Winter Meeting 347 



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when all these birds are gone ; and how monotonous it will be when one 

 has to travel over miles and miles of land, through field and forest, 

 without hearing or seeing any sign of life anywhere. Small mam- 

 mals, may they be ever so plentiful, contribute nothing to the anima- 

 tion of a scenery ; it is the bird that brings life into it, that delights 

 the ear with its variety of notes and sweet songs, and pleases the 

 eye with its beautiful plumage, elegant form, with its sprightliness 

 and spirited activity, with its marvelous power of flight and the 

 manifold and curious ways of feeding, courting, nesting, roosting 

 and social gathering. If we were selfish and mean, we would say, 

 there are enough birds here as long as we live ; what do we care 

 for the future; if it gives us pleasure to kill them, why should we not 

 do it? Are not all creatures created for man, or as the small boy puts 

 it : What are birds here for, anyhow, but to kill them ; a few more or less 

 w'on't make any difference. 



Here is where a great mistake is made. Birds have their natural 

 enemies and adversities and have had them all the time and they kept 

 them from unnatural increase. Reproduction is slow ; with few excep- 

 tions birds rear only enough offspring to preserve their numbers, replac- 

 ing in summer those that die during the year. Every interference on the 

 part of man reduces this number and, if continued, the inevitable result 

 must be at first scarcity and finally extermination. That this is not a 

 theory, but a fact is proven by the experience of European countries, es- 

 pecially England, where birds formerly common are not to be found at 

 all any more ; and when we look over the latest lists of birds of the New 

 England States, for instance ^Massachusetts, we fmd repeatedly the melan- 

 choly annotation, ''once common, now rare." 



We owe it, therefore, to our children, to future generations, to pos- 

 terity, to do all we can in protecting the birds as we find them now in our 

 State ; it is not too late yet, but it must be begun soon, and all must work 

 together, all who have sympathy for our fellow creatures ; all who are not 

 entirely callous to humane feeling; all who would wish to hand down to 

 posterity our country as beautiful as she is today; all who understand 

 that love of nature makes better people, better citizens, happier beings. 

 A true love of the beautiful in nature is an attribute of a higher civiliza- 

 tion and should not only be fostered in the school room, but also in church 

 and Sunday school. The clergy of every denomination should partici- 

 pate in this warfare against vandalism of thoughtless boys and heartless 

 men ; they should teach that taking of life is a serious thing and only ex- 

 cusable when necessity demands it. We know that somebody has to kill 

 the domestic animals needed for foocj, but we have never heard that it is 

 a very joyous task or made an object of sport and amusement. 



