TEACHING WILD LIFE PROTECTION TO THE YOUNG
Thousands of busy and burdened men and women are to-day striving hard,
early and late, to promote measures that will preserve the valuable wild
life of the world. They desire to leave to the boys and girls of
tomorrow a good showing of the marvelous bird and animal forms that make
the world beautiful and interesting. They are acting on the principle
that the wild life of to-day is not ours, to destroy or to keep as we
choose, but has been given to us _in trust_, partly for our benefit and
partly for those who come after us and audit our accounts. They believe
that we have no right to squander and destroy a wild-life heritage of
priceless value which we have done nothing to create, and which is not
ours to destroy.
DUTY OF PARENTS.--This being the case, it is very necessary that the
young people of to-day should be taught, early and often, the virtue and
the necessity of wild-life protection. There is no reason that the boy
of to-day should not take up his share of the common burden, just as
soon as he is old enough to wander alone through the woods. Let him be
taught in precise terms that he must _not rob birds' nests_, and that he
_must not shoot song-birds, woodpeckers and kingfishers_ with a
22-calibre rifle, or any other gun. At this moment there lies upon my
side table a vicious little 22-calibre rifle that was taken from two
boys who were camping in the woods of Connecticut, and amusing
themselves by shooting valuable insectivorous birds. Now those boys were
not wholly to blame for what they were doing; but their fathers and
mothers were _very much to blame_! They should have been taught at the
parental knee that it is very wrong to kill any bird except a genuine
game bird, and then only in the lawful open season. Those two fathers
paid $10 each for having failed in their duty; and it served them right;
for they were the real culprits.
Small-calibre rifles are becoming alarmingly common in the hands of
boys. _Parents must do their duty in the training of their boys against
bird-shooting!_ It is a very serious matter. A million boys who roam the
fields with small rifles without having been instructed in protection,
can destroy an appalling number of valuable birds in the course of a
year. Some parents are so slavishly devoted to their children that they
wish them to do everything they please, and be checked in nothing. Such
parents constitute one of the pests of society, and a drag upon the
happiness of their own children! It is now the bounden duty of each
parent to teach each one of his or her children that the time has come
when the resources of nature, and especially wild life, must be
conserved. To permit boys to grow up and acquire guns without this
knowledge is very wrong.
THE DUTY OF TEACHERS AND SCHOOLS.--A great deal of "nature study" is
being taught in the public schools of the United States. That the young
people of our land should be taught to appreciate the works of nature,
and especially animal life and plant life, is very desirable. Thus far,
however, there is a screw loose in the system, and that is the shortage
in definite, positive instruction regarding _individual duty_ toward the
wild creatures, great and small. Along with their nature studies all our
school children should be taught, in the imperative mood:
1. That it is wrong to disturb breeding birds, or rob birds' nests;
2. That it is wrong to destroy any harmless living creature not properly
classed as game, except it be to preserve it in a museum;
3. That it is no longer right for civilized man to look upon wild game
as _necessary_ food; because there is plenty of other food, and the
remnant of game can not withstand slaughter in that basis;
4. That the time has come when it is the duty of every good citizen to
take an active, aggressive part in _preventing_ the destruction of wild
life, and in _promoting_ its preservation;
5. That every boy and girl over twelve years of age can do _something_
in this cause, and finally,
6. That protection and encouragement will bring back the almost vanished
birds.
We call upon all boards of education, all principals of schools and all
teachers to educate our boys and girls, constantly and imperatively,
along those lines. Teachers, do not say to your pupils,--"It is right
and nice to protect birds," but say:--"It is your _Duty_ to protect all
harmless wild things, and _you must do it_!"
In a good cause, there is great virtue in "Must."
Really, we are losing each year an immense amount of available wild-life
protection. The doctrine of imperative individual duty never yet has
been taught in our schools as it should be taught. A few teachers have,
indeed, covered this ground; but I am convinced that their proportion is
mighty small.
TEXT BOOKS.--The writers of the nature study text books are very much to
blame because nine-tenths of the time this subject has been ignored. The
situation has not been taken seriously, save in a few cases, by a very
few authors. I am glad to report that in 1912 there was published a fine
text book by Professor James W. Peabody, of the Morris High School, New
York, and Dr. Arthur E. Hunt, in which from beginning to end the duty to
protect wild life is strongly insisted upon. It is entitled "Elementary
Biology; Plants, Animals and Man."
