358 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



While the most of our beautiful songsters have gone south to en- 

 joy the sunshine and try and forget the cruelties imposed upon them 

 during our last summer by their nests being robbed and their young 

 imprisoned. Cannot we as a society devise some means for their pro- 

 tection by the time they return in the spring. There is a law that 

 protects birds and nests, and the enforcement of that law is what we 

 want, if necessary. Birds will become exterminated if something is not 

 done to stop the wholesale destruction of eggs as was practiced by 

 boys during our last season, in collecting and shipping them east as an 

 article of exchange. This is not all. There are thousands of birds 

 killed annually for decorative purposes — to gratify some odd fancy. It 

 is all wrong. All insectivorous birds are friends and we should pro- 

 tect them, and any person or persons found in any way injuring them 

 should be punished according to the crime. 



If there are any who do not realize the value of birds and the 

 amount of worms and insects destroyed by them, just watch the Mock- 

 ing Bird, Thrush, Eobin, Oat Bird and many others, and see how busy 

 they are collecting food for their young during the summer. Com- 

 mencing with the early dawn and continuing their warfare until dark ; 

 always cheerful and happy when unmolested. But the life of a bird is 

 a perilous one ; they have many enemies and very few active friends. 

 Man is one of their greatest enemies. Man, that intelligent, highly cul- 

 tured and sympathetic being, who will follow a Eobin across a forty 

 acre lot with a double barreled shot-gun to shoot it for taking a 

 few sour cherries — cherries that the same Eobin has helped to protect 

 since the unfolding of the first leaf until the ripening of the fruit. • If 

 he fails to shoot him, as he does sometimes, he will instruct one of his 

 brightest boys to hunt the marauder's nest and destroy it, thereby hop- 

 ing to get rid of the grief. Oh, how selfish. Our domestic animals 

 are fed and provided for, but the birds, which are much more valuable 

 than some of our animals, must stand back and not take anything ex- 

 cept what we cannot use for ourselves. Such discrimination is wrong. 

 Birds should be rewarded according to their merits. 



I would like to call attention to the bothersome Mocking Bird — 

 one of the most interesting birds in the world, as well as one of the 

 most useful to the horticulturist. Imitating the notes of many birds 

 almost perfect, this bird is highly prized in the cities as a singer, and 

 commands a high price. But here they are too common— we get their 

 beautiful warbling free, therefore they are not appreciated nor pro- 

 tected as they should be. Boys are allowed to cage their young and 

 peddle the poor little innocent things on the streets, and if they can't 



