Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1919-07-23
Correspondence.
weodsmen, Spare the Birds.
Ellsworth, July s. 1919.


the present extremely high prices obtain
able for forest growth that is disable for
pulp purposes, and even for fuel, has re-
suited in the wide-resching cutting of
nearly every tree growing in this vicinity
down to as small as 81 inches, and in
GLIDING all the growth on and about the
old farms cleared by our grandfathers,
but upon which a comparatively new
"stsnd" of young trees has sprung up
and fourished since these old pastures
have been, to q large extent, abandoned.
But doubt very much il our people have
given much thought to a loss and injury
to our community and to our property
that has come and is coming to us
through the destruction OF bird life con-
sequent upon this cutting. II has oc-
CURED to me that perhaps these cutters
themselves might avert some Of it by the
exercise of little care in their operations,
and in the hope of awakening their inter-
est in it and appreciation of the situation
flor they are not Intentionally crueD,
am going to ask you to publish this letter.
II is not humane to fell timber during
the breeding season of the birds. In
Trenton woods, which are so extensive
that skilled hunters are sometimes lost
there, probably not a great many birds
would be found nesting, as birds usually
seek the vicinity OF man for protection or
company while nesting. Also, as the
timber was cut throughout the year, the
birds had an abundant opportunity to
seek more favorable localities,
To the old farms, however, the birds
have become thoroughly attached. Some
Of the pines and spruces in these wood
lands have ndoubtedIy been standing
since the first white men settled here.
Such tangies of messy, old, decayed
trees, such fertile boys, and shady rills
are to be found nowhere else. Several
species of birds thst sometimes nest
there, l have rarely found eIsew here the
red breasted uuthstch, he brown
creeper, the golden-crowned kinglet, the
winter wren, and the great crested hy-
catcher and many common birds, such
as the flicker, hairy wood pecker, downy
woodpecker, sparrows, warblers, and
thrushes are to be found in the surround
ing woods in unusual numbers.
The birds were, perhaps, not so
numerous last year as the year before,
but shat were there appeared to begin to
nest earlier. What happened. When
the birds are settled IN their breeding
haunts, at the height OF the nesting
season, crews OF woodsmen sweep
through the most poputous bird district
anywhere around. They advance over
the area like the wind. The parent birds
are driven from their nests and the young,
il not destroyed, are left slowly to starve
to death. Many OF the parent birds I'M
doubtedly lost their lives At the same
time, as it is a well-known fact that
birds will frequently shield their eggs
and young al the expense of their own
lives.
The destruction Of the parent birds
during the nesting season is a crime that
the negroes and poor whites in the South
have been found guilty of for years
To wipe out the traffic in egret plumes,
which are taken during the breeding
season from the live bird and the young
left to stsrve to death in the burning
sun, several men have sacrificed their
lives, and many, many thousands of
dollars have been spent.
The birds OF our woodland are over
taken in nesting site after nesting site, and
the number of valuable insectiverous
birds destroyed, who can measure?
For instance, days after the time for
the downy woodpecker to settle, they
were tapping on the telegraph poles
around my house. l wondered what had
happened to drive them from their
breeding haunts. June / learned that
their breeding haunts were being feIled.
At the same time l noticed a downy
woodpecker following his cavity in a
solid poplar. He stood on the sunny side
of the tree that hot day and painted with
the heat. / never saw a downy wood
pecker pant while working before. The
bird seemed exhausted. Probably he
had been driven from several nests. /
also saw hairy woodpecker excavating
his nest in solid wood, but / thought
little OF that, as the hairy wood ecker
fre quently builds in green trees, until
noticed many of the woodpeckers APP
parently looking up fresh nesting sites
when they should have been brooding |
eggs or young. The woodpeckers are |
not any too numerous.
We shall feel the effects OF this raid on |
the birds for years to come. By the ex-
ercise of some watchfulness and care.
trees that are manifestly nesting trees
might be left and their immediate value
as mere wood be much more than replaced
by the work OF the birds in checking
insect depredations.
During the winter and spring OF 1919,
the year following the wholesale falling
of the surrounding woodlands, everyone
remarked the death of the birds. The
winter wren, golden-crowned kinglet,
red breasted nuthateh, etc., were rare in
migration all over the country. In due
time few pairs OF kinglets and wrens
began to breed in the standing woodlands
adjoining these ut-offs, but the first of
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