Hereafter, no zoological or nature study text book should be given a
place in any school in America unless the author of it has done his full
share in setting forth the duty of the young citizen toward wild life.
Were I a member of a board of education I would seek to establish and
enforce this requirement. To-day, any author who will presume to write a
text book of nature study or zoology without knowing and doing his duty
toward our vanishing fauna, is too ignorant of wild life and too
careless of his duty toward it, to be accepted as a safe guide for the
young. The time for criminal indifference has gone by. Hereafter, every
one who is not for the preservation of wild life is against it and it is
time to separate the sheep from the goats.
From this time forth, the preservation of our fauna should be regarded
as a subject on which every candidate for a teacher's certificate should
undergo an examination before receiving authority to teach in a public
school. The candidate should be required to know _why_ the preservation
of birds is necessary; why the slaughter of wild life is wrong and
criminal; the extent to which wild birds and mammals return to us and
thrive under protection; why wild game is no longer a legitimate food
supply; why wild game should not be sold, and why the feathers of wild
birds (other than game birds) never should be used as millinery
ornaments.
As sensible Americans, and somewhat boastful of our intelligence, we
should put the education of the young in wild-life protection on a
rational business basis.
STATE EFFORTS.--In several of our states, systematic efforts to educate
children in their duty toward wild life are already being made. To this
end, an annual "Bird Day" has been established for state-wide
observance. This splendid idea is now legally in force in the following
states:
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio
and Wisconsin.
Bird Day is also more or less regularly observed, though not legally
provided for, in New York, Indiana, Colorado and Alabama, and locally in
some cities of Pennsylvania. Usually the observance of the day is
combined with that of Arbor Day, and the date is fixed by proclamation
of the Governor.
Alabama and Wisconsin regularly issue elaborate and beautiful Arbor and
Bird Day annuals; and Illinois, and possibly other states, have issued
very good publications of this character.
THE PHILLIPS EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR THE BIRDS.--Quite recently there
has come under my notice an episode in the education of school children
that has given the public profound satisfaction. I cite it here as an
object lesson for pan-America.
In Carrick, Pennsylvania, just across the Monongahela River from the
city of Pittsburgh, lives John M. Phillips, State Game Commissioner,
nature-lover, sportsman and friend of man. He is a man who does things,
and gets results. Goat Mountain Park (450 square miles), in British
Columbia, to-day owes its existence to him, for without his initiative
and labor it would not have been established. It was the first game
preserve of British Columbia.
Three years ago, Mr. Phillips became deeply impressed by the idea that
one of the best ways in the world to protect the wild life, both of
to-day and the future, would be in teaching school children to love it
and protect it. His fertile brain and open check-book soon devised a
method for his home city. His theory was that by giving the children
_something to do_, not only in protecting but in actually _bringing
back_ the birds, much might be accomplished.
[Illustration: BIRD DAY AT CARRICK, PA.
Marching Behind the Governor]
In studying the subject of bringing back the birds, he found that the
Russian mulberry is one of the finest trees in the world as a purveyor
of good fruit for many kinds of birds. The tree does not much resemble
our native mulberry, but is equally beautiful and interesting. "The
fruit is not a long berry, nor is it of a purple color, but it grows
from buds on the limbs and twigs something after the manner of the
pussy-willow. It is smaller, of light color and has a very distinct
flavor. The most striking peculiarity about the fruit is that it keeps
on ripening during two months or more, new berries appearing daily while
others are ripening. This is why it is such good bird food. Nor is it
half bad for folks, for the berries are good to look at and to eat,
either with cream or without, and to make pies that will set any sane
boy's mouth a-watering at sight."--(Erasmus Wilson).
Everyone knows the value of sweet cherries, both to birds and to
children.
Mr. Phillips decided that he would give away several hundred bird boxes,
and also several hundred sweet cherry and Russian mulberry trees. The
first gift distribution was made in the early spring of 1909. Another
followed in 1910, but the last one was the most notable.
On April 11, 1912, Carrick had a great and glorious Bird Day. Mr.
