Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1899 — Indiana Audubon Society. [ARTICLE]

Indiana Audubon Society.

GEO. S. COTTMAN,

The organization of Indiana Audubon Society is but part of a larger movement looking to the protection of our native wild birds. The importance of such an interest is clearly manifest. Nut only does humanity and sentiment protest indignantly against the cruel and wanton slaughter of creatures that contribute so much te our pleasure, but the economic value of most of our birds is such that their destruction becomes a very serious matter to agriculture, and thus effects every man, woman and child. Students of this economic question and lovers of birds generally feel that public enlightenment on this subject is a crying need, and one expression of this sentiment is the creation of Audubon societies. These are now organized and at work in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado and the District of Columbia, while in other parts of the country the sentiment is growing and the list of societies will undoubtedly increase. The fostering of this sentiment is the all-important step to bird protection. The chief aim of the Audubon societies is to promote the sentiment by their meetings and the dissemination ot literature that shall make known the causes and the deplorable results of bird destruction. When a wide-spread interest is once awakened, the force of public opinion will correct much of the evil that now exists, and a stricter enforcement of the laws that are upon our statute books will place a further check upon the destroyers. The slaughtering of birds is due to ignorance, to thoughtlessness, and to a criminal heartlessness, and these factors, it is estimated, have succeeded in reducing the insect-feeding birds in our State thirty per cent, within thirty years. The two chief human enemies of birds, doubtless, are the boy who wanders unhindred with his gun and his unrestrained propensity for pillaging nests, and the professional bird-butcher who supplies wings, breasts and plumes for ladies’ hats. The first of these, it is hoped, may be reached by educative influences —by introducing into the public schools proper instruction regarding birds, and the establishing of a “Bird Day,” to be observed either along with or apart from “Arbor Day.” This is hopeful, because reports from educators are not wanting which show with a little guidance boys are readily converted from bird hunters to ardent bird protectors. The other class—the mercenaries who supply the millinery market—can not be dealt with so easily. Presumably they are proof against all arguments of the friends of birds. They are -making their living by meeting a demand of commerce, and so long as the demand continues birds will be killed. must rest with the women, who create the demand, and their responsibility ■ in the matter is daily becoming greater. So much has been said of late about the barbarity that lies back of bird millinery that in this age of well-informed women, few can plead ignorance of the facts. The tragedy of the egret, or white heron, which at the nesting season is slaughtered for

its plume, the aigrette, and the nestlings left to starve, has been told time and again, till it would seem all must be familiar with it, while the tragedy of the oriole, the bumming bird and the tern, whose mutilated remains adorn the headgear of her whom the poets love to call the gentlest, most tenderhearted of created beings, needs no verbal recital to one who will look and think. Ignorance and thoughtlessness may have much to do with this savage custom, but not all. for many a woman who will not take the reform attitude justifies herself by the censurable plea that if she did not wear the dead bird another would. The error of such' a plea is so obvious, both to the intellect and the moral sense, that it need not be dwelt upon. Nor is the argument that many of the beasts and wings used in millinery are artificial, as valid a one as it seems, for along with the feathers of domestic fowls so used are blended many from our wild birds, and the demand is still kept up. All who are interested in the protection of birds are earnestly invited to become members of the Audubon Society by sending the fee of SI.OO to the secretary. In localties where several persons are or can be interested, they are urged to form a local society. Only a tew members are necessary to form an organization. Where there are local organizations they are invited to become affiliated with the State society. For information write to

Secretary, Irvington, Ind.