PROTECTION OF SONG BIRDS. 34 1 



PROTECTION OF SONG BIRDS. 



MRS. J. B. HUDSON, LAKE CITY. 



We read in Ecclesiastes "There is no new thing under the sun," 

 so today the study of birds and song birds in particular is new 

 only in the increasing popularity and enthusiasm the bird lovers of 

 today are giving the subject. 



The first great impetus to bird study in this country was given 

 by John Audubon over a hundred years ago, who by his spirited de- 

 lineation of American birds has made his name familiar to all stu- 

 dents of nature. So closely is he identified with bird lore, thai 

 most of the societies for the study of birds are named for him. 



Of the goodly number of these societies in the United States the 

 one common clause in the constitution is, "No one shall shoot the 

 song birds, rob their nests, disturb them during the nesting season or 

 wear their plumage." 



The small boy and the woman are birds' worst enemies. The 

 boy under the guise of collecting robs nest after nest. He soon tires 

 of the collection, and they are destroyed. He has learned very little 

 good beyond the names of the different birds and that he has so 

 many varieties of eggs. He puts no value on bird life and soon 

 from pleasure or sport joins the rank of bird destroyers. Then we 

 have the woman who, more through ignorance than indifference, 

 causes the wholesale slaughter of birds for millinery purposes. It 

 is estimated that 150 millions of the snowy heron, from which 

 aigrettes are obtained, are killed annually. 



Once one becomes interested in the live bird the dead bird loses 

 all charm for him. Some one has said, when you know six birds, 

 their markings, colorings, habits, etc., the study becomes so fascinat- 

 ing you cannot drop it. Now I am willing to make a more radical 

 statement : I will say, when you know one bird — and I will take our 

 most common doorstep neighbor, the robin. Learn the male from 

 the female, watch the male when he comes north in the spring 

 followed in three or four days by the female — watch them during 

 the courting season, how he follows her, singing his sweetest songs, 

 strutting up and down in a lordly way, his bright vest showing off 

 to the best advantage, picking up a twig and in various ways coax- 

 ing her to go to housekeeping. A pair in my yard two years ago 

 gave me much pleasure. He insisted on building high in the oak, 

 and she preferred the lower and more protected branch. He would 

 carry up the twigs and material to the higher place, and she would 

 immediately remove them to the lower site. As is often the case 

 in our domestic life, for peace and harmony the female had her way, 

 and then the nest building progressed. He helped in the rougher 



