Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1904-04-27
Correspondence.
Birds of Summer.
SOUTH HANCOCK, April 25, 100

| SOUTH HANCOCK, April 20, 1904.
To the Editor of The american:
From my earliest recollection have al
ways been an exceptionally great lover OF
all those wild birds which l had been
| taught by my parents, and later by my
| own experience, were either harmless or
| beneficial to mankind; and doubt not
that l always shall continue such, for /
have not the slightest wish, by virtue of
any circumstance, to change this inhe-
rent nature of mine.
| In fact, prize 1t as one of my greatest
virtues, believing it to be a quality abso-
lutely necessary for humanity to possess
to show truly human principles. There is
so very little of the sportive element in
my nature that / can easily hold 1t in
check, and as for the wanton destruction
OF life for the mere pleasure that it at
fords, l can never tolerate it.
The dominion" which God gave to
man over all other life did not give him
the right to exercise cruelty, or in any
way destroy life, except in obedience to
the law of the ''survival of the fittest"
Self presel walton is the first law OF ia
ture, and when it becomes necessa to
take the lives OF animals of lower order,
or even of the same order, when personal
violence is threatened, in order to save
that life, it is not only duty bat a com
mand of God which we all should obey.
II matters but little whether that life is
threatened directly or indirectly, for
tsynu taka r,v ufa
When you do take the means whereby live"
Every individual endowed with common
intelligence, on reaching the age OF under
standing, should understand this divine
law, and correctly apply it to their daily
lives; and every broad minded, conserva-
tive person will do SO, or at least, try to
do so. 1t is only those whose scope of in
telllgence is so limited that they are I'M
able to extend their mental vision beyond
their own narrow confines of life, wi no fail
to see Tor If they could see, possess a ma
ture so stolid that they would not acknow-
ledge itl or accept conditions clearly pre-
sented from an outside view-who will
keep on croaking their idioms which
present not a vein of argument, and are
unworthy of attention.
Yes, we should all be truly glad that the
birds are with US once again. 1t would,
indeed, be a lonesome summer Wi bout
the music of the song birds. There are
many species which mankind should have
no controversy with, as they are either
beneficial or utterly harmless; but there
are others which are against the best inter
ests of certain kinds OF husbaudry. Among
the latter the most noted are tue crow,
robin, cherry bird, hawk, backbird and
swallow The three first named are the
only ones L ever had any controversy
with, aud The first named l had been on
good terms with for many years till the last
two, when his effrontrey became unbear
able, and took up arms against him, and
the war is still on.
AS to the next two l need say nothing
more than what have already said to the
readers OF The AMERICAN. Hawks are
very scarce birds of late years, and l at
tribute the very great increase of the
robins largely to this fact. l would
do almost anything to encourage family
of hawks to nest on my place and would
willingly pay for all damage done to the
poultry yards of the nefghborhood for
their protection. The blackbird only
visits us 10 early spring and fall, and does
but little damage.
Considerable complaint has come from
the bee keepers against the swallows, and
we know that public buildings and dwell
ings where the finishings furnish good
places for their nests will be greatly dis
figured by them, and we cannot blame
the women folks who wish to dry their
washings in the open air upon the grass
for complaining about them.
Notwfthsl anding all this, delight to
encourage them to build on my stable,
for / greatly enjoy their company. The
common sparrows-ground and tree
sparrows q never saw an English sparrow
on my place. do considerable damage to
the berry patch, but have not yet hard
ened my heart against them, and the little
tree sparrow Is such beautiful singer
that hope may never have occasion to
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