Middletown transcript., 1891-09-03
A PLEA FOR SONG BIRDS.
STRONG ARGUMENT AGAINST KILL
ING THEM FOR THEIR RAUMAGE.


was procured. Why are SO manJ
Christian women following her exam
pie to.dayf -
Henry Ward Beecher said: !" Th'
slaughter of the birds that is going OF
is such as ought to arrest the atten
iicn of every Christian woman Wit
decorates herself with the skins. I" CaI
thee compassionate spirit Of Chris
have touched the hearts OF thos'
women who 20 constantly to heal
His doctrine preached and yet refuse
to make 80 small an effort to be in ac
cord with it as the simple avoidance
Of participation in this heartless and
destructive fashion would involve? !?
The report of the American Ornith
ological Society says; FromA care.
fully gathered statistics it is provea
that on the most. moderate calcula-
ton 100000 song birds are annually
required to fill the demand for the
ornameniation ofthe hats Of American
women. The slaughter Is not con-
finsd to song birds; everything that
wears feathers is a target for the bird
butcher. In single season 10000
terms we're killed at Cape Cod for ex-
portation, and the swamps and marsh.
es Of Florida have been depopulated
of their egrets and herons. In one
month 1000, 900 bobolinks have been
killed near Philadelphia, and from a
single Long Island village 10000
song birds were supplied IN a short
time to New York dealers for millinery
purposes" In some places when
wings only are sought, the hunters,
grow brutal by the practice of their
horrid trade, shoot the birds down
and tear off the wings of numbers
while they are yet alive.
Tt,is known that the bird hunter Of
Florida kill the birds while they are
rearing their young-because Of the
greater beauty Of the plumage at that
season-and leave the little ones to
starve to death. One who went
through the hunting grounds speaks
Of the horror it gave him to hear the
pitiful screams Of these dying little
birds.
Why does all this slaughter 60 on ?
In order that women may decorate
themselves and-win admiration. But
suppose they dosnot win admiration !
Many people look upon this cruel and
frivolous fashion with unmixed
horror, and upon the women who
continue it with deep, if silent, disap-
proval. Nov that SO much is known
concerning this kind Of adornEent
the woman who adopts it must expect
to win something which is very far
from admiration. Mrs. Olive Thorne
Millerisays !; /" The beautiful warblers
fitting incessantly about the trees are
working almost every instant in our
interest, yet we, some of us, wear
their little dead bodies in clusters and
wreaths and the insects increase and
multiply apace. y
The rosebreasted grosbeak works
more in dustriously than any hod-
carrier and never strikes for shorter
hours. and what is he doing? Care
fully examining the potato plants and
picking off that pest, the potato
beetle. Unfortunately for US than for
him, be has a beautiful coat he is
wanted to adorn somebody's hat; his
life Of usefulness is cut short, and:the
bugs have free sweep with the pota-
toes" Again she says: Pages
have been written and published
about the desolation of the former
bird. haunted spots; every traveller
who observes, every collector who.
goes out to secure the last lingering
individual, reports the fearful
slaughter, the alarmiDg decrease of
birds and the terrific and uncheck-
able increase of their prey, the in
sect which hall yet devour the
world and the inhabitants thereof" "
Professor Edward E. Fish, Of Buff
falo, in speaking Of the great use of
birds to man, SAYS: /" It is estimated
that they save to agricultural purpos.
es annually over one hundred million
dollars in the United States. In
many sections insect life is still SO
abundant as to make human life al
most endurable. In other sections it
is only kept in check by birds, and
there is no place in which. were this
check removed, it would not greatly
hold The balance of power. The
number Of flies, mosquitoes, gnsts and
other small insects destroyed in one
day in small area by warblers, swal-
lows and fycatchers alone is beyond
computations. From daylight until
dark, all through the summer months.
these birds wage incessant war on the
enemies Of man"
"A great French authority Michlet)
has stated that there could be no veg
citation, and therefore no life, if the
birds were all destroyed. Is this to
be put.to practical test for fashions
sRke2 RA
! ask il. those who aid and abet the
folly Of destroying insectivorous birds.
and encourage the attendant cruelty
are not giving evidence of both lack
Of feeling and good sensef The
woman who decorates herself with the
body of a bird whose little heart was
wrung with anguish when it was torn
from its helpless nestlings, and they
- the slow torture of
ply logical when she
3'zs::;s e Z 1rights or objects to
ther love outraged
is 4 Only