The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-09-22
BIRD SLAUGHTER DOWN SOUTH
MANY SON0 BIRDS KILLED IN
THE GULF STATES.
Rsbins Considered Game nirds In Mis-
stssippi - BIRD killing IN the nice
Fields Ducss Much scarcer spe-
ctcs In Danger Of Este mina ton.

NH - H
Orleans and Mobile.
Yes. we've got quails. p~artridges. robins
w~oodpeckers. Indian hens. meadow lark
and a LOT Of o,he game birds came ths
answer. The man who gave II was a deputy
sheriff whoee duty included the enforce.
ment Of the game law.
But dozen, the .aw forbid the killing o'
robins and meadow larks'' was asked.
I'm IT, darnrd II | know, : answered the
deputy. IF II does nobody vs. any atten.
ton Ia it
This hit Of conversation illustrates con.
ditions In the South which have an important
bcarng In relation To the continuance
Of certain forms Of bird life. II may seem
nconceivable to the Northern sportsman
tina, robins should IT, considered game
and shot both for the hunters Use and for
the market. yet they are hunted not only
In one community Of the South but in very
many. Beginning with Tennessee one
may 60 to the Gulf, as far west "a Texas
and East TO the Atlantic and he will find In
general that robins. which in the North
arr protected and which return the kindness
by trusting their human neighbour and
building their nests In orchards nea human
habitations arr as wild a. der. An orni-
thologist who spent the spring In Mississippi
when the migrating birds were on their
way northwsrd and counted eighty s,ecios
says he saw not a single robin among them.
Indian hen In the local name applied 10
huththe ivory billed and The pileated wood
reckcr. Both are noble birds and so nearly
alike that only a n ornithOlogist would On
casual observation mark a difference.
Larger than crows they have the same
pct black color "a We for the bngh red top
] LrAf and Rhtta slllN marLIuug Ianaafh the
wings. They fly through the woods like
T, other w~oodpeckers. alight ON the sides
~ trees ard wake the echoes with their
~poundingN Their sire made them = tempt
ting quarry 20 the hunters of the southern
FORESTS and the birds were stalked az men
stalk turkeys. and shot with either rife
or shot gun. Now the result II evident
The ivory bin II seen No rarely that some
authorities declare N extinct and the pileat"d
II tscoTning scarCc.
some curious contrasts are found in bird
lie In the South While tho robin Ia Nlchi-
gan OF New England eats on the doorstep
tn" robin in Louisiana II ~ fearful II man
as the = cartridge OF the quail 1he CROW.
on the other hand, which you find irnpn~-
sihle " approach In his summer home up
North. viii sif on the fence and hook AT YOU
~ calmly a. though YOU We're the hest Of
his friends and the ugly buzzard. which
IN the North holds himself far out of range
IN the upf-rr air currents, sits on the harm or
rPibfN silfN bn Wv tflNf NNfA Nv ktNN
south for the winter. When one CON
sid"rs that robins are protested in IN" North
and killed In the south, that crows and
buzzards are shot on sight ia the North
and saved as scavensers and preventers
~ disease In the warmer climates this con
duct supplies evidence ~ bird Intelligence
The experience In Mississippi de-crib.d
above II by no means an isolated one The
same sportsman ate birds nj a hotel and
aftarward. asking what they were. found
That was an Louisiana On a Missis@ippi
steamboat he saw w~oodpsCkep. meadow
lsrks and mockiug birds served AZ the same
meal to passengers Who had gone ashore
and Ia accordance with the customs of the
country killed them FOR eating.
The blame for the -lau ghter 81 the song
birds rests moro or lcss upon all the Gull
States The negroes and poor whites ara
the chief offenders, hut 10y no means the
only ones. for there are men who call them
selves spprtSmen who shoot robins for
IOtpae~, and there are other men, who scorn
the pot hunter, tina look on and say nothing
~ stimulate Legislative action Besides
IA" negro siri IN" poor white who shoot
song hiris To eat there are many profess
sional hunters who Kill them for their
feathers The robin suffers but little from
this influence, for the reason that II il
not especially brilliant But the orioles.
thrtisheS, cardinals and tanagerS ara
slaughtered 10y the thousand Then. too.
NV lllAINN~Nl'Nl IfNullN WI liAhlN IAtIlNd'lblls
that Csrtsin insect eating birds arr de-
Structive To grains. and negro boys with
guns are stationed In the falds 20 shoot
everything ~ the third kind that alights
This IL ESPECIALLY true on the rice plan
taiion- along N" lower Mi~-iSsippl and tho
hayour ~ the same region In April tho
negro BOYS will h" ~ plentiful a. scar,-
crows Ia a Northern farmers cornfeld
Rice birds they arr instructed Ia shoot.
~ far a. the writer can learn this name j.
generally applied to black birds IN that
rrgiun. hut whcu he asked one II the small
- guarding a southern planters
field Ia point out a ric~ hind he was Informed
that an birds what lights down ia lie rice
lan's - ricr hirls fh- shooting Of his
youngSter was In keeping with his defini-
ton, Tor among the binds he had kill.~l and
Pulled up for the inspection Of the oVerSsar
was everything from the hitt.rn To the cong
SPARROW
The meet systematic bird slaughter IL IN
the coast IN. GulI cnasi with it's forests
and ~ aims and islands furnishes a win
tering place for mill ms of birds Wild
ducks of nearly every variety alight thera
and spend the winter Their favori,a
hauuts are the have. lakes and havnu-
tina, rut up he vas, swamp 81 Louisiana. /
Then Their, arr all the pretty singers and
that make Pheasant Northern
orchards IN summer together with score.
~ sI-.cies tina, never venture 80 far from
the Southland These Last are no, water