Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-11-27
A Country without seas Biras.


A garden without flowers. childhood wi,hous
laughter, an orchard without blossoms a sky
without color. roses without perfume are the
analogues OF a country without song birds And
the United States are going straight and swift
into that desert condition. Hard as was ma
lures law of the strongest and the survival Of
me ntlest the thrush the black bird, the rotsV,
our ieathered songsters would have held their
own against natural conditions and balanced
destruction with Increase. But this beneficept
poise OF hostile forces has recently been ended.
and fashion, cupidity and murderous sport
Sippad 10 on the song birds have COM
faioes OF the plains have been destroyed.
Within the observation OF tens OF thousands
OF living men the bisons were thick as 10 OBJ
struct travel In their seasons of migration on
every road between the Mexican and British
boundaries. Horace Greedy 3 wagon was hailed
tor hours the Colorado trail TO let the count
less animals pass Ii was impossible TO travel
through the herds at right angles to the lines OF
guard at night at every camp they made In the
valley of the upper Missouri TO avoid being
tramfplgd to death by the thickiy crowded ami
by night as well as by day. Yet these royal
beasts are gone. They have been slaughtered
ior their skins by sordid hunters hired by sor-
did traders They were killed of so suddenly
as to cause establishment
Not quite so quickly, but just surely, will
our song birds go. For .see the forces that are
working their destruction. Chief among these
Is the cruel fashion among women Of wearing
OF pretty birds, OF the entire skins of birds m
handsome and not too large. This fashion has
led TO the organized killing of all these song
sters for both domestic aud foreign markets.
The woods and orchards of Pennsylvania aud
New England supply the milliners OF Paris M
having been put on the dead body OF every
pretty bird in the north, their murder in season
and out OF season Is inevitable. We can speak
of our knowledge OF a place in Sag Harbor at
the eastern extremity OF Long Island, where
dead birds OF brilliant plumage are bought Tor
f.slSh a n Y OF Sffll IA RAJ ak
So comprehensive is the desire to combine
profit with sport, that very close merchant
four miles from sag Harbor, I'm the lul OF his
business goes out with his gun 10 earn thirty,
forty, fifty cents by shooting sonxsterx.
These collecting Repositories ior dead song
birds, killed Tor city mllincIs exist Throughout
the northern states In all their meadows aud
woods men and boys armed with shotguns
and life out OF the sweet and beautiful crea-
lures nature gave for the delight oI the jewellers
In the country.
The destruction OF the feathered choir by the
hunt ior sport grows larger yearly. The owner
ship of guns has ceased To be rare, and has long
ceased To be one of the attributes OF manhood.
Most young men and nearly all the boys OF
well-to-do parents possess them. There IL
effective restraint on the murderous use Of these
weapons. Before nesting time, and during In
cubation, as well as after the uneradicated
Saxon impulse TO kill something that flies or
has iull vent. And, very unfortunately,
somebody has devised ior boys amusement
weapon more deadly among birds .han o shot
gun. The pea-shooter gives no sound, and can
be carried In the vest pocket, but SO destruc-
tive is IL in the hands OF "A skilful child that
the legislatures Of some OF the western states
We're obliged 10 pass laws making tho
sale OF The thing misdemeanor, and
Furnishing the possession or use OF t.
Its principle Is the bowstring, with
the power in a three-nch loop OF very strong
vulcanized rubber. In Bridgehamton on Long
Island, is IA liberty pole 40 ieet high, SUR
mounted by copper gilt eagle six feet high.
More tlan one ten-year-old child In that village
has driven small pistol balls into the eagle
with pca-shooter which could he hidden In
the hand. Two teu-year-old lads In that quiet
and moral hamlet confessed this autumn that
with pea-shooters they had killed during the
season fifty robins and other birds which ire
quent the gardens, orchards, ana cemetery.
Such boys exist all over the United States, and
war on birds as things made To DE killed.
To avert this disas Ter, legislation and social
morality ought to be promptly invoked But
the strongest influence To save the piumaged
singers from determination Will tie village
and town societies specially formed TO protect
them from molestation and slaughter.