The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1886-05-13
OUR NATIVE BIRDS.

We are glad to see that the movement
for the protection of American birds,
recently started by the Ornithologists'
Union, has been very generally taken
up by both the daily and weekly press.
1t is only in this way that a public sem
timent can be created against the pres
ent indiscriminate slaughter of birds,
which characterizes every part of the
country where the birds and man come
in contact with each other. The classes
20 whom this appeal for the life of the
innocent songsters must be made are so
widely different that probably on no
other issue could they be named in the
same connection. 1t is odd that the
first and strongest appeal must be made
to those whom we would suppose to be
the natural defenders of the birds, the
women of the country.
Yet SO remorseless has been the war
which the gentlsr sex has indirectly
waged against these feathered visitors,
that it has acquired the unenviable title
OF belonging to the ''dead-bird wearing
gender" It Is estimated that five mil
lion birds are annually sacrificed for the
personal decoration of the women of the
United States. If every woman who
contemplates decorating her next bon
net with stified songsters would reflect
that with thousands of others indulging
in the same barbarous fancy, there will
soon be no birds left to crafty either
personal vanity or the better love of
bird companionship before they have
been rendered mute and lifeless, we
think it would be easy to persuade her
to substitute some more fitting decora-
ton. Other causes are also helping to
depopulate our groves and forests.
Many birds which do not secure pro-
lection under the game laws now exist
ing in nearly every State are being
killed for food, and each year the list is
extended. Our markets are already
stocked with such great variety that
there seems absolutely no excuse for this
slaughter.
Not only are the adult birds de-
stroyed, but the eggs are consumed in
large Quantities. And then there is the
traditional small boy. whose instinct is
to kill, If we are to believe what we are
told-but there is another side to his
nature. II his sympathies are once en-
listed. he is a most loyal champion, and
will do good battle in the cause to
which he devotes himself
Though the list of bird destroyers is
by no means exhausted, we have space
only to refer to one other class, those who
collect for scientific purposes. This is
perfectly legitimate, and requires a
much less number of birds than is
usually accredited to it In all the
museums of the country, both public
and private, there cannot be more than
half a million birds-one-tenth the
number annually demanded for fashion.
There are also egg collectors, whose ap-
parent cruelty in rObbing the nest of its
treasured contents is entirely justified
by the strictly scientific use to which
the eggs are put But there are Just
now numbers Of pseudo-scientists all
over the country, who are influenced
simply by the prevalent mania for col
lecting anything and everything, with
out regard to their ability to make it
valuable. These people kill birds by
the score, and steal eggs by the dozen,
and make a collection, but the absence
of classification or an attempt at COM
pleteness prevents it from having any
value whatever.
So many reasons conspire to make a
plentiful bird life desirable, that the
question of why we should project it
seems to answer itself. For pureTutili-
tartan reason, as a check upon the in
sects harmful to vegetation, the birds
deserve our protection. Even those
birds which have themselves a bad
reputation as garden marauders destroy
more insect enemies than garden pro-
ducts Not one can be shown to be
wholly injurious.
And as a pleasing and beautiful form
of natural life, nothing surpasses the
sociable little house birds or the wilder
dwellers in the woods. To have broad
meadows and country lanes devoid of
the cheerful song Of birds and noisy
only with the monotonous whir and
buzz of insect life, would be 70 rob them
of one Of their greatest charms.