The Brunswick news. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 1906-2016, 1916-05-13
JAMES HENRY
RICE SPENDS
THE DAY HERE
UNITED STATES BIRD lNSPEc-
TOR TALKS OF GLYNN'S
RICHES IN THE GIFTS OF
NATURE.

States Inspector of Birds, was a prom
inent visitor to Brunswick yesterday
and will remain here today and prob
ably until Monday, although he has
not decided fully whether to remain
later tina ntonight. Mr.. Rice is making
a trip of inspection among the Geor.
gia coast and stated yesterday that he
has found conditions in this section
good.
1t is perhaps not generally known
that Glynn county is the home of the
largest rookery of American egrets
in the world. This beautiful bird is of
immense value, it's plumage being used
extensively on women's hats. From
this rookery there have been formed
fifteen or twenty smaller rookeries in
various parts of the county, all of
which are populous and growing. This
happy state of affairs, said Mr.. Rice,
has been brought about through the
fostering care of H. w. Manning, of
Everett City, who was first employed
by Mr.. Rice about ten years ago to
guard the main colony.
Mr.. Rice spoke interestingly about
birds and bird life when he was seen
last night at his room in the Hotel
Royal. Speaking of the much-abused
English sparrow, he declared that he
certainly would not urge it's destruc-
ton at this time. 1t does some harm,
he said, but in his opinion 1t does more
good than harm, in the way Of protect
ing crops. The bird authorities of the
country are now studying the problem
of what to do with the sparrow and
Mr.. Rice emphatically declared that
he was not ready to pronounce SEN
tence upon it.
The average bird eats several hun
dred insects in day. Mr.. Rice said
that the birds of Georgia, figuring
on the basis of two hundred insects
per day, would eat 10000 bushels of
insects in single day. He then asked:
What would this number of insects
do to Georgia's crops if they were not
eaten by the birds?" Scientists have
declared that if it were not for the
birds, the insects would make desert
of the whole world in six years.
Speaking of the boll-weevil, which
made it's appearance in the cotton
belt about "a years ago, Mr.. Rice said
the birds would do much to check it's
ravages. In the "a years of the boil
weevil, it has ruined the cotton of
lower Alabama, all of Louisiana and
some of Texas. In answer to the ques-
ton: why don't the birds stop the
boil weevil?" he replied that we are
short on birds. We have only about
20 per cent of the birds we had 35
years ago. This is due to .promiscu-
Gus shooting, which makes the birds
wild even when it does not destroy
them.
MIR. Rice declared that Georgia
should have most stringent bird law.
In view of great calamity such as
the destruction of enormous crops,
nobody, not even land owners, should
be exempted from paying for licenses
to hunt birds, he said. Furthermore,
the license money should be put into
a fund for the protection of birds, he
said. A salaried warden should be es-
tablished in every county. Mr.. Rice
concluded his interview with a tri-
butte to Glynn county and Warden
Arrow: t.r
81 have known Charles s. Arrow,
of st. Mary's, chief game warden of
Georgia, and am filled with admiration
at the sacrifice he has made to fill that
position. He is making one of the
best game wardens in America. He
has given the finest cooperation to
the work of the national government,
and his heart is in the work.
"The people of Glynn county should
be proud of having SO many beauti-
full types in the avian kingdom-more
than any county in the whole of the
ObotCo. IHc AlmIkHLy mas
done a great deal for Glynn. Her
marshes wFung from Sidney Lanier,
one of the noblest lyrics in the Eng
lish language. Her shore-line Is one
of the most beautiful in the world.
Her soil contains inexhaustible riches.
yet to be developed. God has lined
her swamps and marshes with the rar.
est and most exquisite creations OF
the animal kingdom. the far-famed and
almost extinct, yet now restored egrets
and snowy herons. These are meant
to be the birthright of great people.
viii they suffer such birthright to
be destroyed or bartered for mess
of pottage?"