The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1913-12-16
FIGHTING FOR OUR
FEATHERED FRIENDS
nr. Swope Gives Convincing Reasons
Why tire Birds Shouldn't be
DESTROYED

Destroyed
IL is not often that the people OF
Ocala have the opportunity OF listen
ing TO a lecture com bining as much
Of science. instruction and entertain
ment as that delivered a. the WCm-
ans Club on Saturday afternoon by
Or. Eugene Swope, D. D. s. OF Gin
cinnati, who lectured under The z s
p1ces of the Florida Audubon Soc.e-v
on the subject of bird protecciCn.
Through the generosity = the
Ocala newspapers the lecture had
been we'll advertised and tbs ger eral
public invited and urged 10 be pres
ent, but tho there was large turn
out of the members of the Woman's
Club, the general public" was rep
resented by only four able-boaied
voters of the city.
Mrs. c. L. Bittinger, who is chair
man Of the clubs branch of the Au
dubon Society, acted as chairman
and promptly at the appointed hour
called the meeting to order, by an
nouncing a vocal solo by Miss Rose
bud Robinson, followed by trio
sung by Mrs. Hampton, Mrs. Coin
and Mrs. Chambers, each selection
being rendered as only those ladies
are capable of. The chairman then
called on Prof. Brinson to introduce
the speaker, an honor the worthy
professor appreciated very highly
but when DR.. Swope called on him to
manipulate the slides in the lantern
he distinguished himself by invaria-
bly, putting then in upside down.
With many of the slides it made but
| little difference but when he dis
| played a Bob Whites nest containing
Is eggs and turned it wrong side up,
the audience fairly gasped, for to
| have all those eggs spilled on the
| floor at the price that eggs are today
would have beeh little short of a
calamity. DR.. Swope, however, as
sisted in righting the nest and thus
saved the day. It is only fair to say
! for the worthy professor that this
was his first acquaintance with
lantern slides, and as they were
rather small and only the light from
the lantern to see by it was difficult
to tell whether a bird was sitting on
nest of eggs, or whether the nest
was sitting on the bird.
ell
slides and pictures. Many Of them
are photographs taken from nature
others are colored pictures taken
from the audubon book as shown in
many of the books used in the public
| school. He commenced his lecture
! by impressing on the audience that
il was not mere sentiment that gov
erned the work and actions Of the
Audubon Society; that there was an
| economical value in all the plans adj
yocated by the society That the
money loss to the United States in
the injury OF crops by the depreda-
tons of insects was upwards of q
| billion dollars per annum, or in
round numbers about eleven dollars
TO each inhabitant, a very large pei
cent OF which might be saved were
il not for the destruction of the
! birds: that when the cotton states
called on the government for assist.
ance in getting rid of the boil weevi1
the scientists who were sent 10 in.
vestigate decided that the insect
would soon be eXterminated were i
not for the destruction of the birds
Speaking of bird destruction he
lsaid that in quite recent years three
} different species had been entirel!
eXterminated and that at least ter
others were on the verge of annihil
} alton unless some stop was put t
their wanton destruction. Among
those already gone he mentioned tn
passenger pigeon, a beautiful .bu
, Lathetic picture of which was show
on the screen. These birds used Il
} migrate yearly between the nortl
and south in fiocks of millions. am
as late as 1860 the legislature o
Ohio declared that any mode of de
struction was permissible as thei
numbers were so vast that it woult
be an utter impossibility to extermi
nate them, yet Il few years later
President Roosevelt. Russell Sag
and others raised fund OF $4,000 a
a reward for anyone who could fin
one OF their nests. This prize stoot