The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1905-02-16
COLD WEATHER
KILLING GAME
Unable to Get Food From
Frozen Ground.
PASSING OF WATER FOWL
Quail and Other Wild Birds and Beasts
Are Succumbing to Rigor-
Gus Winter.

Unless the weather moderates within
q day or two there is not likely to be
any waterfowl left along the Eastern
coast for next season.
Word was received at the Department
Of Agriculture today that ducks and
other feathered creatures are freezing
and starving to death all along the
coast in large numbers.
The greatest sufferers are the birds
that make their homes in the winter
in the waters from Massachusetts
south.
Among these species are the already
scarce wood duck, marsh hens, and
several ner *, kinds Of plover. ,ooo
river from Virginia north has been
frozen over hard, and the feeding
loo esn OF for 5e tb bros m Deen o rec
seeds and roots.
Starving to Death.
Weakened by starvation, the ducks
have. fallen easy victims to the intense.
cold. Heretofore 1t has not been UNI
usual for hunters and others TO pick
up single ducks dying OF aryation,
but. reports received today say whole
noeks are now being exterminated.
One report from New York says
along the Hudson. river from Newburg
north.
FROM Nofio1k IL IS stated that all
waters are frozen. and that ducks are
dying In hundreds, while some. en-
bcidened by their desperate condition,
are approaching houses and feeding
,s.fhe waterfowl are not the only
birds. however" said an officer Of the
ing from cold and hunger. All wild
creatures in the Northeast are suffer
ing and dying. Their food mas been
frozen away from them. and il there
ere to be any birds next year, farmers
and sportsmen should turn to at once
and begin feeding quail and like species.
We have heard that in Virginia.
Maryland. Pennsylvania. and the other
States quail and other wild birds have
been driven into farm yards for some
thing to eat, and that instead Of feeding
them and caring for them for breeding
purposes next year, farmers and their
children are killing them. This treat
ment means extinction.
- Bob White anyhosy- &
way of the famous carrier pigeon. the
long. ago, darkened the sky with his
numbers. A few winters like we are
now experiencing. and no protection by
law, will soon finish Bob White His
pretty notes have always been one Of
the welcome tunes Of the near fields.
for he has been friendly toward civiliza-
ton. and lived close 10 the farmhouse.
Passing of the Quail
This has been the cause of his I'M
doing. Now he is appealing to these
farmhouses for help, and his death fol-
lows the appeal. This Is murder The
quail is valuable to all farmers as an
insect destroyer. He eats as many
slugs, worms, and bugs generally Of the
destructive kind a chicken.
Just what the effect upon the wild
birds OF the District the terrific cold
has had may be imagined by an in
vestigation into the condition Of the
busting, fearless English sparrow Of
Washington. Even these birds are lying
dead in numbers about the streets. and
others are so weak they hutter only a
few feet when disturbed, sinking back
upon the snow, little feathered rufIies of
despondency Over in Virginia the
crows are fighting with the barnyard
fowls for their rations.