Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-27
DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS IN
FRANCE.


us. In England we do restrict the
title of "game" to very small mum.
Der of birds and beasts, even exclud-
ing the rabbit from the category.
Consequently, when an English
sportsman goes out with his gun,
he never dreams of shooting any.
thing but game, as he understands
the word, and the ordinary wild
birds may fly in safety through the
fields as far as he is concerned.
But in France, some years ago, any
bird, no matter what its species, was
considered III the light of game, and
sportsman would be inordinately
proud Of his success if he brought
back half dozen robins, as many
sparrows, a couple of blackbirds, and
thrush in his gorgeously -embroid-
cred and betasseled game.bag. l
well remember, when l was living in
France, taking my first country walk.
The weather was perfect, the land
scape beautiful, but something was
wanting. 1t was the song or twitter
of birds. Not bird was to be seen
for mile after mile, the "sportsmen"
having shot every one that dared to
show itself. The natural result fol
lowed. Rocks and starings being
destroyed, the insects had every
thing their own way, the trees being
stripped bare by cockchafers and the
corn blasted by the. wire worms.
After a time France discovered her
error, and is now wisely doing all in
her power to bring back her Danish
ed allies. But it Is always easier to
distloy than to restore, and years
must yet pass before disturbed ma
ture can regain her equilibrium. al
though we have not wrought such
wholesale destruction as France did,
we have a very strong tendency in
that direction. Man invariable tries
to employ destruction when endeav.
oring to find a remedy for any evil,
be it real or fancied. See what hap.
pens if every one could have his des
tructlve will. The farmer who
chafes at the ravages made by land
lords hares, rabbits, and pheasanti
on his crops, would like nothing bet
ter than to shoot them all. ThC
keeper, who thinks that every crea
ture which is not game is destructive
to game, does his best to extermin
ate every living creature that nigh
interfere with his "head of game,
and | would not be too sure that Iht
thrice sacred fox might not accident
ally eat something which disagreed
with him, if he took to robbing tn
J pheasant and partridge nests. Then
the agriculturists generally, whethe
on a large or small scale, believe tina
= all the predacious birds, owls includ
+ ed, eat their poultry, and that all tn,
: non-predacious birds devour thei
grain and fruit. So they indiscrim
! inately kill every bird that come
, within their reach. Only few day
. before these lines were written,
;, read an account of a farmer VIII
e found that his men were "froze
n OUT" and so set them to work at xii
e ing the finches. The men sometime
d brought in as many as 70 dozen in
r single day, and both they and thei
|, employer thought that they were dc
!. ing the best for the land. Still NOR
II lately / was reading a leading art
n Gle in an evening newspaper.
e treated of insects, and the write
d summed up the subject by sayin
r that the world would get on muc
d better without them, and that W
It might cheerfullY spare the bee an
;. the silk.worm, if by so doing W
could be rid of the insects that b
and stung us, or spoild our clothing
or ate our food. The depths of is
IS norance and presumption in this SUI
IS gestion are simply appalling, and
L cannot trust myself to do more tina
It mention it.
d Req. d. g. Wood, in Good Word