The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-09
PROTECT The BIRD
Amos j. Cummings Writes of the
Beautiful Feathered Tribe.
Days of English Sparrow Seem
to Be Numbered.
CONGRESS WILL ACT.
Birds of ROseate and Rare
Plumage Almost Extinct.
Made So to Crafty the Vanity of
tho Eo~,,oIo Co..
CONGRESS WILL ACT.
IBy Congressman Amos ]. Cummings.l

by Congressman Amos J. Cummings.1
Washington, June 9.-The English
sparrow is doomed That tyrant of the
air has too longed waged merciless war
on the useful and beautiful members of
the feathered tribe. Congress is taking
steps to restore to America the song
birds that formerly made joyous music
as they trilled their happy way through
the air. The importation of the mon
goose, the SO-called ''fying-forceS'' sor
fruit bats, the English sparrow, the
starting or such other birds or animals
as the secretary of agriculture may de-
clare injurious to the interests of agri-
culture. or horticulture is to be pro-
hibited. The measure passes congress
none too soon.
Thirteen years ago this spring the
Capitol grounds and the parks of this
city were filled with robins, bobolinks,
and other song birds. The sward below
the piazza of the house wing of the
Capitol was dotted with songSters, the
robins running in every direction for
worms and insects and the trees alive
with music. Today it is a rarity to see
a robin in the city of Washington.
heard two chirping on Capitol square
early in the spring. Two weeks ago
saw a robin in the square pecked to
death by English sparrows. When I
reached him he was lying with droop-
ing head and OutStretched wings upon
three hundred of these English spar
rows surrounded him, tormenting and
attacking him. I took the bird into the
house and gave him a. drop of the best
brandy. It revived him and he flew to
the back of a chair. A moment after
wards, however, I am sorry to say, his
head began gradually to droop and he
finally dropped from his perch to the
carpet. Five minutes afterwards he
gasped for breath and died. On ex-
animation I found one eye blOodshOt,
and discovered that the bird was terri
bly, lacerated under the wings The
bills of the sparroWs had pierced him
to the vitals.
Last summer I spent in the Susque-
hanna Valley. Twelve years before this
l had summered in the same spot. The
little yellow cherry bird was there then
in profusion. The ground chippy dart
ed under the fences and has its nest
in the tall grass. The yellow hammer
was there undulating from tree to tree.
The tapping of the WoOdpecker was
heard in the Eastwood and other trees,
and the twitter of the phoebe bird
and the plaintiVe note of the pewit.
The kildee and the plOVer flew over
hills and the kingfsher and the little
tip-up were seen upon the shores of
the river, BObwhite made himself heard
in the meadows, and dainty woodcock
flew out of the dellS toward nightfall.
All the varieties of birds familiar to US
in boyhood days were there, including
the catbird, the brown thrasher and the
kingbird. In that same region today
there is not one of these song birds
where twelve years ago there were So
The wild pigeon is a bird of the past
I have not seen one on the wing for
six years. AS the correspondent OF
great American newspaper l visited
Forrest county, Pa, twenty years ago
to describe the last pigeon roost this
side of the Mississippi. The birds were
nesting in the forests, covering the
trees for 20 square miles. Hundreds of
Indians from the New York state
reservations were there killing the birds
and gathering the squads. SpOrtSmen
were netting them by the thousand, and
pot hunters were sending great loads
of them to market. When a boy in
Wayne county, Pa, I have seen fiocks
of these pigeons stretching across the
sky from daylight to nightfall headed
for the west. I doubt whether today
you could find one in the whole of
Wayne county. All have disappeared.
The last roost in the United States was
destroyed in the Indian Territory about
twelve years ago. A wild pigeon is now
more scarce, north SOUTH east and
west, than a wild turkey. The prairie
chickens have nearly disappeared, and
the American wood duck is being rap
idly exterminated.
The most of the states have laws for
the protection of their birds, but desire
congressional legislation to make their
laws effective. Last October 1 was IN
Florida. Twenty five years ago sum-
IIeTeQ ana W1nJ6I6Q there. spent years
on the east coast. The sky was filled
with immense flockS of wood ibis, gan
nets, curlews of all colors, oyster birds,
chuck-wilF Swallows, sheerwaterS, and
sandpipers. The man-Of-war hawk
sailed in the upper sky and long lines
of pelicans trailed over the beach. There
were immense fiOckS of egretS and
snowy herons. besides the great blue
and Louisiana herOnS and the rOSeate
spOOnbiH curleW, now the rareSt and
iYI in
scream of the parakeet was heard at
every turn, and goldfinches, hooking
birds, limpkins, nonpareils, and myriads
| Of SOngsters were seen everywhere. To-
| day the parakeet has almost entirely
| disappeared, the roSeate spoonful is
rarely seen, and even the common sea-
/ gull is a prey to the gunner. The state
! is doing its best now to protect them.
| A man who would kill reseate spoon
| bill curleW today is liable to fine of
| $3.50.
| This slaughter has been made to graf
| ify the vanity of the female sex. Hats
and bOnnets have been decorated with
/ their snowy plumeS, and the slaughter
/ still continues and will continue until
| some federal law, mOrtlSed in with state
| laws, prevents it. Our agricultural
/ newspapers are filled with articles
| showing that this wantOn destruction
| of the birds is working a great injury
/ to the agricultural community. 1t has
| become a matter of serious concern to
/ the farmer. The curculio and other de-
/ structiye insects have their sweet viii
| in his orchard, and all insects detrimen-
| tai to plant life are increasing in num-
| Der because of this cruel, wanton an6
| vicious destruction of bird life.It should
| be stopped promptly and forever.
have recently seen an advertisement
in a Philadelphia newspaper advertis-
ing. proposals for the skins Of 30,O0t
| birds. Contracts have been made Will
men in the little state of Delaware II