Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 4, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 February 1886 — Protection for the Birds. [ARTICLE]

Protection for the Birds.

The startling decrease in the numbers of many of our birds, brought about of late years by the unceasing persecution waged for the sake of fashion, has aroused the Ornithologists’ Union to a recognition of the necessity for instant and decided effort in behalf of our birds. The objects of the committee are as follows: 1. The gathering of all possible information bearing on the subjects of the destruction and protection of North American birds. 2. The diffusion of information among the people in respect to the extent of the slaughter of birds for millinery and other mercenary purposes ; the wanton killing of birds in sport by men and boys; the robbing of birds’ nests; the destruction of the eggs of rails, terns, gulls and other birds for food; and the marked recent decrease of many species resulting from this general destruction; the spreading of information, also, in respect to the utility of birds as a natural check upon the increase of insects injurious to vegetation, and with reference to their interest and value from an aesthetic point of view. This with the object of developing a public sentiment in favor of the rigid protection of our native birds, a sentiment that will naturally spring up strongly and widely as soon as attention is called to the subject. The headquarters of the committee are at the American Museum of Natural History, Central Paik, New York City, where the officers or any of the members may be addressed. It cost Mr. Pratt $1,083,333.33 to fotind the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore.