The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-06-07

IhQleS III Otnef piACeS nave COHuSnct tHo
practice; but 1 would beg leave to in
woke the law-making power. There is
now q new way of enticing the poor little
creatures, even from their helpless fedge-
lings. They are secured within 4 trap
and carried away. leaving the nest
lings 20 perish with hunger: Fish
have been protected. and should have
been. Have we a law-maker whose
heart would not be moved by the plalntlye
twittering of Gods most innocent creatures!
la the name of all that is beautiful and good.
for the sake of pity. do something to protect
our birds. They are the friends of the far
mer. They are emblems of purity. Our
trees, our parks, our grayeyards, our earth.
will be sad without the birds, whose songs
remind US of heaven and of Gods goodness
and mercy"
There is no need Of invoking the law-mak-
ing power in this case, for already we have
upon the statute books OF Alabama q law
giving ample protection TO birds in Mobile
county, and in several other counties of the
State. The power to invoke is the law
abiding and ~law-supporting power. The law
was enacted some twelve or fifteen
years ago. 1t protects the hooking
bird and various other singing
birds through all seasons. imposing
q heavy fine on all persons destroying
them, capturing them. rObbing their nests or
simply attempting even LuOu1n uOb SucctSS-
full 10 destroy, capture or rob nests. 1t fur
thermOre protects all birds through the brood
season extending from early spring to late
fall, with the exception Of jaws. crows,
hawks aud owls. The offenders can be prose-
cuted before any magistrate, and on cOnylc-
ton half the fine goes to the informer.
And yet with all this the destruction Of
birds has gone night along in direct violation
of the law the same as if no such law had been
in existence. In all the time that has elapsed
since that law was enacted we have not
heard of a single prosecution for inter-
ference with the birds. Not a summer
passes in which hundreds of young mock
ing birds are not captured in Mobile
county and shipped away to distant markets
to be sold as singers" Scarcely q northern
tourist comes 70 Mobile county in fall or win
ter who does not take home "A cage OF mocking
birds. As a result the hooking bird is rapidly
passing away, and II things continue to go on
as ut present the end OF another decade will
find it extremely rare in thiss section Of the
South.
Our hooking bird is a creature quite domes-
tic in its nature. 10 entertains such mis-
placed confidence in man as induces it TO nest
and attempt to rear its young IN the lmme-
date neighborho0d of his habitation. One
seldom finds the nest of a hooking bird
far away in the woods. AS a conse-
quence man has the fairest kind of
opportunity for eXtermlnatlng 1t,
and he is certainly taking every possible
advantage Of the opportunity. OF course we
have many humane people who would not
take a nest Of young hooking birds under
any consideration, but there are enOughof
the other kind to keep up the work OF
destruction TO extire perfection. Since this
law has been in full force we have actually
had young hooking birds stolen at night
from nests in our shrubbery not above thirty
feet from the door of our residence.
One of the birds protected is the bull
bait or night hawk. 1t is one of our most
harmless birds, and also, at the same time, one
of the most useful. as il Is strictly insect
~iyerOus. and feeds mainly on mosquitoes and
gnats. Through the breeding season II SKINS
the air above our residences Of an evening in
quest Of those insect pests. and where the
bull bats" appear there appears also the
yOungster with his cheap shotgun pouring
up a regular fusilade at them. The young of
the bull bat' numbers two 20 the brood. II
you examine the specimen killed you will
very often find in the throat OF each. two con-
siderable balls of gnats and mosquitoes stuck
together by a glutinOus substance. These
were being gathered by the parent bird for
its Young, and now that the parent has been
ruthlessly murdered the young IS left 10
perish at some lonely point in the adjacent
woods. The thing is simply awful when one
comes to look st 1t Alright.
But. as already intimated, the affair is en-
tirely out Of the hands OF our lawmakers.
They have already given us a good iaw in the
premises, and now it devolyes upon the hu-
name among our people 70 see TO IL that the
law is respected. Our Legislators saw at the
enactment of the law that under ordinary cir
cumstances it would be apt TO meet with
neglect by common consent, and so in the
hopes of creating a stimulous 10 its mainten-
ance they enacted that the nformer should
receive half the fine. But this amounted to
nothing. No one would prosecute-he was
afraid il would,render him unpopular with the
army of aimless bird-slayers, so the work of
destruction has gone on without let or him
dranca Mobile Rariatar-