The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1903-12-03
HOW 20 SHIELD BIRDS.
Licensing the House Cat One Means
Suggeated for Their
Protection. Ee


Suggested for Their
Protection.
Louis Windmuller, in the Outlook
writes on How to Shield Our Birds,
as follows: F
Some 10000 species of birds have been
created for mans benefit. Carrion
would propagate disease without vul-
lures and ravens; owls, buzzards and
other hawks prey upon noisome rodents
and venomous reptiles; but OF all tribes
the insectivores are the most numer-
GUS, their services the most valuable.
Vermin would destroy the grain in the
west, the cotton in the south and the
fruit wherever it grows If birds were not
near to defend them until they ripen.
Examinations made by scientists of the
digestive organs of many varieties OF
birds have demonstrated that they chief
ly feed upon insects; they also show the
kind of insects that each species prefers.
Their subtle senses are directed by al
most human intelligence, and they are
apt to select of all the food within their
reach what is best adapted for them and
for their offspring, and what would In
jure by its presence if they did not de-
stroy it.
Aside from the debt of gratitude we
owe for their usefulness, birds claim our
affection by the charm of their presence.
They are types Of joyful bliss and SYM
bols Of absolute liberty. Where the
color of their plumage is added to the
of their motion. they will turn a barren
wilderness into perfect paradise. Many
heart would sink were songsters not
nigh with sweet melody to raise it.
The ancient Greeks called birds lords
of the air." Syrians built affairs FOR their
worship. Romans had such an exalted
opinion Of their sagacity that they
augured the fortune uf distant legions by
the manner of their fight. Birds grace
full wings we're applied to the shoulders
Of favorite gods, and we continue to
borrow them for the angels of our own
imagination, but we lay no obstacles in
the way OF divers enemies that perse-
cute them.
The fiercest of them all, the domestic
cat, we permit in our garden and or
ehard to prowl and to make the artless
bird his prey before he has time to fly.
Instead Of checking we countenance the
enormous natural increase of cats, until
| it is estimated that 5000, 900 of them
annually kill some 20, ,000, 900 Of birds. A
license fee is exacted for keeping a
watchful dog; why should not this rule
apply, as 1t does in some places already,
to the more dispensable cat? A German
household must pay small fee for the
privilege of keeping a single cat. Ee-
wards for unlicensed cats are offered by
ofiicials against delivery of their car
casses Where felines vanish. birds re-
appear. and. guarding trees against
worms, they augment their fruit. In
watching the young of pair Of Euro
pean jays, DR.. Brewer has found that
they consumed half a million caterpillars
In one season.
The Audubon society OF the state Of
New York has initiated measures for an
international agreement to suppress ths
nefarious trade in feathers, which GER
tainly can be made difficult II the humane
societies Of all civilized countries unite
on proper measures The feathers OF nc
beneficial wild bird should be allowed
to pass the custom house Of any coun
try. When concealed and detected they
should be seized as contraband, and th'
guilty owner, when found. severel,
punished. Traffic in birds is no less In
human than the slave trade of yore hal
been.