Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-10
THE ROBINS.

The robins are here again on their
annual spring migration north. The
vanguard of the great flock began to
arrive some weeks ago, and has gone
on its way; but still the main body Of
the migrants Is spread over the coun-
try, foraging on the cedars, sumac
bushes, black gum berries and in the
meadows, doing no harm to anybody
or anything. A few are being harass-
ed and mutilated with slingshots In
the hands Of small boys and are fall
ing victims to cheap rifles and shot
guns; but taken altogether, II these
pretty, harmless birds have memories
extending back only a very few years,
they must be most favorably Impress
ed with the treatment they are now
receiving as compared with formerly.
Some twenty-five or thirty years
ago the robins were more numerous
than they are now, or at least more OF
them came this way than come now-a-
DAYS. This Is probably due to the ex-
tent Of the annual slaughter that used
to 60 on with the regularity of the
coming Of the robin season. 1t may be
due in a measure to the fact that the
robins have a special fondness for the
envirous of towns and villages, and
there being more towns and villages
now than there used to be, the migrat-
ing thousands Of the birds are more
widely scattered over the country. The
probability, however, Is that the ap.-
parent decrease in numbers Is real,
and that it Is due more than anything
else to ruthless slaughter.
So far as there Is any record, the
robins have never passed over in the
sun darkening droves that the old peo-
ple use to tell of in connection with
the wild pigeons; but still they were
very numerous. They have been seen
flying over Yorkville in flocks that
were apparently from two to three
hundred yards wide and from four to
five hundred yards long. These larger
fiocks were generally composed or
birds en- route for some destination
still farther north. They flew at a
height of from 500 to 1000 feet and did
not stop here. But at the times these
flights were noticed, the whole coun-
try was covered with birds that were
making themselves temporarily at
home, and furnishing targets for the
slingshots Of hundreds Of men and
boys.
Back in the seventies and eighties
there was less law and less humanity
than there Is now. Large numbers of
people considered robin shooting great
sport They included boys with sling
shots, and men with guns, and they
killed thousands Of the birds in and
around Yorkville. In those days men
had no hesitation about shooting on
the streets of the town, and 1t was
not uncommon to see them killing
robins out of the very shade trees.
There were people, of course, who OBJ
jected, and the town council OF that
day did not like 1t much; but the robin
shooters were largely in the majority,
both as to numbers and influence, and
the protests of authority were to say
the least, mild. After a while the po-
lice got to the point where they would
stop some of the small boys, and later
on where they could manage some of
the men. It was largely matter as to
who was doing the shooting. Finally
the better sentiment got the ascend
ancy and the point was reached
where the right to shoot robins from
the trees was no longer claimed or al
lowed.
Even at this day there is still some
robin shooting going on about York
ville-not so much as there used to be
but some. The lingering old thirst of
the wild for the lives Of the harmless
cat in the case of the canary they con-
tinue to watch their chance for a shot
during the absence of the police, or
of disappearing citizens, who might
report.
The robins are having a much easier
and pleasant sojourn here now than
formerly. Where during the seasons
gone by thousands would be slaugh-
tered during the period Of a few weeks,
Now but a few are stopped forever on
their way to the nesting grounds In
the north.
Many of the people who used to
slaughter the helpless robins so ruth
lessly, now wonder how they could
have ever been so savage and so cruel.