Jays and Crows 191 



allowed pests and vermin to multiply and the bal- 

 ance of Nature has been disturbed. A lady said 

 to me the other day, half petulantly, "If you 

 seriously defend Jays and Crows I would not be 

 surprised to hear you demand protection for 

 Snakes and Skunks," I made answer, "I am sur- 

 prised that you have not heard that I have been 

 demanding protection for both, for more than 

 twenty years." 



Gentlemen of the Jury, that farmer is only once 

 removed from a fool who demands physical 

 beauty and the ability to either sing or whistle 

 from everyone in his employ. If he does his 

 work and does it well, he should be protected and 

 reasonably remunerated, quite independent of 

 how he strikes our fancy. The public press, the 

 rostrum, the pulpit, and a great commission, and 

 even blank walls, have been shouting to us for 

 months that FOOD WILL WIN THE WAR. The les- 

 son is obvious; everyone was to unite in conserv- 

 ing it, why not allow the bird to keep it from the 

 destruction of swarming myriads of Hun insects 

 and rodents. Hunger is a monster, disregarding 

 every law, it can make a cannibal out of the flower 

 of our highest civilization, and neither Jay nor 

 Crow nor human creature is to be punished for 

 what they are driven to by starvation. 



Gentlemen of the Jury, I demand acquittal for 

 the Crow as I did for the Jay; on the ground that 



