The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-01
THE PASSING OF THE BIRDS.
Murderous Millinery and Ignorant Pro-
miscuous Slaughter Fast wiping them

out q
More than thirty years ago the ornith
ologisGs first began to fear the ultimate
extinction of the birds of America
Their fears found words, but their
warnings were laughed at because no one
could be brought to believe that prolific
creatures, harmless by nature, could be
IN danger of total destruction. It. is
known now that the determination
which was feared thirty years ago is soon
to be an accomplished fact unless means
are taken at once to check the slaughter
of our useful bird for purposes of per-
sonal adornment.
There are at least fifty species of feath-
cred life once common in all parts of the
United States east of the Mississippi river
that are now seen only rarely. The
birds that are beingsexterminated most
rapidly are those whose brilliant mark
lngs make them prey to the millinery
trade, which has men employed every
where to kill the ihnocents. The num-
Der of birds annually sacrificed to the
vanity of the women of Anne RIGA is
placed as high as 100000 by the testi-
mony of those who have Investigated
the matter
One of the worst features of.the slaugh-
ter of birds for women's hat ornaments
is that those employed by the wholesale
milliners choose nesting time as their
birds are easily found and readily APP
preached. It is far from exaggeration to
say that one bird out of every four worn
as. a bit of feathered finery represents
nestful of f1edgelings doomed to slow
starvation by the death of the parent!
A. few years ago the wooded banks Of
Lake Michigan north of Chicago were
the breeding grounds of hundreds of
scarlet tanagers, possibly the most beau
itful bird known to American ornitholo-
gy. Now they are SO rare that one must
search a whole summer day to find a
single specimen. The red-winged black
bird is fast disappearing. The Baltimore
oriole, which once made its nest at the
end of the dropping boughs of the elms
in the very heart of large Eastern cities,
now is seen rarely save in remote coun-
try districts, and there is now as shy as
it once was friendly The numerous
family known as the swarblers, whose
diminutive size would be protection
did not their surprising beauty make
them objects of cupidity, are going the
way of the Others Many varieties of
this family nest north of the latitude of
Chicago, but great numbers of the little
creatures are killed during the vernal
migration. The woodpeckers are rapidly
decreasing in mum bers. The red-headed
woodpecker, whose poll was sdyed by
Hiawatha for timely service, was COM
mon resident Of Chicago. Its seen still
occasionally in Kenwood and other
Southern city districts, but the hunter
for the millinery market and the small
boy with his noiseless air gun are fast
depicting its ranks
The slaughter of the birds is far more
than mere matter of sentiment. 1t is
a.question of Importance from an econ
omic point of view. Nearly all the
birds of bright plumage are insectivor-
Gus. A statement of the number of nox-
ious insects that single songster will
kill in day would tax the credulity
could it not be readily proven.
There are about 800 varieties of Ameri-
can birds, and OF this number those
whose conduct forms no excuse for their
living can be counted on the fingers of
one hand. Husbandmen have been apt
to let q cherry bruised by the beak of a
robin Outweigh the death by the same
beak of a hundred insects whose killing
made the ripe cherries possible. The
tiny bird manned by ornithologists the
creeper is called the .sap-saucer by farm
ers,. because of its supposed habits. so
farssfroms sapping the life of tree this
misunderstood little bird picks from
beneath the bark the insect that is slow
ly working the trees destruction. If the
farmers will consult their own interests
and protect bird life, they viii! reap the
benefit with their wheat and pluck it
with their cherries The continuance of
the birds with us rests, however, mainly
with women. If she will but permanent
ly substitute ribbons and flowers for
feathers as articles of bonnet decoration
the trill Of the song sparrow. and the
liquid notesof theshermit thrush may be
heard in our meadows and woods for the
years to come Chicago Tribune.