Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1907-02-22
Plea FOR soNesTERs.
Spare the Birds Urges Oregonian
House Bill Feared.

al Tue possible passing oy tue
state of House bill No. 367 says
and editorial in Tue days Ore
gonian. This measure it is said
is calculated to destroy the use
fulness of the present law, enact
ed by the legislature in 1898,
which is designated by w. L
Finley, bird lover. and president
of the Oregon Audubon society,
as ''model bird law" The
amendment proposed to this law
gives any farmer, gardener or
orchardist the right to kill any
songbirds if these are found tax
ing his fruit.
1t will readily be seen that this
is menace to bird life in Ore
gon that is both cruel and waste
ful-the first because the bird is
entitled the beauty and JOY of his
brief existauce, and the last be-
cause he is in reality the farm
er's best friend, in that he lives
and brings up voracious brood
each year that feeds upon insects,
bugs and creeping things which
prey upon fruits, vegetables and
grains. That songbirds "occas-
ionaliy take a bit of fruit" is
conceded. But what OF it? The
amount that they consume or
spoil is in6nitesimal compared
with the whole, aud he is a churl
indeed who would grudge the
blithe little songster an 'soccas-
ional bit of truit"' with which to
wet his tunetnl throat or vary his
insect diet, while worse than a
1churl-a ruthless and ungrateful
creature indeed-is he vino
would take a birds lie for eat
ing cherries or berries or taking
flying bite at summer apple.
AS toll for the relatively few
cherries or berries taken, the bird
while raising his voracious brood,
takes an insect or a worm to his
nest, every few minutes through
out the day, and close observers
like Mr.. Finley note that single
robbiu or chirping sparrow de-
stroys in a season hundreds of cut
worms, grasshoppers, ants, lar
vac and harmful insects.
But it is not the songbir ds
alone that the bird-lover seeks to
protect from overzealous law
makers, urged on by farmers who
do not know the value of their
feathered friends. The proposed
bill permits the indiscriminate
slaughter of owls-.he most
harmless and unobtrusive Of
birds, and withal one of the most
useful. To be snre, these birds
occasionally visit a hen roost in
order to supply the ciamorous
owlets IN the nest with taste of
chicken, but they kill hun dreds
of moles, rats and mice to one
chick, aud are Natures check to
the overmultiplication Of these
pests of the root crops and of the
granary. Any farmer knows
what pests moles often prove and
how Difficult. it is to destroy the
ourrowing creatures. Owls find
the task congenial one, and one
suited to their own nocturnal
habits, as the mole is himself a
night feeder.
The plea OF Mr.. Finley that
House bill No. 3o7 5e not passed
by the senate is based upon these
facts and other succinctly set
forth. Ignoran;ly or bunglingly
framed by someone who knows
nothing of bird life beyond the
most casual observation, it dis
terminates against and allows the
farmer, orchardist or gardener &c
shoot the "apple bird"-a new
genus in ornithology, as stated
by Mr.. Finley, and which may
mean a Robin, cedar waxwing,
a chickadee, a tangier or any
bird that may happen to bs
about an apple tree. 1t may b'
hoped that state senators vii
hearken to this plea and refus,
: to sanction this wholesale permi
l to destroy songbirds and othe
feathered friends ef the farme
, whi h has been, no doubt, IN
= willingly given by the House, o
THAT, failing in this, the governo