THE HERO ENTERS SUDDENLY 



hoped that the poor little victim was imme- 

 diately stunned and that he knew no pain 

 in connection with the fatal blow; and we 

 were glad that the beautiful feathers had 

 not been secured by the destroyer for hat 

 or bonnet ornamentation, but there was no 

 channel through which we could convey a 

 single consoling thought to the little brown 

 mate with the broken heart. 



More and more I am impressed by the 

 thought of the blood-guiltiness of those 

 who, directly or indirectly, encourage the 

 terrible traffic that makes so many martyrs 

 in the bird realm. Think of the songs si- 

 lenced, of the woods stripped of these 

 bright dashes of color, of the desolate 

 homes, of the starving nestlings, of the 

 wailing mates, of the maimed creatures 

 who, eluding their would-be captors, es- 

 cape merely to die slowly in pain and hun- 

 ger and the terrible thirst of the wounded; 

 57 



