The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-01-10
EVIL WAYS OF A FRIEND.
TEMPTATION MEETS UIM ON HIS
 VAT SOUTH AND HE FALLS.
An Unsuitable Appetite.

An lnSNttnDie Appftlte.
 Many of his northern friends will be
 shocked to learn that Robin Redbreast
 leads double life. Well-dressed,
 jaunty, brimming over with good na-
 ture. devoted to his wife and babies, he
 is a model of responsibility.
 It's true we do not like to share with him our very earliest peas and choicest cherries, but he is is great a favorite and his thieving is carried on with such
 calm assurance that we readily forgive
 He has no enemies but the family cat All this here at home.
 When Robin goes south for his winter vacation he is tempted and falls It happens in this way: In December and January the robins find on the gulf coast a climate that suits them. They also find an ornamental tree bearing hard, yellow berry about as large as a small pea--shina berries-of which they are extremely fond. Now, the china berry, while innocent in appearance, is very dangerous food for robins. It contains some narcotic principle that affects robin just as a alcohol affects a man. It makes Robin drunk, and when he is drunk he acts precisely like a drunken man. Exhilarated at first, he dances about and sings in a "We- won't go home till morning. sort of way. This happy condition is soon fol- lowed by a drunken stupor-the bright eyes grow dull, the head droops and the bird loses all sense of danger. While in this stupid state the negro boys easily pick the birds from the low branches where they are perched.
 After little the birds recover, but only to hunt more china berries. As long as there are china berries Robin is consistently and consistently drunk. He apparently eats the berries for the single purpose of getting drunk and be- cause he likes 1t. He isn't hungry, for lie is gorged with the berries to such an extent that when. as sometimes hap pens, he misses his drunken hold and falls to the ground, he bursts open, so stuffed is he
 Now, 1t must not be thought that even g robin can undergo this sort of debauch for a month or six weeks with out it's having some effect on him. Robin soon loses his self-respect, grows ragged, neglects his bath and appears generally disreputable. He Is a very sad-looking bird, and northern visitors who don't know about china berries can't understand what has caused the change. He reforms when he must that is, when the china berries are all gone, but until then he apparently nev- CT thinks of it.
 With the disappearance of the china berries the birds begin to think of their northern homes, their family duties, and a more prosaic but healthful diet ! of strawberries and angle worms In February they gather in countless thou sands in the canebrakes of Tennessee and Alabama, apparently waiting only for warmer weather before beginning | their migration. At this season the | visitor from the north, who would about | as soon think of eating the pet canary, | finds robin pie" a common dish on | southern tables. On inquiring he | learns that the robins are slaughtered ! by the thousands. Men with torches and clubs visit the roosts by night and | knock the dazed birds off their perche 1 in great numbers. They are brought to market i n grain sacks. The writer heard of one man bringing into market at one time one hundred and eighty uOIeIl, q SlHBle IiShl HiuIueIous Wolh. The robins are sold on the streets for from twenty cents a dozen. There is no law against the wholesale slaughter, but many people in the south are inter- esting themselves in securing such leg islation as will put stop to it. One reason for the indifference with which our favorite is regarded is that he is only winter visitor and doesn't com pete as song bird with the cardinal and the mocking bird, both of which are common and great favorites. Much of this pothunting Is done by negroes for sport The robins are also shot but the slaughter in this way IS small con- pared with the wholesale destruction of the torch and the club.--Detroit Free Press.