Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1903-04-23
BIRD LIFE CUT
SHORT 0NE-HALF
FRiGHTFUL RESULTS FROM THE
SLAUGHTER IN SOME STATES.
A MOST TERRIBLE MISTAKE
destructive Insects Multiply as Birds
Decrease-5,5oo Eggs of Plant
Lice for Single Chicadee's Break
notwithstanding Shrubs Useful
to Plant.

E. p. Powell in the Christian Regis
ter.-A fight has begun that should be
carried to the finish. Laws have been
enacted by nearly every state forbid
ding the killing of song birds. But the
destruction has gone on, in spite of
legislation and public sentiment I'M
there is danger that the more beau
tiful and useful of our birds will be
entirely eXterminated. The hatmak-
ers and dressmakers have coolly an
nounced that the decorations worn by
women in 1903 will more than ever
consist OF birds and their plumage.
Agents are going all over the south
ern states, bagging their victims by
the tens of thousands and shipping
them to the northern markets. Audi
bon societies have protested as vainly
as legal statutes have been enacted.
Fashion has snapped its fingers at
the law and despised the petitions of
mercy
The Audubon society of New York
state has now entered upon a cam
paign against this slaughter and the
illegal traffic in birds and their plum
age that bids fair to be of some mo-
ment. William butcher of the execu-
tive board has addressed a statement
to dealers, in which he rehearses the
state and federal laws relating to the
protection of non game birds. and
warns them that the society intends
to prosecute all violators to the extent
Of the law. Three thousand copies OF
this statement, signed by the presi-
dent Morris K. Jesup, by Frank NJ
Chapman chairman of the executive
committee, and by William butcher,
chairman of the committee on laws,
have been sent to such dealers as are
to be affected, and to persons and or
CARNATIONS otherwise interested.
This is not a contest of a senti-
mental sort. 1t has quite passedtha
stage. 1t is not a matter of mercy to
the beautiful songsters alone; it is a
question whether the best friends of
agriculture, the very mainstay of the
orchardist, shall be destroyed The
most careful research shows that man
can hardly carry on his fight with the
insects alone. Aside from their power
to make the world delightful TOR us,
the chief service of the bird is to en-
able us TO compete with our insect
rivals. Prof. Hodge says: For this
work we have vast mechanism in
Nature; an army as plastic almost as
air; on wings, powerful and beautiful,
able to carry their flying squadrons
hundreds and even thousands of miles
whittier food abounds and where in
sects threaten destruction to vegeta
ton"
But so recklessly have we dealt with
these friends of ours that more and
more are they fighting shy of civiliza-
tion." This is true with some excep-
tions. There are certain homesteads
and certain towns where we find il
Illustrated the delightful harmony and
confidence which may exist between
bird life and human life. Burroughs
says that the birds sing with more
confidence and copiouSness in England
because they are protected by civiliza-
ton. Wood birds here are house and
garden birds there" They sing more
hours in the day and more days in the
year. He thinks that if our birds were
uniformly safe they would come closer
to us and become our companions
With proper care many of our best
songsters and most useful birds that
are now rare might become more
common, filing our parks and the
hickly-planted portions of our towns,
and even our cities"
Pref. Hodge adds most pathetic
story, showing the decrease that is
going on in bird life in our older
states. During the past Is years he
tells us that our birds have decreased
SO per cent. in So states and terrific
ries. Maine has lost 81 per cent, Con
necticut rs per cent, New York IS per
cent, Pennsylvania 81 per cent, indi-
ana 60 per cent, Georgia 65 per cent,
Texas 81 per cent, and so the story
goes on. illustrating mans folly and
wonan's wilful vanity. The very large
bulk of the food of all these birds is
the insects which are destructive to
cur fruit and our grain. In other
words, we nave dSsIlO y tu AZ pa NSH'''
or nearly half, of the only friends we
have capable of making agriculture
prosperous. William T. Hornaday,
discussing the destruction of our birds
and mammals, tells us that We have
absolutely unbalanced Nature. and that
the matter has now become national
exigency, in the careful study of which
every patriotic citizen and every
school child should participate.
Apart from the battle with selfish
greed. we have another phase OF the
question to consider. How shall we
be able to domesticate those birds
which are now left TO us. the "a per
cent. of song birds which have largely
been made to fear man and hide IN
the thickets? We want them won
back to us. so that they viii take up
their homes in our orchards and
around our domes. Referring once
moe 20 prof. Hodge, he tells MS that