The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1904-01-25
Movement on Foot to Establish
an Audubon Society
GREAT BENEFIT TO FARMER
John n. Wallace of Huntsville Issues
Pamphlet In Which He Points
Out Damage Done by the
Destruction of Birds.

of the state in respect to the economic
value of Its birds. The society also agi-
tates better laws for the protection of
the birds and when laws are passed it
sees to their enforcement.
William butcher, chairman of the pro-
biologists union, has written to T. T.
Ashford of this city asking him to take
the matter up and agitate it so that the
next legislature will pass better laws
for the protection of the birds.
John II. Wallace, Jr., of Huntsville,
who has taken an active part in this
movement, has prepared pamphlet in re-
gard to the economic value of birds to
the farmers, and following are extracts
from it,
Wallace Pamphlet
Game birds, to some extent, by virtue
of their already deplorabe scarcity, have
ELECTED protective legislation. The mind
of man imperatively demands recreation.
Unless diversion can be found in a legit
innate vein, he. In his great unrest, seeks
that which 1t not wholesome
Hunting has ever been the sport of
kings, peasants and savages alike, and
the chase will always hold for man an In
comparable infatuation.
when America was first discovered.
here abounded an idealistic sportsmans
paradise buffalo. deer, moose, elk. bear
and panther roamed the forests Geese,
duck. nrant swan and wild pigeons flew
overhead in countless Millions. Practical
/ IN all bau c1a md In
great sport once enjoyed by prmeval
nimrods, fingers only In tradition.
1.-The few remaining specimens of game
birds should be vigllantly protected
against humiliation, and so propagated
that gentlemen will consider the pursuit
of the elusive denizens of the brush in
finitery preferable to Bacchanal hllarlty
and that rlotous revelry that emascu-
lates all that is noble, pure and godlike In
mans architecture.
Birds Help the Farmers.
1.-THE great question of the cause of the
prevalence of plant maladies and the
problem of the weed control each year
grows more harassing to the farmers.
The reason for this is simple. Our most
| beneficial birds, among them doves, rob-
! bins, field larks and bullbats, have been
so ruthessly destroyed that in less than
a generation their number has decreased
so per cent
when the fact is recalled that the
crops of one dove, recently killed in Ten
nessee, contained over 1000 weed seeds,
and when it is understood that a healthy
dove will destroy each feeding day at
least 5000 prospective weeds, more than two
negroes. working at s1.5O per day each.
! could uproot in double the time, 1t is easy
to see from the tons upon tons of weed
seed (besides insects) that this bird would
destroy each year, that our cheapest, most
efficient hoe hand proves in the end to be
the Alabama dove.
"As an insect devourer, the hullbat Is
equally servlceable. Its stomach Is elias
tic and will hold more than that of
pigeon, and its voracity is simply phe-
nomenal, yet its diminutive frame is small
Ter than that of a ''lildee." The part
borne by the bullbat in mosquito destruc-
ton, especially in the determination of
the "anopheles,' or malaria-spreadins
species, transcends the combined work of
case of quinine and tank of kerosene
OIL AS fever germ abater in malarial
district, flock of bullbats would be
worth a grove of qunine trees.
Could Stop Boil WeevI.
Besides the robin and field lark. al
ready mentioned. both being insect and
weed destroyers, there are many other
birds that do invaluable work for the
farmer without pay. The ravages made
by the dreaded Mexican boil weevil" that
devastates cotton fields like a whitening
simeon, cannot be checked In surer
way than by being obliterated by our
insectivorous birds.
'If our people could fully appreciate
| the value Of preserving the existing rem
nant of our birds, without considering
Its future Increase, the halls of our state
capitol would resound with an emphatic
and premeptory demand for adequate
legislation, for the preservation of our
birds means little less than the preser-
walton of our agriculture itself. Their
extinction would amount practically to
wiping out the entire farming interests
of our splendid commonwealth.
statistics incontestably demonstrate
the fact that rainfall not only regulates
the yield of our plantation, but that 1t
directs and controls the fate of our
tional politics
Political Feature.
when rainfall is light the people raise
| poor crops, and are therefore unhappy
and discontinued. 1t is then they desire
to make a change in the administration
of the governmental affairs and there
| fore the party in power is deposed. When
/ there is an excess of rainfall aboundant
crops result and the party in power is
retained Thus 1t is that, unless speedy
legislation Is had in order that the in
sectivorous birds remaining may be re-
| tanned TO do valiant service for their
farmer friends. discord win perennialy
blight the heart Of the happy husband
man, and political chaos and turbulence
| Will reign throughout the nations. and
| the anthems Of contentment and cadences
of prosperity Will no longer pervade the
| hearts of the honest sons OF toll but
| will be hushed and swallowed up by
the signs and groans of the imp of in