Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-05-12
Slaughter of birds-Injury to the Agricul
tural Interest.

Though the absurd fashion of wearing the
plumage and bodies of song birds as orna-
ments on ladies' hats has met with consider
able opposition and rebuke, still it prevails.
and those engaged in the slaughter for gain
are carrying on their deadly work. 1t is to
be hoped the efforts which have been insti-
tuted to arrest the evil may succeed. This
destruction of birds, if not checked, will
continue where they are most abundant.-
After that, our own country may be in
vaded by the ruthless murderers. Legislation
cannot avail, and woman herself should
come to the rescue and everywhere dis
countenance the fashion. They are respond
ing in some sections of the country to the
appeal which has been made to them. The
SPECTATOR has heretofore freely copied
from the Forest and Stream which instituted
the Audubon Society, as it has constantly
warred on the havoc. The following well
sustains the efforts of the paper named. It
is from the Chicago Tribune.
"Competent authorities estimate that for
several years past there has been an annual
slaughter of 100000 song birds in this
country alone, and Mr.. G. E. Gordon, Presi-
dent of the American Humane Society,
says it will take three generations of man
kind to restore the birds to the number and
condition of four years ago. The chimney
swallow is about the only bird exempt from
slaughter, but the chief demand of the
milliners is more meadowlarks, snowbirds,
bluebirds, robins, mockingbirds, sparrows
and terms. The latter species has been al
most exterminated, and scarcely a speci-
men can now be found along the Atlantic
coast from Cape Cod to Mexico. Every
State has been laid under tribute, and men
and boys armed with cheap shotguns have
ravaged fields and forests in every part of
the country, creating a havoc to crafty
idiotic vanity that cannot be repaired with
in the lifetime of any man now living.
Fortunately there has come at last rebel
lion against this fashion so revolving in its
nature and odious in its origin. Oddly
enough, the protest is led by women and
has broken forth simultaneously in the
fashionable circles of the East and in the
agricultural States of the West, societies
being already formed in both sections to
discourage the wearing of dead birds as
ornaments.
There is another aspect of the bird
slaughter which certainly demands at.
tention, and that is the injury to farm crops
through the unchecked ravages of insects.
1t has been estimated that the death oi
every insect eating bird means loss Of
four bushels of grain. This estimate may
be very wide of the mark and founded
only on guess work, but it is certainly
ftrue in some degree, and if the injury tc
crops is only one-fourth as great as stated
the damage must be considered appalling
when at least 100000 birds are slaughter
ed every year. The farmers ought to bt
aroused to the Importance of keeping the
bird hunters off their premises. Legisla
tors cannot attack female fashion, how
ever sensess or revolving it may be, bu
they ought to provide penalties for thu
wanton destruction of song-birds. Th'
massacre of the birds may soon prove {
very serious matter, and the Audubon
! societies should not be left to combat th'
evil single-handed.