Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1905-05-10
TO SAVE The BIRDS
WAYS IN WHICH ALL MAY
HELP IN WORK.
The Audubon Societies Represent q
Worthy Object in Which We
May All Help If Only
Trifie,

There is no more laudable object to
which we may lend our efforts than
that of saving the birds. The Audubon
societies are doing a great and good
work in this direction, and in this we
may all help-but how?
l will tell you of some way:
Ii we are women, we may refrain
from wearing the plumage of birds in
our hats, and we may do and say what
we can to make this practice unpop-
| ular. IT we are men, we can refrain
from killing any feathered creature
without some good and urgent reason
for doing so, and we can stand firmly
behind those laws which are framed
for the protection of birds and thar
nests and eggs. Whether we are wom-
en- or men, we can teach children the
| value OF birds, and show them that,
looking at the subject even from a
selfish point of view, there is more
knowledge and greater pleasure to be
gained from one living bird than from
| a score of dead ones. We can teach
them, also, that the collection of birds
eggs by small boys is as useless as it
is cruel and wasteful, and we can help
them to cultivate an interest in their
wild neighbors which will not involve
the pain or the destruction of the help
less. Ii we are teachers, we can sup
plement the work done by the par
ents. We can put ourselves in touch
with the leaders of the Audubon move
| ment, and see that our pupils are we'll
supplied with bird-charts, and with the
illustrated leaflets published from time
to time by the national committee
and obtain for them opportunities to
attend illustrated lectures on birds
good books on birds, to be found at
the nearest public library, and we can
arrange matters so that personal OBJ
servations on birds may form the top
les of essays. If there is museum &C.
| cessible, we may be able to take our
classes there occasionally, and now
| and then we may be able to arrange
for walk in the country, for the pur-
pose of getting acquainted with the
living birds. Children are naturally
fond Of animals as a rule, but it is
| necessary to teach them that consid-
| GRAFTON for an animal is more impor-
tant than the possession of it.
At this season, the boys, and the
girls, too, sometimes, may be taught
how to make simple bird houses for
the bluebirds, wrens, tree-swallows
and martins, and it will have a good
effect on an entire community if these
houses are put up in the school
grounds, and in the gardens and yards
of the pupils themselves. Then, at the
beginning Of the winter, the older pu-
pills may be organized into a relief
corps, to feed the birds in the woods
and fields; and almost anyone may
enjoy the pleasure of having birds
about the house during the winter
months, if little care is taken to keep
variety of food where the hungry lit
tle fellows can come for it without fear
of being molested.
If we have even very little money
to spare for birds, we can do our part
for the cause by joining the nearest
branch of our state Audubon society,
or, if there is no branch near us, we
who are interested and arrange to
have branch organization in our own
town or village. Then there are many
of us who. in addition to the small
amount necessary to pay our dues to
the state Audubon society, can afford
little more to help the great work
being done along the coast and else
| where by the national committee
which has recently been incorporated
| under the name of the National Asso-
| citation of Audubon Societies of Amer
| lea. In spite of it's good prospects,
| this committee is at the present time
| badly handicapped for want of funds.
With the means at its disposal, it has
done much splendid work in legisla.
| lures, and has effectively protected,
| and is still protecting, many interest
! ing and valuable colonies of sea birds,
which are being more Or less rapidly
| eXterminated by egg and plume hunt.
ers. But there are many more colonies
| to protect, and new wardens will be
| employed for this purpose if only the
necessary money is forthcoming to en-
able the committee to employ them.
Last of all, if We happen to be
wealthy, and we desSe to bequeath a
part of our fortune to some very
worthy institution, where would it do
more good than in the hands of the
national committee of the Audubon
society, where it would be used to
protect American birds and animals
and their descendants, for the profit
| Of the American people forever?
| ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES.