A TLEA FOR rROTECTlNG OUR NATIVE BIRDS. 181 



hawks, if plenty, will kill small IMrds ; therefore keep them at a 

 distance. The red squirrel is destructive of man}- species of young- 

 birds, and I should advise shooting them every time they are 

 seen. The increase and improvement in fire-arms, has proved 

 a temptation to mauj' a man and boy, Avho for a few dollars can 

 now buy an improved breech-loading gun, such as few of us ever 

 dreamed of forty years ago. Unless educated to the contrary, 

 thousands of school-boys will thoughtlessly indulge in this exciting 

 sport, causing the destruction of vast numbers of birds every year. 

 It maj^ be necessary to kill a few birds for the cause of science, 

 but it is to be hoped that no taxidermist nor any other person will 

 indulge in this sport for mere profit, or their own gratification. 



But saddest of all is it, that in this Christian and enlightened age, 

 thousands of beautiful little singing birds should have been 

 slaughtered to ornament ladies' hats and dresses. What a blot 

 upon our times for the future historian to record. But a gleam of 

 light is breaking, when the Princess of Wales, with noteworthy 

 courage, gives orders "that nothing need be submitted for her 

 inspection, or that of her daughters, in which birds are used as 

 trimming," and it is to be hoped that this noble example will be 

 followed everywhere, especially in our own country, where every- 

 thing "English," whether good or bad, is copied so quickly by our 

 own people. 



But by far the most alarming thing at the present time, is the 

 practice, in some of the Southern States, of killing these birds dur- 

 ing the winter for game. Last summer, a lady assured me that 

 over a bushel of robins were brought one day, into the hotel where 

 she was stopping, and served up for dinner ; because she declined 

 to taste them, the remark was made, — "That is all these Yankee 

 birds are fit for." My neighbor who spent the winter in Florida 

 two or three years ago, says he was offered twenty-five cents each 

 for robins, at one of the large hotels. I believe most of the 

 northern and middle states have laws to protect useful birds, but 

 it is useless to protect and foster them at the north, to be killed in 

 winter at the south. 



It is very evident that the time has come, Avheu there should be 

 strong and effectual national laws for the protection of our birds, 

 and also that we should have the sympathy and cooperation of all 

 adjoining countries and islands. 



