The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1891-01-17
BIRDS ON Bo.!HzTs.
Olive Thornc Miller tall. Thi, Fashion I
Relic of savaScry.

Wearing the skins of bird and beast,
writes Mrs. Olive Thorno Miller, in the
New York Herald, is relic of barbar-
ism, a survival from the times when our
savage ancestors were forced to use
them for warmth and decoration. The
nearer to savagery the people. the great
er, believe, their use of feathers and
furs.
There is moral side to the question.
How can thoughtful woman. feeling
some responsibility in the training of
her children or some desire to leave the
world il not better-which should be
her aim-at least not worse for her liv-
ing in it-how can she reconcile her
conscience to the constant object lessons
in cruelty which the wearing of MUIR
dered birds holds up before her childrcn?
How do honest Christian mothers and
earnest Sunday-school teachers recon-
Gle their countenancc of this cruel
trade with the gentle teachings of Jesus
Christ, which they labor to instill into
the growing, and, let me assure them,
reasoning minds under their care?
They may, indeed, shut their eyes to
facts and harden their hearts against
arguments, but the child does not What
his teacher is and what she does has
far greater weight with him than what
she says.
Putting entirely aside the responsible
tiles Of people and the rights Of animals,
it is simple, bare alternative that is
presented to us: Shall the birds be al
lowed to live or shall the earth be re-
duced to barren wilderness?
One OF the two is certain to be, for
the bird is our only protector from the
insect. To one who has not informed
himself it may seem like wild state
ment, but, nevertheless, it is true that
the insect is one of the most powerful
forces on earth, and one against which
man, with all his boosted ability, is
helpless. 1t comes in innumerable
armies, too minute to be handled;
nothing can discourage, nothing can
eradicate it. Il multiplies by millions;
1t preys upon every vegetable and ami
NAL substance under heaven. In a
world abandoned to the insect not q
green thing could grow, ana without
vegetation neither man nor beast could
exist. =.
The bird, and the bird only, can cope
with these fearful hosts of our most
fatal foe, and it takes unceasing labor
on their part to do it. No creatures have
such appetites = ''incarnate voracity'
Ruskin calls them--none require such
constant supplies.
Watch the birds with 40 intelligent
eye, not merely glance at them. and see
how almost necessarily they work.
The crow--an outcast among mer--
follows the pillow and destroys thousands
of grubs and worms that left to them
selves would eat every vestige of the
crop. beg to say right here that my
statements are no fancy sketch, but are
derived from the scientific reports of
Government officers, who have investi-
gated the matter thoroughly.
The oriole, moving quietly about on
the trees, puts an end every day to
hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the
enemies Of our foliage and is reviled
for killing an occasional bee.
The vireo, hopping from branch to
branch, with his constant MARBLE, snaps
up an injurious insect at every step.
Woodpeckers drag from their hiding
places the destroyers Of our fruit trees,
and are saddled with an insulting name
because little sap exudes.
The cedar bird clears half our orchard
of its pests, and is hunted to death for
eating few Of the cherries he has saved
for us.
Swallows in their beautiful fight arc
constantly devouring the hosts of the
air, creatures that would otherwise hide
the sky from us with their hosts.
The beautiful warblers fitting inces
sanity about the trees are working
almost every instant in our behalf, yet
we-some of us-wear their little dead
bodies in clusters and wreatbs. and the
insects increase and multiply apace.
The rose breasted grosbeak works
more iBdustriously than any hod carrier
and never strikes for shorter hours; and
what is he doing? Carefully examining
the potato plants and picking off that
pest, the potato beetle. Unfortunately
--more unfortunately for us than for
t,im-he has beautiful coat; he is want
cd to adorn somebody's hat; his life Of
usefulness is cut short, and the bugs
nave free sweep with the potatoes.
These are but few of the most common
birds. could go on all day and tell o.
the constant work of the feathered foll
for man. Yet think what odds these
beautiful creatures, our faithful serv
ants, contend against. Remember the
armies Of four-footed foes who lie IL
wait for them and their eggs-the cats
weasels, skunks, rats, squirrels ant
many do not think of. Consider the
snakes and other reptiles which regu
larly devour their eggs and young, ant
do not forget their feathered enemies
crows, hawks, owls and jays-all O
whom like eggs and perhaps birds a.
we'll as we do ourselves.
And then reflect on the attitude OF thu
human family toward them; first tn,
men who shoot them for eating, for the
fun Of killing, or for collection; theY
the boys too young to WELD tho deadl,
gun, but amply equipped with sharl
eyes, stout legs and thievish fingers
who scale the trees and scour the bushes
and steal their eggs, ten, fifteen O
twenty OF next years song birds in al
afternoon sometimes.
To this vast army of destroyers ha
woman at last joined herself. Woman
the tender-hearted, the lover of beaut,
and song, has really cast the great weigh
of her influence against the tribes of tn,
air, and the birds fall at her behest b,
mil1ions