THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
MOBILIZING THE BIRDS 
(From the Portland Oregonian.) 
HERE never was a time when the insectivorous birds of the country 
were so greatly needed as they are now, when we are bending every 
energy to the production of food for our own use and that of our allies. 
Officials of the Audubon societies estimate that insects and rodents an- 
nually destroy enough food in the United States to feed every man, 
woman and child in Belgium. Insects increase as the ¢rops increase, by 
natural laws, unless at the same time their enemies are encouraged te 
keep at the work of destruction. 
Unfortunately, the situation is the reverse of what it ought to be. 
Observation in the Hastern states has shown that many foreigners, unim- 
pressed with the importance of bird life, have been killing song birds for 
food, and the same is true in less degree of the negroes in the South. 
The slaughter is increasing in proportion as men available for duty as 
game wardens have been called to other work. If it is not checked 
the effect will be felt not only in diminished crops this year and next, 
but for years after the war is over. Insects multiply with many times 
the rapidity of birds. Not a single bird can be spared. 
The remedy lies in education of the people to the importance of bird 
preservation and in inducing them to report violations of the law, without 
waiting for particular officials to act. Game wardens cannot be every- 
where, even when there is a full quota of them, and their number is 
decreasing in many states. Farmers who prohibit the killing of non-game 
birds on their premises, employers who warn their employes against un- 
warranted destruction, and all other citizens who co-operate in the move 
ment organized by Audubon societies will be performing, although mod 
estly, an essentially patriotic duty. 
HUNTER, 79, KILLS PET DEER AND SHOOTS 
SELF 
C. S. White, 79, of Portland, went hunting near Forest Grove, with 
the net result that he killed one pet deer and shot himself through the 
right heel. 
Mr. White, a retired farmer, who formerly lived in the Cherry Grove 
district, near Gaston, went to the farm of his son, Peter White, and 
scared. up a herd of six deer. He ‘‘drew a bead’’ on the leader of the 
herd in true leather-stocking fashion, and the animal bit the dust. 
Mr. White reloaded his rifle, and was regarding the deer with an 
appraising eye, when an irate farmer stepped out of the brush. 
‘‘What d’ye mean by killing my pet deer?’’ the farmer demanded. 
‘“Your pet deer?’’ stuttered the hunter. Mr, White struck the barrel 
of his rifle on the ground, forgetting, in his chagrin, that the weapon 
was cocked. The rifle went off. 
The farmer loaded Mr. White into an automobile and took him to 
his son’s farm. He was brought to a Portland hospital, where he soon 
recovered from the wound with no serious results. 
