File:Bulletin (Pennsylvania Game Commision), no. 7 (1911) (20507094641).jpg

Title: Bulletin (Pennsylvania Game Commision), no. 7
Identifier: bulletinpennsylv07penn (find matches)
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Pennsylvania Game Commission
Subjects: Game protection; Birds
Publisher: Harrisburg, Pa. : Pennsylvania Game commission
Contributing Library: Penn State University
Digitizing Sponsor: Lyrasis Members and Sloan Foundation

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10 if not atlually more, when ihcv capture numerous small insects. Tlie ))ursuit of food is a killing;- process, direct or indirect. Jinion,^- all livini^- creatures of the earth, j-alse sentimentality is tlie sort of tliini;- which brands a hoy morally had hecause he wants to collect a hir(r> eo-o". or which ima.^ines that such fables as "Poor Cock R«.lMn" ha\e some scientilic t'oundation. The trul\- hroud-minded bird-student realizes that it is a normal predatory instinct in the 1m)y which attends a period of his .^-rowth that leads him into the field to kill and ))lunder. Mis desire to collect specimens should not be thou,i^ht bad or e\en unde>irable. It should simplv be di- rected into the channels which brin^- about a desire to ))rotect wild life and alTord the .i,n-eatest real satisfaction to the boy. We are Jtware that some boys with j^uns become ruthless in their killing^, haws exist for the re^fulation of such boys; but 1 am heartily in >ym));ithy with the \un,i;- cha)) who wants to assend)le some sort ct a nature-study collection, and if ))roperly advised and encoura.^-ed the 1)oy'> experience with natural historv obiects mav be am<»n«»- the most valuable dexelopini^ factors in his life. Our particular consideration at )»resent is directed, however, to- ward the aesthetic value of birds. When we rate so iii.i^dilv these intaujL^ible (pialities of our birds let it not be thomrht that we are
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I"lint(nrrH;(h liv .1. Wurron .Twf>.ili« 1\'., YOLX(, I'L Kl'LK MARTIXS L\ THKIk XKSTIXCi BOX YOun-K^ Martins consume an enormous amount of insect food daily, colony IS an aesthetic and economic asset to anv estate." \ Martin 11 fc>r<^ettint^ their pronounced economic value. The splendid work of the staff of the I'dolo^ical .Survey of the I'nited States Depart- ment of Aj^riculture. and other scientists, in amassini^- facts from a detailed study of life histories of birds, and the most scholarlv in- vestii^ation of their stomach contents is not to be overlooked or under-rated in this connection. The s))lendid measures thus far achieved for conservation of our bird-life have been brought about Ir-Tii^ely throu.i^h the iuHuence of this work, liut 1 am compelled to Jisk: Are we never to realize and admit that our most sincere rea.son for ))rotectini^ birds is simply that we want them as thev are about us. whether they are each saviui^ our State so manv cents apiece annually or not? The sooner we come to admit this the more whole-hearted will our protective instincts be. and the more .S)'mpathetic we will be toward birds whose food habits mav not have been favorably rei^arded. It is true that the really interested ha\ e always l*elt this. For the genuine naturalist no ar.q-uments for protection of wild life need be offered. lUit we believe the time has c(jnie when birds are valued l)y the i)eo))le at larq^e as well as by naturalist.s. As has been previously sui^.i^^'sted. there are and always will be ))eo))le to wh<.m even the most beautiful or economically valuable wild creatures w ill mean nothin.i^^ more than so many commercially usable feathers, or so much meat: but such as these we believe are now l"ar in the niinoritx. The aesthetic (pialities of birds influence the lives (»f human beings. Spirited and many C(.lored creatures that thev are. birds have some- how become ))art of the experience of all oi US. Birds of unusual song or brilliant ))lumaire have attracted u.s. Game birds have lured sportsmen to the oi)en air and its health and charms since the da\ s of our Pil are known to ijive. do not merit beinj^^ called sonj^:. but if anyone (piestions the ability of some binls to produce nuisic, we ask him to journe> to the deep woods where Hermit Thrushes are chanting: in that damp realm of ferns, mosses and old trunks, or to a wind-swept promontory where a Horned Lark sin^s his shy hyiun to the sun or to a sunny slope where a INTENTIONAL SECOND EXPOSURE

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