Phillips was the author of it, and Governor Tener the finisher. On that
day occurred the third annual gift distribution of raw materials
designed to promote in the breasts of 2,000 children a love for birds
and an active desire to protect and increase them. Mr. Phillips gave
away 500 bird boxes, 500 sweet cherry trees and 200 mulberry trees. The
sun shone brightly, 500 flags waved in Carrick, the Governor made one of
the best speeches of his life, and Erasmus Wilson, faithful friend of
the birds, wrote this good story of the occasion for the _Gazette-Times_
of Pittsburgh:
The Governor was there, and the children, the bird-boxes, and the
young trees. And was there ever a brighter or more fitting day for a
children and bird jubilee! The scene was so inspiring that Gov.
Tener made one of the best speeches of his life.
The distribution of several hundred cherry and mulberry trees was
the occasion, and the beautiful grounds of the Roosevelt school,
Carrick, was the scene.
Mr. John M. Phillips, sane sportsman and enthusiastic friend of the
birds, has been looking forward to this as the culmination of a
scheme he has been working on for years, and he was more than
pleased with the outcome. The intense delight it afforded him more
than repaid him for all it has cost in all the years past.
But it was impossible to tell who were the more delighted,--he, or
the Governor, or the children, or the visitors who were so fortunate
as to be present. County Superintendent of Schools Samuel Hamilton
was simply a mass of delight. And how could he be otherwise,
surrounded as he was by 2,000 and more children fairly quivering
with delight?
Children will care for and defend things that are their very own,
fight for them and stand guard over them. Realizing this Mr.
Phillips undertook to show them how they could have birds all their
own. Being clever in devising schemes for achieving things most to
be desired, he began giving out bird-boxes to those who would agree
to put them up, and to watch and defend the birds when they came to
make their homes with them. And he found that no more faithful
sentinel ever stood on guard than the boy who had a bird-house all
his own.
Here was the solution to the vexed problem. Provide boxes for those
who would agree to put them up, care for the birds, and study their
habits and needs. The children agreed at once, and the birds did not
object, so Mr. Phillips had some hundreds, four or five, blue-bird
and wren boxes constructed during the past winter. These were passed
out some weeks ago to any boys or girls who would present an order
signed by their parents, and countersigned by the principal of the
school.
He knows enough about a boy to know that he does not prize the
things that come without effort, nor will he become deeply
interested in anything for which he is not held more or less
responsible. Hence the advantage in having him write an order, have
it indorsed by his parents, and vouched for by his school principal.
That he had struck the right scheme was proven by the avidity with
which the girls and boys rushed for the boxes. The fact that a heavy
rain was falling did not dampen their ardor for a moment, nor did
the fact that they were tramping Mr. Phillips' beautiful lawn into a
field of mud.
Mr. Phillips, seeing the necessity of providing food for the
prospective hosts of birds, and wishing to place the responsibility
on the boys and girls, offered to provide a cherry tree or mulberry
tree for every box erected, provided they should be properly planted
and diligently cared for.
This was practically the culmination of the most unique bird scheme
ever attempted, and yesterday was the day set apart for the
distribution of these hundreds of fruit trees, the products of which
are to be divided share and share alike with the birds.
Nowhere else has such a scheme been attempted, and never before has
there been just such a day of jubilee. The intense interest
manifested by the children, and the earnest enthusiasm manifested,
leaves no doubt about their carrying out their part of the contract.
[Illustration: DISTRIBUTING BIRD BOXES AND FRUIT TREES]
Up to date (1912) Mr. Phillips has given away about 1,000 bird boxes,
1,500 cherry and Russian mulberry trees, and transformed the schools of
Carrick into seething masses of children militantly enthusiastic in the
protection of birds, and in providing them with homes and food. As a
final coup, Mr. Phillips has induced the city of Pittsburgh to create
the office of City Ornithologist, at a salary of $1200 per year. The
duty of the new officer is to protect all birds in the city from all
kinds of molestation, especially when nesting; to erect bird-houses,
provide food for wild birds, on a large scale, and report annually upon
the increase or decrease of feathered residents and visitors. Mr.
Frederic S. Webster, long known as a naturalist and practical
ornithologist, has been appointed to the position, and is now on active
duty.
So far as we are aware, Pittsburgh is the first city to create the
office of City Ornithologist. It is a happy thought; it will yield good
results, and other cities will follow Pittsburgh's good example.
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