The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1908-01-10
AUDUBON soSsRuEs.
What They Are and What Th.y Ad.
yocate.

vocate.
tBy II. u. Kopsan, Special Agent.)
Stated briefly, the purpose Of an Au.
dubon socisty is to prevent the indis.
criminate killing Of birds. This pur.
pose is accomplished partly by teaching
people that birds are not here expressly
to be shot, In other words, an Audubon
Society, while not opposed to legitimate
hunting, seeks to create among the peo-
pie a varied interest In bird life. When
1T succeeds in this work, birds are not
associated entirely with the thought Of
hunting. The Audubon workers believe
that hunting is a part only of mans
relation to birds. They deal with the
value of the live bird; many hunters
deal only with the value of the dead
bird. The bird proteetionists claim that
most birds are more valuable alive than
dead, and that very few birds are val
liable only when they are dead.
The Audubon Societies believe in the
value of live birds for three principal
reasons; Their service to agriculture,
their beauty, and TIER appeal to our
humane sentiments. We find that most
birds should be preserved for some or all
of these reasons. A few birds are most
valuable as food and as objects of sport.
Fewer still are directly injurious to the
interests of man. The destruction OF
these is not opposed by the Audubon
Societies.
SO the question Is not merely one
Of sentimental objection to killing birds.
but a question Of whether a bird is more
valuable TO a hunter when it is dead
or more valuable to the average citizen
when it is alive. That is the only test
by which the matter can be settled,
for it is a social question. The coun
try at large is interested in its proper
solution. The birds do not belong to
any particular class, but they do be
long exclusively and i~nalienably to the
whole people. There are comparatively
few birds whose destruction does not
cause a loss to society. Society at
large, which does not hunt, is comforting
Il favor upon the hunters, therefore,
when it permits them to kill its birds.
The hunters should r~ccollect this, and
instead OF debating terms, as they some
times try to do, should be governed by
the interests of the people in general,
who will assert themselves in the end,
and the more unyieldingly the longer
their interests are ~disregarded.
The most important way in which So
ciety ia served by birds is tho destruc-
ton of injurious insects. Millions of
dollars of crops and timber are ruined
annually in this country by these insect
pests. All the important kinds of such
insects are preyed on by various species
of birds. The builbat, or nighthawk;
the flicker, or yellow hammer; the field
lark, the thrasher, the robin, and scores
of others are engaged in this warfare
insect enemies. The country
cannot afford TO sacrifice one of them to
the pot-huntcr or the boy gunner. Ducks,
snipe, wild turkeys, these are game
not the kinds whose song, plum.
age and service to the farmer entitle
them to absolute safety in our midst.
People have been supposing for many
years that the majority of small birds
"e'r ass Tor nathtng, and that, therefore,
It was a matter OF indifference whether
he killed them or not. 1t was supposed
to rest with the conscience of the indi-
vidual whether he was doing a wrong
killing some innocent songbird or some
and inoifensive woodpecker, bull.
bat or raincrow. Now we know that the
Individuals interest in the fate of these
birds is only a triile compared with the
suffered by society when we
permit their killing; that, almost with
nut exception, they are of the highest
economic Importance to mankind.
These are the considerations that have
developed the Audubon work to its pres
mt large proportions, and that have
a term that sum- up the atti-
,ude of bird protection today. That
crm is NON-GAME. Non-game, in the
light of recent study, is the largest and .
most important part of the feathered F.,
Non-game, the birds we must
,ecp alive, the birds that are useful, !
or harmless if nothing else. {
in a word, the feathered creation is I
Indispensable alive. Game is that small t
,art which the requirements of mans s
nature seem to demand that he should {
ill.
The following circular has been issued !
Y II. H. Kopman, special agent of the |
National Association of Audubon So |
%icties, now stationed at Jackson. The q
ircular is intended to increase the mem {
of the Mississippi Audubon So i
of which Andrew Allison, Ellis q
lille, Miss, is secretary, and to whom
ersons desiring to join the Audubon t
.ociety in this State should send their I
ames: "
Why Should I Join the Audubon So .
ciety1 n
Because it will deal fairly, humanely n
nd economically in the matter of bird
rejection. =
1t win deal economically because it
ill insist o N the proper protection of s