Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1904-11-17
A BIRD scAPEGRACE.
NEWBoLp, Oct. II, 1901.

NEWB0LD, Oct. III, 1901.
Editor GLOUCESTER Co. DEMOCRAT ~
Now that we have the robin with us again
in prime condition for the table, and are
prohibited from shooting him, owing to our
legislators Of the ''scovel" type who have
imposed penalty of twenty dollars for
each bird killed, does it not seem rather
hard, that after protecting the little fellow
for eleven months in the year that we are
not allowed an open season Of at least one
month to use him as food
The Following from the Detroit Free
Press is a strong argument in favor of allow
ing us short open season on Mr.. Robin
Many of his Northern friends will be
shocked to learn that Robin Redbreast leads
a doule life. Well-dressed, iaunty, brin-
ming over with good nature, devoted to his
wife aud babies, he is a model of respecta-
hility
It's true wedo not like to share with him
our very earliest peas and choicest cherries,
but he is so great favorite and his thiev-
ing 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 1t hap
pens in this way:
III December and January the robins find
on the Gulf coast climate that suits them.
4 They also find an ornamental Tree bearing
hard, yellow berry, about as large as a
small pea-China berries which they
+ are extremely fond. Now, the China berry,
while innocent in appearance, is very
dangerous food for robbins 1t contains
some narcotic principle that effects a robin
T just as alcohol affects man It makes
/ Robin drunk, and when he is drunk he acts
/ precisely like 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 followed
/ 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 a little the birds recover, but only
to hunt more China berries. AS long as
there are China berries Robin is constantly
and persistentlY drunk. He apparently
eats the berries for the single purpose Of
getting drunk and because he likes it. He
isn't hungry, for he is gorged with the ber-
ries to such an extent that when, as some
times happens, he misses his drunken hold
stuffed is he
Now, it must not be thought that even a
robin can undergo this sort of debauch for
month OF six weeks without its 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 Hooking bird, and Northern yisi-
tors 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 never thinks of it.
With the disappearance Of the China ber-
ries the birds begin to think OF their North
ern homes, their family duties, and more
prosalc but healthful diet of strawberries
and angle worms. In February they gather
in countless thousandsin the cane brakes of
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama, APP
parently waiting only for warmer weather
before beginning their migration. At this
season the visitors from the North, who
would about as soon think OF eating the pet
canary, finds robin pie a common dish on
Southern tables. On nquiring he learns
that the robins are slaughtered by the
thousands. Men with torches and clubs
visit the roosts by night and knock the
beers. They are brought to market in grain
sacks. The writer heard OF one man bring
ipg into market at one time $50 dozen, a
single nights murdeous work The robins
are sold on the streets for from 90 cents to
30 cents dozen There is no law against
the wholesale slaughter, but many people
in the South are interesting themselves in
securing such legislation as viii put stop
to it, One reason for the Indifference with
which our favorite is regarded IS that he is
only winter visitor and dosen't compete
as a song bird with the cardinal and the
mocking bird, both Of which are common
and great favorites Much of this pet
hunting is dore by negroes for sport. The
robins are also shot, but the slaughter in
this way is small compared with the whole
sale destruction Of the torch and the club
C. CoHILL.
How to play "snapdragon.'
''Snapdragon' is 4 Christmas game
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