Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-19
SLAUGHTER OF INNoCENTs.
Disappearance of Animal Forms from
English Field and Wood.
From the London Sketch.

From the London Sketch
Persecution OF our wild life tends 20 IN
crease in these days of widening facil-
tiles for sportsmen, and IL It were not for
the special care taken by a few enlight-
ened land owners many beasts and birds
would become extinct In our generation,
Few animals are more Intelligent and inter
estfng than the badger He does very little
harm. and even II he does eat birds eggs
he reduces the number of wasps by eating
their larvae wherever he finds them. Yet
we owe his preservation today almost en-
tirely to private care. The beautiful pine
marten can only exist al his ease In we'll
wooded districts that are seldom disturbed,
and save in deer forests he is hardly likely
TO enjoy long life. Elsewhere he is sup
posed to he the proper mark of every fool
who can handle a gun. The wild cat, too,
is almost extinct. believe a few still lin
ger in the deer forests OF Ceithness and
Sutherlandshire, and l know there is q
Cause in some highland shooting leases
that seeks to insure their preservation. OF
course. the wild cat is the most fierce beast
in these islands and can do a great deal or
damage, killing young lambs, and perhaps
fawns. too, to say nothing OF hares and
rabbits by the dozen and birds of every
shape and size. 49,
The golden eagle Is another bird that is
passing from these Islands, although he,
too, is protected as far possible by some
of the great northern land owners. Unfor-
tunately. the range of these birds is 80
wide. the rate of their flight so high that
a highland eagle can If II seem good ~
him. cross the Tweed in search OF his mid
day dinner and yet find time TO get back
to his own eerie by shutdown You may
preserve q bird in your own county, al
though that Is difficult enough but when
he can travel over several counties in the
course Of few hours his chances do not
count for much. The only good that pres
ervation does Is to secure comparative safe
ty for eggs and young ones. But the golden
eagle tends to disappear. and believe II is
only in the ShetlaDds that you may hope
to meet with more than one specimen at a
time. The old fable about these birds car
rying children away TO their nests Is firmly
believed In many parts OF the highlands to
this day; and IL you are prepared to accept
all that you are told you will And plenty OF
old women of either sex to assure you that
even though they themselves have not lost
any children this way they knew somebody
who had a friend who did.
But II may be objected that badger pine
niarten wild cat and golden eagle do a
great deal of harm to farmers what can be
seriously urged against the raven? Surely
ne IS the most intelligent bird that ever
grew reconciled to captivity, and the harm
that raven does is not worth mentioning
He lives for the greater part OF MS time
upon carrion, and in the few districts
where he is allowed TO live in peace finds
many of his meals where sportsnen have
passed and left unretrieyed game. He is
devoted to his wife and children, he never
grows old. and If he has not got distinct
language Of his own. / never met q bird
that gave more appearance OF having one.
He must be a very senseless brute WHO
would point his gun a a raven; yet as you
go from one part of the country to another
and ask old countrymen or game keepers
about the raven you are often told that the
bird was fairly common forty or fifty years
ago, but is never seen now. It is to be
feared that the ignorance OF game keepers
as class is responsible for the disappear
ance of many forms OF life that made our
woodlands attractive to the naturalist.