upon and destroy the
birds. The prairie chickens are de-
stroyed by man, and between those two
allies the birds are lost and the loeusts
spread ruin; every green thing is eaten,
and men fly for life to other lands or
perish '''' '''. - ~ 80 g. 80.
The phylloxera in France, small in
sect, has inflicted, by the ruin of the
vine, more loss than the German war !!
In early years our State was full of
woodpeckers and kindred birds. They
ate some apples and other fruit; our
fathers destroyed them. Then our veg.
etables were fine and perfect; after; the
birds have been killed we are overrun
with insects; perfect fruit and vegeta-
bles are now almost unknown. 8 s:&..
I believe that the quails or par:
tridges, though gramniyorous, also de-
stroY many insects. Whilst all our
other birds feed mostly upon insects:
every bird has his special habitat.
The swallows, several species in Ken
lucky, feed on the wing; the owls upon
the tips of trees and leaves-pinching
off insects, often unseen by the natural
eye. The wren and sparrow are very
active feeders near,and upon the ground,
When the peas are sown I have observ-
ed the sparrows following the lines and
picking up the pea bugs as they emerge
from the ground. There are many birds
which peck the rose bush and grape
vines. All the woodpecker and sap
sucker tribe eat bugs and not sap. Jsg5
For many years I have kept box
ffseaa to e = aSl3aM ssaE E3aMrly library Window
SansnAn aaminH 4alassstss ssFng Gsni; s15sg
others, the beautiful red-birds, which,
though naturally shy, have become
almost as tame as the sparrows. ! had
rather o sportsman would shoot down
and carry off a pig than one 81 these
beautiful songstersi ii. rs
And now with this -prefsce come to
the crows.~ For long years I have
ceased my early war upon the crews.
They are eminently insectvorous. The
crow, when the weather is very cold,
will eat the eyes Of weak, PROSTATE
lambs, other birds eggs and young;
take corn from the ground when it is
first sprouted, and follow and eat the
aoft hall. .dioeated corn from fed cattle
in the fields. But for all this they
should never be killed. In many lands
the buzzard, as scavenger, isprotected
by law. The crow is also q most active
scavenger, but, as said, is mostly in
sectivoTous. I dissected young crows
in the nest, and never found a seed or
grain of corn. I found bugs, beetles
and, above all, caterpillars. This morn
ing, I'LL over my bluegrass pasture, the
mercury standing at twenty-eight de.
grees Fahrenheit, and thin crust OF
frozen earth and a fine snow existing,
there were thousands of crows feeding.
They were eating grass and the eggs OF
grasshoppers. .., ...
In France the government pays q
price for the gathering OF these eggs.
Here the crows do the work much more
effectively for nothing. I have in my
life seen whole meadows stripped OF
blade and seed by grasshoppers. Who
can say that the crows do not keep us
from famine9 The announcement by
your paper of the destruction OF the
crows struck me with the same sensibil.
ity as if one had boasted that he had
dried up all the wells and all the springs
of the county, Should I arouse the
State to pass efficient laws for the pro-
lection of crows and other birds, l
will have done more for my country
than all the politicians and warriors 80
;ustlv made i1lustriOue.