Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-08-10
BOB WHITES PLEA.

BOb w III
This week l am giving you a plea
that comes straight from the brave
heart of a loyal friend l wish that
every mother would have her children
memorize this appeal for justice and
mercy. Listen to Bob Whites CHEEKY
whistle translated into our own Ian
guage:
whistle that comes to you through the
ghost-gray mist of morning, my covey
call that echoes Ger hill and dale as
dies the day.
I'm early springtime, when nature
writes in pink her proclamations of
plenty, L, in orchards, fields and pas
lures, begin my battle against insect
pests Then, when comes the wondrous
white of winter. lulling into peace the
plains and browning with wondrous
whiteness the hills, l am still here
still working to increase the next har-
vest. All winter long l labor. eating
the seeds of noxious weeds
How many bugs and beetles and weed
seeds do L eat? Well, l wonder 1 can
not say, but here is what science says:
up in part Bob Whites bill of fare
Crops have been found packed with rag
weed seeds, and as many as 1000 seeds
of crabgrass have been taken from the
crop of one bird. A single specimen
contained about 10000 pigweed seeds.
Crops and gizzards examined in govern
ment labora tories have yielded 81 va
rieties of beetles, q different sorts of
bugs, 8 different sorts of caterpillars.
besides ants flies wasps and spiders. A
teaspoonful of chinch bugs has been Ia
ken from one quail, and one quail was
known to eat 5000 plant lice in two
hours. Bob White feeds upon the cab
bage worms, cucumber beetles, squash
bugs, the army worm, Hessian fly md
many other insect pests
IF l do all this, what pay do l de-
mand for this helping you in your fight
against weeds and reducing the annual
insect bill of $S0O,000,O0O?
the recent arrivals were 10 bakers for
81 only ask you to let me live. Dead,
l am only a small morsel of meat; alive,
1 make 1t easier for you and yours to
live. Spare me and l will serve you.
II speak not in opposition to true
sportsmanship, but against slaughter.
Today our numbers are few. Tomorrow
we may be no more"
This plea of Bob Whites was put
into our language by w. T. Nelson, and
all bird lovers should thank him. Aunt
Julia has organized a fine work for
the protection of birds and | hope all
the little folks will join her band.
Last winter / threw oats into the gar
den for the redbirds, hooking birds
and thrushes. This summer they have
been a great pleasure to us, and
have seen them in the garden as busy
as the bees. l had some Russian sun
flower seeds about to mature and the
re6birds were the ones to tell me when
they were ripening. / put flour sacks
over the heads of mine and left one
out of five for them. l planted a lot
of the other sunflower seed in the
yards and when they began to ripen
bent the stalks and let the birds and
chickens gather them.
Bob White came into our garden sew
eral times last month and / earnestly
regretted his departure. but l decided
that he and his large family was real
~ needed in the fields. l gave them a
cordial invitation to my crop of peas
OF to the Farmers If they were better
than mine.
While the lawmakers are about 1T,
they should make a law that all hunt
ing dogs should be muzzled in the nest
ing season. I've known them to roam,
day after day, hunting the quail nests.
They can more effectually destroy the
birds than the hunters can. Besides
destroying the birds, the dog that
breaks up a nest has by that act added
to the insects, for the so-called pro
lection" allows the birds a life long
enough to eat the summer insects, even
ir the poor creature is killed in Novem-
Der. Muzzle the roaming dogs and the
birds will be more plentiful as well
as the sheep.
once heard a woman called all sorts
of hard names by some so-called kind
hearted" people because she had some
little kittens chloroformed. Five cents
worth of the medicine in shoe box did
the deed. There was one woman in the
bunch that was especially loud in her
disgust. Some baby cats came TO her
house. She "just couldn't bear to see
the poor little things killed but as
soon as they were large enough to
trouble her they were put in sack
and turned loose in a neighbors barn
ward Which are you, the one that gets
the little things out of trouble by a
quick death. or puts the job on some
other party?
1--WE have forsaken the things worth
while
Brotherly kindness and faith and
peace;
We have measured our lives by our
power and gain.
Forgetting true manhood is greater
than these"
Have 1 wandered from Bob Whites
plea? I think not. Every good deed.