It is now high time, and an imperative public necessity, that every state should act in this matter, before its bird life is suddenly attacked, and serious inroads made upon it.  Do it NOW!  The enemy is headed your way.  Don’t wait for him to strike the first blow!

Duty of the Italian Press and Clergy.—­Now what is the best remedy for the troubles that will arise for Italians in America because of wrong principles established in Italy?  It is not in the law, the police, the court and the punishment.  It is in educating the Italian into a knowledge of the duties of the good citizen!  The Italian press and clergy can do this; and no one else can do it so easily, so quickly and so well!

Those two powerful forces should enter seriously upon this task.  In every other respect, the naturalized Italian tries to become a good citizen, and adjust himself to the laws and the customs of his new country.  Why should he not do this in regard to bird life?  It is not too much to ask, nor is it too much to exact.  Does the Italian workman, or store-keeper who makes his living by honest toil enjoy breaking our bird laws, enjoy irritating and injuring those with whom he has come to live?  Does he enjoy being watched, and searched, and chased, and arrested,—­all for a few small birds that he does not need for food?  He earns good wages; he has plenty of good food; and he must be educated into protecting our birds instead of destroying them.  The Italian newspapers and clergy have a serious duty to perform in this matter, and we hope they will diligently discharge it.

[Illustration:  DEAD SONG-BIRDS These jars contain the dead bodies of 43 valuable insectivorous birds that were taken from two Italians in October, 1905, in the suburbs of New York City, by game wardens of the New York Zoological Society.]

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CHAPTER XII

DESTRUCTION OF SONG BIRDS BY SOUTHERN NEGROES AND POOR WHITES

Before going farther, there is one point that I wish to make quite clear.

Whenever the people of a particular race make a specialty of some particular type of wrong-doing, anyone who pointedly rebukes the faulty members of that race is immediately accused of “race prejudice.”  On account of the facts I am now setting forth about the doings of Italian and negro bird-killers, I expect to be accused along that line.  If I am, I shall strenuously deny the charge.  The facts speak for themselves.  Zoologically, however, I am strongly prejudiced against the people of any race, creed, club, state or nation who make a specialty of any particularly offensive type of bird or wild animal slaughter; and I do not care who knows it.

The time was, and I remember it very well, when even the poorest gunner scorned to kill birds that were not considered “game.”  In days lang syne, many a zoological collector has been jeered because the specimens he had killed for preservation were not “game.”