PROTECTING BIRDS AS AN ACT OF PATRIOTISM 



BY MOODY B. GATES 



"The birds that make sweet music for us all 

 In our dark hours as David did for Saul." 



IN THE general endeavor to win the war attention has 

 not been centered so much on particular ways and 

 means as on general results. Nevertheless many 

 things have been done which will loom up large in the 

 perspective and which it will take the restored normality 

 of peace times to value at their full worth. 



Prominent among these is the remarkable stride made 

 within the past year in the direction of establishing bird 

 sanctuaries throughout the nation. This development 

 demands recognition, marking as it does a very forward 

 step in a much needed direction and showing results 

 which indicate that a firm foundation has been laid on 

 which to build along similar lines. 



Above other things, it indicates that under suf- 

 ficient impetus our people are always ready to take 

 up and push forward any humanitarian or conservation 

 project of which the benefit is clearly pointed out by 

 those having no selfish aims or ambitions to serve and 

 who take up reforms simply for the general good. 

 This work in no way conflicts with the splendid 

 achievements of the Audubon 

 and other societies inter 

 ested in bird preserva 

 tion. On the con- 

 trary it supplements 

 and makes ef- 

 f e c t i v e the 

 e d u c ational 

 \v o r k which 

 the other or- 



crops, and, second, to put this knowledge to practical 

 war work account by appealing to patriotic impulse. The 

 necessity was pointed out of saving the birds from wanton 

 attacks and encouraging their increase by affording them 

 protection from hunters and guarding them as much as 

 possible from their natural enemies as well as from ex- 

 tremes of weather. Volunteers were called for, to pledge 

 their land holdings as safe nesting places and to furnish a 

 supply of food for winter birds which perish in multi- 

 tudes in time of. severe sleet and ice storms. 



To make the effort systematic and effective, the estab- 

 lishment in every district of a great number of bird 

 sanctuaries was urged. Owners of farms and wooded 

 tracts were asked to sign pledges that they would forbid 

 hunting on their property and would conspicuously dis- 

 play the sanctuary notices furnished to every signer of 

 the pledge. This campaign has resulted, up to October i 



of last year (1918) in 3,379 sepa 

 land having been voluntar 

 posted as sanctu 

 the land thus 



Photograph by Brown Brothers 



THREE VARIETIES OK THRUSHES 



None but thoughtless youngsters would shoot beautiful warblers like these or desecrate their homes 



thousands of nests are robbed every year. 



g a n 1 z ations 

 have done and 



arc doing. In the case of the remarkable record herein 

 described it is apparent that wonderful results are to be 

 obtained by simple, direct, educative appeal. This show- 

 ing of one million acres of land voluntarily pledged for 

 bird sanctuaries and distributed throughout the entire 

 country and over the boundary line in Canada is a tribute 

 to the power of editorial influence, not only in bringing 

 about tangible results, but in paving the way to giving 

 legislation its maximum effect. In the space of only a 

 few months, more concrete results in establishing private 

 bird sanctuaries have been attained, than ever before in 

 a like period of time. One can readily imagine the results 

 if all national publications were to join hands in this or in 

 a similar constructive work for Wild Life Conservation, 

 Forestry, or anything else of public benefit. 



When the United States entered the war and the ques- 

 tion of food for our soldiers and those of our Allies be- 

 came of paramount importance, The People's Home 

 Journal began a campaign of education among its readers ; 

 first, to teach the value of birds as protectors of growing 



yet 



rate tracts of 

 ily set aside 

 aries for birds, 

 dedicated 

 comprising a 

 total of 933,- 

 975 acres 

 scattered 

 through forty- 

 two states and 

 Canada. The 

 signing of 

 pledges still 

 continues and 

 the total 



acreage is steadily growing. The appeal to adults was 

 further supplemented, through "The Green Meadow 

 Club," a department edited by Thornton Burgess to in- 

 terest younger readers in nature study and the protection 

 of wild birds and animals. A special appeal was made 

 to the members of the club, through this department, to 

 devote their energies through the summer to obtaining 

 pledges for bird sanctuaries. Juvenile readers were 

 shown that in furthering this important work they were 

 performing a war service no less than were their older 

 brothers in France. 



That the youngsters took up the work in this spirit was 

 shown by hundreds of enthusiastic letters. A Wisconsin 

 boy wrote that he had taken the place in the field of an 

 older brother who was in khaki, and in addition was 

 devoting all his leisure hours to urging neighboring farm- 

 ers to sign sanctuary pledges. A school girl from the 

 same State who lived in a thinly settled district, walked 

 and rode many miles daily, visiting distant farms, till she 

 had secured pledges for an even hundred tracts and 



1003 



