110 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



exhibit. The condition that ob- 

 tained in New York before 1899 

 illustrates the condition that ob- 

 tains in almost every other section 

 of the United States. For instance 

 in Pensacola, Fla., strings of robins 

 may be seen hanging up before 

 the doors of shops like strings of 

 onions, and in many parts of 

 Florida larks are being slaughtered 

 and eaten. 



"Occasionally we hear it said 

 that birds are injurious to the crops, 

 but such complaints do not often 

 come from farmers," continued 

 Mr. Hornaday, "the latter well 

 will know that birds are their 

 best friends, and therefore every 

 cherry or strawberry eaten or 

 spoiled for the market is paid for 

 many times over by the birds, 

 who devour the fruit killing insects 

 that infest the country. If the 

 time ever comes when there are 

 no birds left, the farmer will find 

 his profits reduced very materially 

 for the purchase of the insect 

 powder, the use of which must be 

 liberal indeed to do the work that 

 birds are now doing for noth- 

 ing. 



"Perhaps there are sanguine 

 people who feel disposed to call 

 me an alarmist. If so, I am willing 

 that they would do so, for that is 

 precisely what I am trying to be. 

 I am trying to do my part in 

 sounding a general alarm and in 

 sending C. Q. D. messages to about^ 

 eighty millions of apathetic and 

 easy-going people before it is 

 entirely too late. The time to 

 send in a fire alarm is before your 

 house is entirely consumed, and 

 not after. For forty years we 

 have been smarting under the 

 national disgrace of the wicked 

 slaughter of American bison. If 

 something is not done, and done 

 quickly, we will be smarting under 

 the disgrace of having looked 

 calmly on while our American 

 birds are being slaughtered and 

 gradually annihilated. 



"But what can we do?" is a 

 question asked by those who have 



not delved deeply into the subject, 

 "Prohibit the .sale of game," is 

 the answer. But what can the 

 layman do toward prohibiting the 

 sale of game? The layman can 

 write his pfotest and forward it 

 to Congressmen and Senators, be- 

 fore whom the bills for the pro- 

 tection of birds in various States 

 will appear, and thereby show 

 these statesmen what the people 

 want. Nearly every law making 

 body in America is quick to act 

 in the preservation of any public 

 asset as soon as it is thoroughly 

 assured that a great many of the 

 people desire it. 



"The reasons why the American 

 people should arouse themselves 

 to immediate protest against the 

 sale of game everywhere are be- 

 cause fully ninety per cent of our 

 legitimate stock of feathered game 

 has already been destroyed, and 

 because it is a fixed fact that 

 every wild species of mammal, 

 bird or reptile that is pursued for 

 money-making purposes is wiped 

 out of existence. Even the whales 

 of the sea are no exception. 

 At lease fifty per cent of the 

 decrease in our feathered game 

 is due to market gunning and the 

 sale of gii.me. Laws that permit 

 the comn crcial slaughter of wild 

 birds for the benefit of the few 

 who slaughter for the markets 

 are directly against the interest 

 of the many to whom the game 

 partly belongs. Game killed for 

 sale is not intended to satisfy 

 hunger. The people who eat game 

 in large cities do not know what 

 hunger is, save by heresay. Pur- 

 chased game is used chiefly in 

 overfeeding, and as a rule it does 

 far more harm than good. The 

 greatest value to be derived from 

 any game bird is from seeing it 

 and photographing it and enjoying 

 its living company in its native 

 haunts. Who will love the forests 

 when they will become destitute 

 of live life? 



"All of our feathered game," 

 continued Mr. Hornaday, "with 



