The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1906-06-14
Protect the Birds Nests.
Parents Should See to it That Chill
dren are Not Allowed to Destroy
the Eggs of Song Birds and In
sect Eaters.

INC GxSS Vi OOuS DIGS anu IN
sect Eaters.
Raleigh Progressive Farmer
MEssRs. EDIToRs: This morning,
with the first streaks of dawn, there
awOke about almost every home of
Progressive Farmer readers the songs
OF numerous birds; for this is not
only the spring OF the year with the
fruit grower, the farmer and the fish
erman, but it is the spring of the wild
things as well.
1t is now that there is being con-
structed on every hand numerous ex-
amples of that wonderful type of ar
chitecture which no man can dupli-
cate, namely the bird nest. Every
nest is the center of interest and de-
votion OF a pair of the happiest and
most useiai of Gods wild creatures.
The nest is not built as a home in the
sense OF q resting and sleeping place
for birds, but is made as a safe de-
pository for the eggs and a cradle for
the young.
/ presume that ever since civilized
boy first walked the earth and watch
ed the birds as they sang and loved
and built their nests there has been u
feeling in the embryonic masculine
brain that it was good to rife the
nests of their contents. This sort of
vandalism seems occasionally to be
so deeply implanted in the mind of a
boy that in mature years the lust for
unnecessary slaughter still abides
with him.
Some years ago the writer saw a
man twenty-one years old shoot a
mother robin as she sat on her nest.
CHANGING to pass that way two days
later, [ found the remains still in
place on the nest, the head hanging
downward over the rim, swinging
desolate in the evening wind. Gu
riosity led me up the tree and out on
the long limb to the nest. Then |
discovered that when death came to
the bird she was brooding her newly
hatched young. To these, however,
death had now mercilessly come and
the ants were doing the rest. l in
quired carefully into the home train
ing of the man behind the gun, and
learned that at the age of twelve he
begun a collection of bird eggs with
two or three companions and had pa
trolled the neighborhood with great
care robbing every nest which could
be found; even those eggs which bore
evidence of being so far advanced in
incubation that it was impossible to
blow the contents through the small
holes made at either end of the egg,
were also taken-the boys explaining
that if they took these, the birds
would build another nest and the
next time they could get nice fresh
eggs for their collection.
His accumulation of eggs did not
bear the least evidence of having beer
gathered by scientific methods. They
we're not even gathered in "clutches;''
there was no record of the location
of the nest, number of eggs which the
next contained, state Ofadvancement
in the incubation, materials of which
the nest was composed, habits of the
| birds, and other data, always care
fully preserved in scientific collec
tors. The boy apparently had nc
| real love for this work, his chief OBJ
ject being to gather more eggs than
his rivals. The collection, OF course
was soon deprived of his care; mice
got to them and ate the shells. Nov
when he was grown to Il man this de
structive instinct caused him to take
pleasure in such wanton cruelty az
shooting parent bird on its nest
This boys parents always allowed
him to rob the nests of birds or shoot
the old one at pleasure not realizing
the hardening effect which such a life
was having on the sensibilites of the
child.
What chanceis there of cultivating
in the mind of a boy, thus trained
any appreciation for the high and
beautiful things of life? Aside from
the evil which a boy like this does to
his own character, he also greatly
wrongs the community by wantonly
destroying the lives of useful birds
The robin belongs to the thrush fam
lily, all the representatives of which
are widely known for their value al
destroyers of insects and as more OI
less famed for the beauty of theil
song.
The above is but one example o
thousands of instances which occur
every spring in North Catolina ant
throughout the South. The chic
reason for this useless destruction o
| bird life by destroying their nests, j,
due to the thoughtlessness of parents
| So many people do not stop to thinl
that the bird has a place on the farm
and a work to do, otherwise Coz
would not have placed it there.
The State Audubon Society hal
published and distributed Thousand
ofleafets giving detailed information
regarding the feeding habits and tn
economic value of our common bird
of the State. These leaflets may b
had by request from this office, AM
it is our desire to place these in tn
hands of every man in North Caro-
lima who has been intrusted by kim
Providence with the rearing and in
struction of children.
1t is morally wrong to rob tn
NESTS OF useful birds, and it is viola
tion of the laws of the State to do sc
The birds egg is a beautiful thing bu
the proper place for it is in the nest
T. GILBERT PEARSON,
Secretary State Audubon Societ,
} Greensboro, n. G.
=