ANOTHER CONGRESSMAN ON BIRD PROTECTION. 



The Hon. Amos J. Cummings spoke as 

 follows on the Lacey bill: 



Mr. Chairman : — I was a member of the 

 House of Representatives 13 years ago this 

 spring. In April of that year the Capitol 

 grounds and the parks of this city were 

 filled with robins, bobolinks and other song 

 birds. The sward below the piazza of the 

 House wing of the Capitol was dotted with 

 songsters, the robins running in every di- 

 rection for worms and insects, and the 

 trees alive with music. To-day it is a 

 rarity to see a robin in the city of Wash- 

 ington. I heard 2 chirping on Capitol 

 square early in the spring. Two weeks ago 

 I saw a robin on the square pecked to death 

 by English sparrows. When I reached 

 him he was lying with drooping head and 

 outstretched wings on the grass in the park. 

 From 200 to 300 English sparrows sur- 

 rounded him, tormenting and attacking 

 him. I took the bird into the house and 

 gave him a drop of the best brandy. It re- 

 vived him and he flew to the back of a 

 chair. (Applause.) A moment after- 

 ward, however, I am sorry to say, his head 

 began to droop and he finally dropped from 

 his perch to the carpet. Five minutes after- 

 wards he gasped for breath and died. On 

 examination I found one eye bloodshot, 

 and discovered that the bird was terribly 

 lacerated under the wings. The bills of the 

 sparrows had pierced him to the vitals. 

 Now, Mr. Chairman, if this bill will save 

 the few robins and song birds now with 

 us from the vicious attacks of these Eng- 

 lish sparrows, I am most heartily in favor 

 of it. (Applause.) 



Last summer I spent in the Susquehanna 

 valley. Twelve years before I had sum- 

 mered in the same spot. The little yel- 

 low cherry bird was there then in profusion. 

 The ground chippy darted under the fences 

 and had its nest in the tall grass. The yel- 

 low-hammer was there, undulating from 

 tree to tree. The tapping of the wood- 

 pecker was heard in the basswood and other 

 trees, and the twitter of the phcebe bird 

 and the plaintive note of the pewit. The 

 killdee and plover flew over the hills, and 

 the kingfisher and the little tiP-up were 

 seen on the shores of the river. Bob White 

 made himself heard in the meadows, and 

 dainty woodcock flew out of the dells to- 

 ward nightfall. All the varieties of birds 

 familiar to us in boyhood days were there, 

 including the catbird, the brown thrasher 

 and the kingbird. In that same region 

 to-day there is not one of these song birds 

 where 12 years ago there were 50. 



My friend from Iowa (Mr. Lacey) says 

 the wild pigeon is a bird of the past. I 

 have not seen one on the wing for 6 years. 



As the correspondent of a great American 

 newspaper I visited Forest county, Pa., 20 

 years ago to describe the last pigeon roost 

 this side of the Mississippi. The birds were 

 nesting in the forest, covering the trees for 

 20 square miles. Hundreds of Indians from 

 the New York State reservations were there 

 killing the birds and gathering squabs. 

 Sportsmen were netting them by the thou- 

 sand, and pot hunters were sending great 

 loads of them to market. When a boy in 

 Wayne county, Pa., I have seen flocks of 

 these pigeons stretching across the sky 

 from daylight to nightfall, headed for the 

 West. I doubt "whether to-day you could 

 find one in the whole of Wayne county. 

 All have disappeared. The last roost in the 

 United States was destroyed in the Indian 

 Territory about 12 years ago. A wild 

 pigeon is now more scarce, North, South, 

 East and West than a wild turkey. The 

 prairie chickens have nearly disappeared, 

 and the American wood duck is being 

 rapidly exterminated. If it is possible now 

 to preserve any of these birds by legisla- 

 tion enacted by Congress, it is our duty to 

 preserve them by placing such laws on the 

 statute books. (Applause.) 



The most of the States have laws for the 

 protection of their birds, but desire Con- 

 gressional legislation to make their laws 

 effective. Last October I was in Florida. 

 Twenty-five years ago I summered and 

 wintered there. I spent years on the East 

 coast. The sky was filled with immense 

 flocks of wood ibis, gannets, curlews of all 

 colors, oyster birds, chuck-will's-widows, 

 sheerwaters and sandpipers. The man-of- 

 war hawk sailed in the upper sky, and long 

 lines of pelicans trailed over the beach. 

 There were immense flocks of egrets and 

 snowy herons, besides the great blue and 

 Louisiana herons and the roseate spoonbill 

 curlew, now the rarest and the most beauti- 

 ful bird in America. The scream of the 

 parakeet was heard at every turn, and gold- 

 finches, mocking birds, limpkins, nonpareils 

 and myriads of songsters were seen every- 

 where. To-day the parakeet has almost 

 entirely disappeared, the roseate spoonbill 

 is rarely seen, and even the common sea 

 gull is a prey to the gunner. The State 

 is doing its best now to protect them. A 

 man who would kill a roseate spoonbill cur- 

 lew to-day is liable to a fine of $250. 



This slaughter has been made to gratify 

 the vanity of the female sex. Hats and 

 bonnets have been decorated with the 

 plumes of birds, and the slaughter still con- 

 tinues and will continue until some Federal 

 law, mortised in with State laws, prevents 

 it. Our agricultural newspapers are filled 

 with articles showing that this wanton de- 



