28 
BY TIIE WAYSIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
1 ublished on the tenth of each month except 
July and August. 
I he official organ of the Wisconsin and Illinois 
Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five ce nts per year Single copies 5 cents 
AH communications should be sent to Fredrick 
S. Brandenburg, Madison, Wis. 
A Plea for the Birds 
Their Protection Not Merely a Matter of Sen¬ 
timent But a Business Proposition 
My Dear FriendMuch has been 
said and written in favor of improving 
our inland navigation system, of drain¬ 
ing the swamps, .of irrigating arid lands, 
oi the piopagating of fish, of preserving 
wild game on government reservations, 
and of planting* billions of trees on our 
hills and mountains that have been de¬ 
nuded of their forest growth. All this 
is right and proper, but it seems to me 
as if someone might have added the 
suggestion that more care and protec¬ 
tion should be given our native birds. 
How many of us can remember the 
countless flocks of wild pigeons floating 
like CiOuds through the air, and when 
the call of “Bob White" might be heard 
on every farm. Now, no one sees the 
former, or, except in few localities, 
hears the latter. We do not give the 
subject sufficient thought. Instead of 
being a matter of sentiment, it is simply 
a business proposition. The birds are a 
benefit to us, and we are injured if they 
are ruthlessly destroyed. 
One man in Monroe County, Pa., 
writes Professor Surface, State Zool¬ 
ogist, that the damage done to his trees 
by worms amounts at present to about 
$16,000, and the ravages continue. 
The Professor sagely observes that 
the killing of the birds has had a great 
deal to do with the destruction of trees. 
And he further remarks that “about the 
best thing that owners of trees, afflicted 
\\ ith woims, can do is to ahow the birds 
to hunt out the worms.” Again. “Let 
the woodpeckers, orioles, cuckoos, cat¬ 
birds, thrushes and chickadees come 
around and they will take care of the 
worms on the trees.” The most of our 
native birds find homes in the South 
during the winter, but they receive about 
the same protection there that the 
monkey gave the parrot, or the parrot 
gave the monkey, I am not certain 
which. In my childhood days I heard 
some one repeat the following lines- 
I he north wind doth blow, and we shall 
have snow, 
And what will the robin do then, poor 
thing ? 
He will sit in the barn to keep himself 
warm, 
And hide his head under his wine, 
O" 
poor thing. 
Now it may seem strange, but it is 
true, that poor Robin Red Breast can¬ 
not find a spot in all the sunny South¬ 
land where he can hide his head under 
his wing and be beyond the reach of 
danger. One small hamlet in central 
Tennessee sends to market annually 
120,000 robins. In Louisiana the robins 
are commonly killed for home consump¬ 
tion and for marketing, a conservative 
estimate of the number killed annually 
being from a quarter of a million in or¬ 
dinary years, to a million when they are 
unusually plenty. Now if this ratio of 
bird destruction is carried on all over 
the South it is a matter not pleasant to 
contempHte. But our own people at 
the North cannot much blame their 
Southern brethren, as there is but little 
public sentiment here in favor of birds. 
