from our savage
ancestry. The number of beautiful and useful birds annually
slaughtered for bonnet trimmings runs up into the hundreds
of thousands, and threatens, if it has not already
accomplished, the extermination of some of the rarer
species. The insidious egg-hunting and pea-shooting
proclivities of the small boy are hardly less widespread and
destructive. It matters little which of the two agencies is
the more fatal, since neither is productive of any good. One
looks to the gratification of a shallow vanity, the other to
the gratification of a cruel instinct and an expenditure of
boyish energy that might be profitably diverted into other
channels. The evil is one against which legislation can be
only palliative and of local efficiency. Public sentiment,
on the other hand, if properly fostered in the schools,
would gain force with the growth and development of our boys
and girls, and would become a hundredfold more potent than
any law enacted by the State or Congress. I believe such a
sentiment can be developed, so strong and so universal that
a respectable woman will be ashamed to be seen with the wing
of a wild bird on her bonnet, and an honest boy will be
ashamed to own that he ever robbed a nest or wantonly took
the life of a bird.

Birds are of inestimable value to mankind. Without their
unremitting services our gardens and fields would be laid
waste by insect pests. But we owe them a greater debt even
than this, for the study of birds tends to develop some of
the best attributes and impulses of our natures. Among them
we find examples of generosity, unselfish devotion, of the
love of mother for offspring, and other estimable qualities.
Their industry, patience, and ingenuity excite our
admiration; their songs inspire us with a love of music and
poetry; their beautiful plumages and graceful manners appeal
to our aesthetic sense; their long migrations to distant
lands stimulate our imaginations and tempt us to inquire
into the causes of these periodic movements; and finally,
the endless modifications of form and habits by which they
are enabled to live under most diverse conditions of food
and climate--on land and at sea--invite the student of
nature into inexhaustible fields of pleasurable research.

The cau