Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1913-04-29
Johns Letter.

J0nn'e Letter.
Are you particularly acquainted with
the habits Of the Bob White qusilP The
average farmer knows quite good deal
about weeds. He knows that 1t costs
hard cash and hard toll to kill weeds.
Bob White would be proper glad to less.
On the farmers toll and save cash for
him to use for other purposes. Does
the average farmer care enough for bis
help to protect his life by single effort?
"All the average farmer thinks about
the quail is killing 1t for few ounces OF
meat on the table. It Is fairly beyond
question that of all birds that influence
the fortune of farmers and fruit gro wers
of North America, the common quail, or
Bob White, Is one of the most valuable.
It stays on the farm all the year round.
When insects are most numerous and
busy, Bob White devotes to them his en-
tire time. He cheerfully fights them
from sixteen to eighteen hours day.
When the insects are gone be turns his
attention to the weeds that are striving
to seed down the fields for another year.
And yet because of its few pitiful ounces
of flesh, two million gunners and ten
thousand lawmakers think of the quail
only as bird that can be shot and eaten.
Throughout a great portion OF its former
range the species is surely and certainly
on the verge of total extinction. And
vet sportsmeu gravely discuss the bag
limit and enforcement of the bag
law as means of bringing back this
almost vanished species! Such folly in
grown men Is very trying.
"To my friend, the Epicure:-The next
time you regale good appetite with
bluepoints, terrapin stew, hlet of sole and
saddle of mutton, touched up here and
there with the high light of rare old
sherry, rich claret and dry Monopole,
pause, as the dead quail Is laid before
you, on funeral pyre OF toast, and con.
slider this: Here lies the charred re-
| mains of the farmers ally and friend,
poor Bob White. In life he devonred
l45 different kinds of bad insects, and
the seeds of 129 anathema weeds. For
the smaller pests Of the farm, he was the
most marvellous engine of destruction
| that God ever put together OF flesh and
blood. He was good, beautiful and
true; and his small life was blameless.
And here he lies dead; snatched away
his field of labor, and destroyed in order
that may be tempted to dine three
minutes longer, after have already eat
On to safety Then 60 on and finish
Bob White"
Well, he is pretty near finished in the
garden of Gods birds.
Whatever may be said of domestic
birds, it is easy to say and not hard to
believe that the wild birds are under the
special care of the Maker Of birds. "He
openeth his hand aud feedeth them,"
and when the pot-huuters and game-hogs
poach on His preserves beyond reason
able limit He has a practical way of call
ing attention to wasteful, wicked prac
tices.
The story of Longfellow's "Birds of
Kennilsworth" comes perilously near be- |
ing the story of the "Birds of America"
From sour Vanishing Wild Life"
book taken out of the Zadoc Long Free
Library, we learn much of the lawless- |
ness OF those who claim to be sportsmen
to many of whom the term "game hog"
would more fifty apply. In the book we
find the cut of monument sacred to the |
memory of nine dead species extermi- |
mated by civilized man, 18401910. The |
author then goes on to give the names
of twenty-five other species that are
candidates for oblivion. The fathers of
this generation are robbing the children |
of the next, of the joys that our child
hood knew. The oriole, the bobolink,
the robin and the bluebird are on the
way to extinction, and all sorts OF insect
vermin are taking their places. A just
penalty for robbing Gods open places.
"At millinery feather sale in London |
1900 humming bird skins sold for 2
cents EACH" A bargain for the smart |
set, cheap enough.
"From the trackless jungles Of New |
Guinea, round the world both ways to
the snow-capped peaks Of the Andes, no |
unprotected bird is safe. The humming
bird of Brazil, the egrets of the world at
large, the rare birds OF paradise, the
toucan, the eagle, the condor and the
emu, are all being exterminated to swell |
the annual profits of the millinery trade. |
The case is far more serious than the |
world at large knows, or even suspects. |
But for the profits the birds would be |
safe, and no unprotected wild species can |
long escape the hounds of commerce."
For any civilized nation to permit the
slaughter of the wild birds that protect |
its crops, its fruits and its forests from
the insect hordes, is worse than folly.
1t is sheer idiocy. People who are either
80 lazy or asinine as 10 permit the slaugh- |
ter of their best friends, deserve to have |
their crops destroyed and their forests
ravaged.
"The army of destruction, eager and
keen TO kill, consists of two and one half |
million well.armed men," Besides that
there Is an unknown number of guer.
rillas In the form of Negroes and the
poor whites Of the South who are out for
| slaughter.
"The capture of three or four hundred
birds (robins) was an ordinary nights
| work. Men and boys would come in
wagons from all the adjoining counties
and camp near the roost for the purpose
of killing robins. Many times, 100 or
more hunters with torches and clubs
would be at work in single night
One small hamlet sent to market snnu-
ally enough dead robins to return $500
at five cents a dozen, which means 120,
900 Birds"
Negroes and white trash have been an
expensive proposition from FIRST to last,
and the end is not yet. Slow to learn
and dull OF understanding. Selling their
birthright and the brthright of the ma
tion's children for mess of pottage. We
prophesy that the child born ten years
hence will never see robin except the
picture of him IN q bird book. The
Lord OF the vineyard may delay his
coming, but he is sure to come, and his
coming will not be pleasant to the loaf
ers in his vineyard. Has the nation been
faithful in Its stewardship?
JOHN.
That History of Bnckfield.
Iwould like to know more about the
Forthcoming History of Buckfield, Of