Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1900-03-08
The Wisconsin Audubon SoCletu.

h6rdes that otherwise would make
this earth OF ours barren waste.
Lougfellow says:
90 you ne'er think what wondrous beings
these:
who taught
The dialectthey speak where melodies
Alone are the interpreters OF thought
Whose household words are songs % many
sweeter than instrument Of man e'er
caught.
Whose habitation in the tree-tops even
Are halfway houses on the road to
Heaven.
Think OF your woods and orchards without
Of empty nests that hang from boughs
ana beams
As in an idiots brain, remembered words
Hang empty mid the cobwebs OF his
dreams
You cali them thieves and pillagers but
T6ey are the winged wardens Of your
VINO from the cora fields drive the insidious
foe,
And from your haryests keep hundred
Even the blacklist of them all, the crow,
Repders good serv &c as your man OF
Crushing the beetle ii his coat Of mail,
And crying havoc on the slug and snail.
Because Of the terrible destruction
ar birds, for food, for sport and for
decorative purposes, European coun-
tries as well as different sections of
our own country have organized these
bird protecting societies.
The Audubon Society is not merely
a band Of women and children y no
propose to study birds from poetic
appreciation OF their beauty Of form,
color aud song, but is made up Of edu-
Gators, professors, clergymen and
people all over the state, who find we
need birds because of their usefulness.
Careful study Of the food habits of
b rds has proven that those who do
elt grains and fruits, far more than
repay the slight tax they levy upon
the crops, by the wholesale destruction
OF the insects Even the very bad
hawk and owl do good service to the
farmer by eating mice, as well rs in
gas, and mice are very destructive
creatures While we think 50 many
birds are enemies OF our fruits and
grains it is fact the greater part of
their food is insects. An examination
Of the stomach contents Of various
birds has been made, and it is found
Il G few cherries or berries they have
eaten is more than counterbalanced
by the good they have done eating in
sects One pair Of martins destroyed
1000 insects in one day. From the
stomach Of wild pigeon were taken
nine full grown crlckets, four grass
Peppers and two caterpillars. rhr-
teen caterpillars, seven harvestman
and one grub were taken irom the Sto-
mach of partridge less than week
old Three golden-wnged woodpeck-
ers had in their stomachS respectively
225, 220, and POO ants each
The actual amount that birds con-
sumo daily is about three times the
amount found in the stomach. |
once heard boy tell of having kill
cd robin and on examining the sto-
mach, be said there were several
berries in it but it was ust full of
worms"
II has been estimated that about
$4,000, 900 birds summer in this state.
Now this vast number is in pursuit
Of iasects for at least three months Of
the year In the spring they eat
many moth, beetle and fly just as
they are about to lay their eggs.
Many Of these insects eaten by the
birds are very troublesome 10 the
horses, cattle and sheep.
fruit grower in Michigan says
hat the destruction Of bird life has
been carried on in that state to such
an extent that it is almost impossible
70 raise any kind Of fruit, and even
grapes rs sell as apples were getting
wormy.
One ornithologist says that The
bird population has been 50 reduced
that the insects threaten us with Il
plague. One insect in one year can
be the progenitor Of siN-billion de-
scendants.
Prof +. L. Fish Of Buffalo in speak
ing of the use of birds to man says:
they save to agricultural purposes
atone annually, over one-huudred
million dollars in the United States =
The February Self Culture for 1900
in an article entitled, "Ornitho,ogy
from Car Window. speaking Of the
food of birds says that If each insect
eaten by boboink IS 4 menace To
vegetation to the extent Of a half-cent
one family OF six bobolinkS would, in
four months benefit agriculture Just
$500.
The Dept 81 Agriculture suggests
one way OF projecting birds is by
planting food Tor them, that vii
draw them away from the fruit OuI
game birds are protected by the game
laws passed each year, and the war
dcns appointed; but our song birds
are forgotten The small boy with
the sling shot and air-guu, and the
women are the ones interested in the
birds Of beautiful plumage The
great number killed each year fol
food, and even thongh,lessly cannot
compare with the number Killed for
decorative purposes.
j y. Alien, IN. H., Curator OF Ot
anthology of the American Museum
of Natural History say. this
10 compare the destruction o
birds with that carrie | OH in the nam,
Of science, il NAV suffice T. say tina
laore birds are sometimes sold fol
millinery purposes at one auction salt
in london. Of which many are hel,
annually, :han are contained in al
the museums OF the world, both pub
lie and private, which represents the
scientific collecting of century.
Bird lovers think ii women coul,
hn)w Of the tes ruction Of bird lif
that takes place to supply the mi lin
cry trade, they would make it un
fashionable to wear dead bird on tn
bonnet Many OF the birds are kille,
during the nesting season, when i
the parent birds are killed. the youn,
die o. starvation Tins Wholesal
slaughter extends throughout tn
whole country. On Cape Cod, 40,
600 terms were killed in one season
The swamps of Florida are almost de