Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-12-12
TROUBLESOME BIRDS.
A Horticulturist Who Thinks They Ought
to Re Shot,

TO lie SnOts
Darwin and Romanes declare, writes
Prof. Chamberlain in the Ohio Farmer,
that animals, especially birds, have
reason and conscience. Perhaps they
have reason. They must have Ian
guage, for the few robins on my place
told all their cousins within three
miles that our cherries were getting
ripe. But they have not bit of con-
science, and could not develop any in
them, or could not teach them the
eighth commandment. Talk about
scarecrows and straw! They don't care
for the man himself. They will come
within three feet of you in the tree and
scold if you try to hit them with your
hand. Finally lost patience and one
morning told ''our youngest to get out
the gun at five cents a head for all he
killed. My wife looked solemn and
quoted Longfellow at me. My daughter
thought was 'just dreadful" The rest
of the family stood neutral, thinking
how good those sour cherries, canned,
would taste next May when we have
spring fever and crave acids. The
youngest" went for the bounty.
At the first shot l counted over forty
robins that flew up to see who made
that unseemly noise. Soon they paid
no attention to the shooting and went
on with their stealing, unless actually
hit. He shot nearly hundred, and We
finally got about twenty cans of cher
ries out of the several bushels the dozen
or more fine trees would have ripened
but for the robins.
l draw the line on robins. They are
the worst thieves 1 know. They will
steal every small fruit and berry and
even peck and spoil nice apples. They
don't take strawberries so badly. They
don't seem to like to alight on the
ground for fear they might see grub
or cut-worm, or grasshopper or beetle!
Right in front of my window are two
fine bush honeysuckles, perfectly brill
liant with berries, beauty spots among
the verbenas, roses and geraniums.
Well, the robins are now gobbling up
those berries, bitter as quinine. / am
sure they will not die of ague, though
they wake me up by three o'clock sum-
mer mornings sitting in the fog on my
porch roof and on the trees near my
chamber window, with their inceSsant
''twee-too, twee-too,' till breakfast
time! No; do not love the robin. He
is too numerous and ''too previous" He
is an immense breeder, q perfect thief,
and his loud morning concert comes too
near midnight.
What l want to know is whether it is
worse for the horticulturist to protect
his fruit and vegetables than for the
farmer to protect his crops and stock.
When came here the striped gophers
ate up acres of seed corn just planted.
They would come in troops and follow
the planter rows and take every kernel.
| organized a raid. In two years we
shot over one thousand gophers on the
campus and poisoned no one knows how
many more with strychnine at the
mouths of their holes. Now they let our
field corn alone, and we have eighty
acres of as grand corn as ever grew. The
sheep stealing dog is shot or poisoned.
Why not the incorrigible thieves of
garden fruits and vegetables? Does the
fact that they have wings make them
less criminal? Nay, verify; the wings
enable them to steal far worse. But
there are birds that are beautiful,
melodious and useful, and not thieves
of our choicest and most expensive del
| icacies. These l love; the bluebird,
the mourning dove, the oriole, the little
humming bird, most of the thrush
family, even the saucy, chattering wren.
Even the blackbirds and crows are
great scavengers and worm and insect
eaters, following the farmers pillow as it
upturns the furrow and uncovers cut.
worms and grubs. But the predacious
birds, the useless fighters like the En-
glish sparrows, and the horticultural
thieves mustgo, the latter at least where
horticulture is to flourish.