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ELIZABETH NUNEMACHER, in _Our Animal Friends_, writes thus of her
observation of birds. Would that her suggestions for their protection might
be heeded.
"Said that artist in literature, Thomas Wentworth Higginson: 'I think that,
if required, on pain of death to name instantly the most perfect thing in
the universe, I would risk my fate on a bird's egg; ... it is as if a pearl
opened and an angel sang.' But far from his beautiful thought was the empty
shell, the mere shell of the collector. How can he be a bird lover who,
after rifling some carefully tended nest, pierces the two ends of one of
these exquisite crusts of winged melody, and murderously blows one more
atom of wings and song into nothingness? The inanimate shell, however
lovely in color, what is it? It is not an egg; an egg comprehends the
contents, the life within. Aside from the worthlessness of such a
possession, each egg purloined means we know not what depth of grief to the
parent, and a lost bird life; a vacuum where song should be.
People who love birds and the study of them prefer half an hour's personal
experience with a single bird to a whole cabinet of "specimens." Yet a
scientist recently confessed that he had slain something like four hundred
and seventy-five Redstarts, thus exterminating the entire species from a
considable range of country, to verify the fact of a slight variation in
color. One would infinitely prefer to see one Redstart in the joy of life
to all that scientific lore could impart regarding the entire family of
Redstarts by such wholesale butchery, which nothing can excuse.
We hear complaints of the scarcity of Bluebirds from year to year. I have
watched, at intervals since early April, the nest of a single pair of
Bluebirds in an old apple tree. On April 29th there were four young birds
in the nest. On May 4th they had flown; an addition was made to the
dwelling, and one egg of a second brood was deposited. On May 31st the nest
again held four young Bluebirds. June 15th saw this second quartette leave
the apple tree for the outer world, and thinking surely that the little
mother had done, I appropriated the nest; but on June 25th I found a second
nest built, and one white egg, promising a third brood. From the four laid
this time, either a collector or a Bluejay deducted one, and on July 14th
the rest were just out of the shell. This instance of the industry of one
pair of Bluebirds proves that their scarcity is no fault of theirs. I may
add that the gentle mother suffered my frequent visits and my meddling with
her nursery affairs without any show of anger or excitement, uttering only
soft murmurs, which indicated a certain anxiety. May not the eleven young
Bluebirds mean a hundred next season, and is not the possessor of the
missing egg guilty of a dozen small lives?"
We have observed that the enthusiasm of boys for collecting eggs is
frequently inspired by licensed "collectors," who are known in a community
to possess many rare and valuable specimens. Too many nests are despoiled
for so-called scientific purposes, and a limit should be set to the number
of eggs that may be taken by any one for either private or public
institutions. Let us influence the boys to "love the wood-rose, and leave
it on its stalk."
[Illustration: EGGS]
1. Spotted Sandpiper.
2. Bartramian Sandpiper.
3. Marbled Godwit.
4. King Rail.
5. American Coot.
6. Least Tern.
7. Sooty Tern.
8. Common Murre.
9. Black Tern.
10. Herring Gull.