Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-06-28
OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS.
VERY FEW OF THEM COMPARED WITH
WHAT THERE WAS SEVENTY YEARS

WHAT THERE WAS SEVENTY 1EARS
AGO.
The Toledo Commercial has for some
time been publishing series of very in
teresting articles from the pen of DR..
Scott, of Lancaster, and under the head
of Pioneer Sketches" In a recent num-
Der he takes up the subject of birds and
presents some facts that are full of in
terest:
think that l once before alluded to
the forest songsters, but it is repro
duction of that which has passed away,
and may be read again. 1t was believed
that singing birds accompanied the
march of civilization and loved to cluster
near the habitation of man, and that
they were not in the forests before man
came This may have been true; but if
true, it seems remarkable that they too
have largely disappeared. Their num-
bers are not, to-day, per cent. of what
they were seventy years ago. 1t has
been supposed that the diminution is
due to the war that has been made upon
them for the sake of their plumage; but
this could hardly account for their scare
ity in Ohio, where little war has been
made. In the pioneer age their clamor
in May and June was sometimes deaf
ening. One hears no such carols now,
and has to be satisfied with here and
there a few solitary singers. The wild
pigeon and blackbirds that, in the early
DAYS, darkened the air by their flights
almost daily in the spring months, have
nearly become extinct, especially the
former. The black crow, that sixty
years ago were witnessed in hundreds
cawing about the meadows and fields,
are now reduced to an occasional bird or
two of that species. And the black
raven is seen no more. Eagles, hawks
and owls once abounded along the from
tiers. They are all greatly diminished
in numbers. An eagle now is rare; and
the owl is only occasionally heard hoot
ing in the least frequented forests.
Hawks are still about in considerable
numbers; but whereas they might have
been counted by hundreds in the early
DAYS, now tens would be the better emu
merator In the early days of the coun
try small birds were the deadly enemies
of the hawk Their battles were fought
high up in the air. One could stand out
and watch their pitched battles by the
hour. Two or more small birds of differ
ent varieties, of which the blackbirds
were chief, could be seen assailing sim
gle hawk They attacked him from
above and below, as well as from the
flank They darted on him sometimes
from two or three directions and having
made their thrust, fell back. In. the
meanwhile the distracted hawk was
plunging in all directions piteously,
sometimes mounting aloft, and again
plunging toward the earth; but his tor
mentors, always swifter on the wing,
met him at every turn. There was no
place where he could hide-no refuge;
and many hawk was found dead on
the ground worried out of his life by
these tormentors. 1t was supposed their
deadly enemity arose from the destruc-
ton of the birdlets in their nests by the
hawk, which was doubtless true, The
whipporwill, when the country was new,
was constantly heard in the surroundings
in the spring and early summer; but now
one scarcely hears in the whole year the
note of this bird. When the forests were
wild, and in condition of nature, the
hum of the drumming pheasant met the
ear all through the woods during the
propagating season. There are still
pheaSants in lessened number, it is true,
but the rumbling sound of their wings
are seldom if ever heard at all. The
woodpecker, yellow hammer and jay
bird have also become scarce. The rea-
son for this does not seem obvious
The catbird and thrush have likewise
nearly disappeared. The wild turkey
that once roamed the forests in such
vast focks, has entirely left the country.
The wild turkey could not be dOmesti-
Gated.