Papers oil the Destruction of Native Birds. 1 7 [ 



" Fruit-growers and farmers do not appreciate the importance 

 of the birds that nest in their fields and orchards, or follow the 

 paths of their plows and harrows. 



"There is great need for protection of birds, yet the average 

 ruralist is not familiar with the name of one bird in ten that in_ 

 habits his fields, thus is not able to distinguish the most delightfid 

 songster or the most effective insect destroyer. 



' ' Each living creature has its use in the economy of nature, and 

 no species can be annihilated without disturbance of etjuilibrium. 

 The flies are useful scavengers. Mosquitos, worms, snakes, toads, 

 and all forms of life, were designed for a good purpose. One race 

 may do service in keeping the other in check. 



"/rhere are birds worn by our city belles that alive would ac- 

 complish more good work for mankind than the average fashionable 

 belle, although she lived for a century. The eyes and beaks of 

 these dead birds cry out in shame against the cruel fashion that 

 causes their slaughter. 



" I once heard an intelligent fruit grower exclaim : 'Shoot the 

 birds; they are eating my cherries.' Why not as well say, 

 ' Shoot the horses, they are eating my oats ; shoot the cows, they 

 are eating my hay; shoot the chickens, they are eating my corn; 

 shoot the children, they are eating my bread.' If the horses, cows, 

 chickens and children are useful and desirable features of our 

 homes, we must not destroy them; neither must we destroy the 

 birds if useful and desirable. 



"Five thousand miles is not a long distance for birds to migrate. 

 They often breed in one locality and feast in another. But wher- 

 ever they go, wherever they alight for a mouthful of food, the gun, 

 trap, cat or robbers await them. How long will the race survive 

 such treatment? Is this not a question worthy of consideration?" 



There is one bird of the family ot the fissirostal or split moudis, 

 called in popular phrase the night-hawk {Chordcilcs Virgiiiiaiiiis). 

 He is no more of a hawk than is a pigeon. He is entirely an in- 

 sectivorous bird. When I was younger, I shot one of the 

 birds. I skinned it, and, according to my custom, I ex- 

 amined his crop and found that it contained grass hoppers and 

 other insects and nothing else, and enough of them to fill a half- 

 pint .cup about full. Now, to go on shooting this bird on the sup- 

 position that it was a bird which preyed upon other birds, 

 would be more than a blunder, it would be a calamity to the 



