The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1916-11-17
Wild BIRDS AND GAME
(By w. G. Benton.)

In my day on the farm, when IL
rained so we could not work, we went
fishing. In the fall and winter when
IL was too cold to work, we went
hunting. The old single-barreled
muzzle-loading guns and the young
gunners have much to answer for.
The vast increase of noxious weeds
and insect pests of the present time
are due to the destruction of seed
feeding and insectivorous birds. The
partridge" meadow lark, woodpeck-
er. sap-sucker, flicker. blue bird rob
in, thrush. oriole, tit-mouse-all have
practically gone via the shot gun
and cat route. The result of which
is seen in the destructive work of
"borers"-those long fat worms that
literally eat the life out of apple,
pear and other trees where the OBJ
| ject of the hammering sap-sucker
and woodpecker, and not the sap as
was commonly supposed. Instead of
seeking to kill the tree. the long
billed and barb-tipped tongue of the
busy little sap-sucker-so called,
were searching for a meal of worms.
1t is a pity we did not know it. AS
| walked or drove over the country
l was deeply impressed by the al
most entire absence of wild life. No
wonder the Hessian fly infests the
wheat fields unmolested; no wonder
caterpillars fill the branches of shade
and orchard trees with their nests
and devour the foliage. Their enc
mics, the wild birds are gone. The
try are striving to-day to foster pro-
lection to the wild birds, and bird
conservation club should be organic
ed in every school in the land. Teach
the boys the usefulness of birds and
put up nesting homes for them and
in heavy winter weather, put out
grain or kitchen scraps for their
food. 1t will pay in the long run.
Learn to hunt wild birds with cam
era rather than gun. 1t will af-
ford greater pleasure TO the hunter
and make friends of the little Great
ures.
In many cities the parks are
stocked with squirrels and 1t is sur
prising how tame they come to be
when they find there is no danger
rom the people. They come up to
lake the proffered nut from the hand
and last summer l was sitting in 4
park in the center of the business
section OF Memphis when a squirrel
climbed into my lap and sat upon
my knee and proceeded to hull n
peanut some one had given 1t. With
The disappearance of nut bearing
trees in your country, soon this beau
tiful animal will become extinct, un-
less the people wake up to the need
Of protecting them about their
farms. If you have a wood patch
left, stop shooting squirrels and wild
1irds and see how quick they will
learn the fact And to prevent too
great an increase when you want a
squirrel breakfast, do not take your
gun and shoot the mother Of nurs-
ing brood of young, as l have often
done. but catch a few Of the younger
ones. liberating the females. and use
only the surplus males. Suppose
when you want chicken for "compa-
ny" you took shot gun and killed
the mother hen, OF fired promiscuous-
~ into the flock of chickens killing
or manning the young pullets as
well as the cockerels. Would you
consider that nice thing to do?
Squirrels and rabbits can be rails
cd in semi-captivity as prohtably for
he table, as are poultry. The grow
ing of Belgian Hare for food is now
IN extensive and increasing industry.
A hutch can be started with one pair,
and they multiply at a rapid rate.
They are twice as large as the cotton
aii and can be used when wanted,
nd the breeding stock kept in shape
by selection for table use. And no
more palatable dish can be served,
nor one less expensive. Try il.