Evening star., 1937-01-23
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The first turtle dove seen in the garden
last season was on February Is. but this
year there has been one feeding con-
stantly since last August.
So far there has been just one. prob
ably the male. 1t may be that the female
of the species, his mate, is down South,
waiting for Spring hereabouts. leaving
1t to the old man to find his dinner as
best he can.
30 far, owing to the feeding stations
in the yard, he has had no trouble at all.
1t is almost possible to believe that
there is Just little swagger in his walk
as he propels his low-swung body around
the garden.
Once the observer gets interested in
this creature. more commonly known
as Carolina dove. he finds it to be a
very fine bird indeed. It is a member
Of the great family which includes the
pigeons.
The extinct passenger pigeon. which
once fairly darkened the heavens in its
migrations. was not only first cousin
OF this dove, but looked very much like
1t, II we can believe the paintings, and
there is very good reason for doing SO,
since 1t was not until 1914 that the
passenger pigeon finally passed from the
earth.
The year 1914 will always be associat-
ed. in the minds Of humanity, with the
beginning of the World War. but to those
who become interested in the things
of nature it will mean, too, the extinc-
tion of beautiful bird. whose gray body
and pink breast and throat we may still
see in some excellent paintings.
There iS a certain sadness in the con.
temptation. The world, Of course, Wags
right along, with or without passenger
pigeons. But since there were so many
OF them, somehow 1t seems even more
shameful that just few could net have
a really beautiful and harmless species
might have been preserved.
-
There were so many millions of these
birds, according to the accounts, that
bands Of men. engaged in the business
Of supplying the wealthy Eastern market,
especially that OF New York City, simply
dubbed them of trees and tumbled
them into bags.
We are likely today to think of waste
as something which has grown up re-
Gently in America, and which has been
storms and floods, which unhappily
prove that man has misused and wasted
his natural heritage.
But such waste in old. The extinction
Of the passenger pigeon, a totally un-
necessary result. and one which was not
even good business, since there was a
ready market for the bird proves beyond
doubt that man, given the chance, was
a waster years ago as today, only We
specialize in other forms now.
1t seems unbelievable that. with
few birds left, future supply of them
could not have been propagated, at least
for exhibition in geological gardens and
the like.
What we forget is that conservation,
as we know 1t today, is really very new.
There are at this very moment other
creatures threatened with extinction,
whose loss would be entirely unneces-
sary and altogether a catastrophe for
all those persons who love the crea-
lures of nature. Yet no doubt at this
very moment there are millions of
humans who never give such matters a
thought.
The hopeful thing Is, however that
there are thousands today who do think
OF conservation, compared with hundreds
who thought upon the subject COM
paratively few years ago. And the field
is broadening out. as it should, with
related matters being drawn in from
many sides, so that the attack on waste,