The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-11-09
STAMFORD

There was a very large attendance of members of the Mems club last night. at the residence of Mir. William Lawrence. to listen to a lecture on Game Birds by Game Warden Will bur F. Smith. He said it Is a pleasure to meet gentlemen of intelligence, con- nected with a church, since they can largely help to form public opinion. Game wardens. as a rule are not pub lie speakers, but 1t is well they should come before the people and do what they can to enlighten them about birds and the game laws. He spoke of the preacher who says not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice of the Master. and yet few clergymen ever speak about the cruel habit the ladies have of wearing aigrettes in their hats. He told how the heron is hunted to its breeding grounds and killed for the sake of the little bunch of feathers which have been so fash ionable. The plume hunters find rookery and proceed to shoot 1t up. The horror of 1t was we'll brought out. He spoke of hearing woman. with q beautiful voice. singing one Easter, and yet she wore an aigrette. To him 1t looked like murder. He thought the church should take notice of tke cruel and wanton slaughter or birds. He said that when America
 was first settled by the white man, game of all kinds was abundant-the buffalo, pigeons. ducks. heath hens, wild turlies. etc The red man. say age though he was. had lived chiefly on game ever since he had Inhabited the new world. and yet he had not eXterminated any species That was left for the civilized Christian white man. At the time of the advent of the white man there was more in America than any where else in the world Now an attempt is being made to scrape together a herd of bunalo on the Flat Head reservation, in hopes that the species may be preserved
 The wild pigeons which once dark ened the air In their flight. have be- come extinct. At present all game birds are becoming very scarce. lie spoke of the partridge. its distribution.
 habits enemies and present status, also
 tions. slaughter in the Southern states,
 nesting and future. Other birds con- ! sidered were the quail. ducks, palm ; beach duck. wood duck and snipe. At one time the heath hen was so plenti- full in this state that servants used [ to stipulate they should not be re- quired to eat 1t more than three times a week Three years ago partridges i were very plentiful in this state. but for the last two years very few of them have been seen- It is difficult
 to account for this strange condition. | Ie is known that large numbers Of the
 goshawk have come down from the north and they are very bold and do not hesitate to catch partridge
 wherever they can find one The quail
 or bob white. is prety scarce In con necticut, and it's future is doubtful | At zone time a good many quail were | brought into this state from Kansas and Alabama. and sometimes 1t hap pened that. 90 per cent, of them died I on the way. It was found they were | suffering from the quail disease. and | doubtless they communicated it to | our native birds. There Is a great diff | ference between the northern and | southern quail, owing to their envir- | onment MT. Smith said the birds | ought to have a chance as well as | the man with a gun. He did not be- lieve in calling a large number into | the presence of the hunter by imita- | ting their whistling and then shoot | ing them down.
 II Breaking of the vyoodcock he said it suffers because Of its habits of mil grafton. They are pounded all along the line. and every body takes a
 chance at them It is folly to shoot
 them as they go on their way to their | breeding grounds The wood duck is
 also a creature of circumstances. Its habit is to breed in the hollow of some l tree. situated in swamp But the trees have been cut down and the swamps drained and the breeding grounds of these ducks destroyed. The | same thing has happened in the north
 western states where ponds ana | sIouRhs have been converted into | wheat fields. where once thousands of ducks had their breeding places Now | they have been pushed back into Bri- tish America and Alaska The wild and he advised the club to send to Washington and get book on ducks issued by the Department of Agricul- ture MT. Smith spoke of game pre- | serves, of game laws and their intent; {; of hunters licenses and the effect they | have had in preserving game, driving out almost entirely the numerous lta- Han pot hunters who used to shoot at ali kinds of birds. He told why song birds and other non-game birds are protected, and gave his views re-
 gardng game wardens-the kind or men they should be, the power they have for doing good, and the oppor- tunities which come to them. A num-
 Der of very interesting and amusing
 experiences in the life of a game war fden were related, and at the close or the lecture Mir. Smith gave an exnipi- from photographs of his own A vote
 of thanks was given the speaker Tor This very interesting and instructive lecture.
 Early in the New Year, the town is IS
 to have more minstrel performances
 given by the Red Mems troupe. About
 two months will be spent in rehearsing g
 and 1t Is whispered many new locai
 hits will be introduced, ringing in our
 famous town meetings. the scnooi
 question, equalization of taxes. etc
 There is also 70 be some new scenery.
 The committee recently appointed
 consists of William Appleyard. chair
 man and the following executive ofn-
 cers: George Fairchild, Frank sam
 mis, Brig Barnum, Sterling Fflmer
 William Strickland and E.. Beardsley.
 A large congregation filled the Meth
 odist church Sunday evening to listen
 to a sermon by Rev. Dr. Packard, who
 took his theme the woman with the . alabaster box. It was a high ideal . a sentiment. which induced her tc break the box and anoint Christ. Any thing which leads up to a high ideal or causes men to think of the heroic sacrifices of others. is a good in ano of itself. In this commercial age we need more sentiment.
 DO not forget the meeting of Christ { church guild at the rectory tomorrow afternoon.
 At the last interrurban pinochle con test in which Red Men are engaged our local foam won out. One more