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Image provided by: University of Utah, Marriott Library
Newspaper Page Text
rf 1 magE i THE O G D EN S T A N D A R Dj I I OGDEN CITY, UTAhTsATURY, NOVEMBER 15, 1913; : , JM Expert of the Department of H I tw til ag: g3gr m 9 Ti TmKrB tf MW w iiiWffTrii hi m ask JMiRwWB , mtMrt American birds arc tly originators Ik M, of American ragtime. This Is the opinion of Henry 01ds. biological 1 1 expert of the United States Depart- Ufl I ment of Agriculture and lecturer for WJ - the. Audubon societies throughout I the country. Rj The correct way to state the prop- osltion. however. Oldys says, is that American rag time, as well as most i lV primitive songs, Is taken from the 1 " trills, warbles and whistling of tho flpJH '' bird? He declares that often ho " has heard the birds, particularly the ""1 Baltimore Oriole, s'ng snatches of do w some popular ragtime air. I : I Oldys cites illustrations from the CnB music fcfr" " J- 1 '""is and K. GsM tribe, al.'P:,v-r .'em with the l bird songs in a ". ...ner which shows M a striking resemblance between l gjfl them. And. as everyone knows, the principles of American rag time wcro taken from the music of the j negroes and tho American Indian. BflfM The peculiar syncopation of thin y 1 j type of music Is found in the rudest nnl kinds of folk songs, which arc tho ,vj closest to nature. , 1 Oldys, if anyone, ought lo know, till A Twenty years ago, f"i the sake of '6th St Is health, for recreation, and be cause of his loc of birds, he began pggjfJJlJ1 to nut In the Hi !. ..id W00d9 Ml ' and study their habi: As he learned more about the feathered "" creatures his interest grew until kl finally it became all absorbing. 4 He would Bit up all night to watch r' - for .'."in. 1 i He has studied wild birds all oer iNQ C& the United States and knows every phf phase of their lives. And with his - study and tho growing familiarity with their music came the idea that their songs could be translated Into i the notes, chords and scales of man- gy kind. mr 1 ' Armed with a stop watch, paper and pencil, he set about to take down tho songs. Sometimes it would fvi I notes for one bird, but he never 1 15th Save up until he knew his transla tion was accurate, even to the eighth ltvi notes nnd r-r-ts. In this m um..i' h" Movli'! ; c0""cted thousands of bird pj songs, some of which are heard but ,nc A seldom. :Urfl tftl T;,k to OMy abOUt Mrns and his ft ! e brightens, his whole manner be- comes animated anrl before you re- jL nlizp it, i 1 1 1 1 . f his the floor and Is launched Into full hw ln on his fa- - vorlte topic ll: will clear up any afll t ' 'ttl rJoubt ftho,1, b,rd lf 11 resta finNlll 'n hu,1Mn knowlfdte to do sr.. I In JylllVB talks with equal facility upon the biological facts- concerning birds wf their artistic and their economic a values. I all ninns hit sii:kovs M I llAV l: KCOXCIMK M l i: sV m V' ' that birds hav llTA' JL ttf.non.i, :.,,., ili.i .,1, but tn jjjjflO.I ns;llsh sparrow, whoso verj name to him anatlvniu And he li tho ures to 1 1 1 , . ins Btat m nts .'"'l ,. StwKr- t,lr"t-- rrounds h Is making TlU .W t,tr't'al-1 tliron.-!- Pli V'M Ve tne wll,i I'll ds ern I h i- . row. ' ' 11 The lrlter,'B In birds Is sprcad- WtJjtfj declares Oldvs, - and I do not ( Cn toubt but that In a few years we 1ltr' 1 A TT voodthrush "mg 1 will have every thinking citizen of the L'nlted states nroused to the ne cessity of preserving the songsters. at least. "Mrs. Itussell Sage recently aroused great Interest by her dedi cation of an Island off the coast of Louisiana to the birds. The island and Its equipment cost her S160, 000. William Mcllhenny's Avery aland, in the same place, is al ready famous, for there may be found a large percentage of the rapidly disappearing svhlte herons. Immune from hunters. It Is from th - birds that aigrettes are taken. The worst feature of the aigrette bunting Is that the plumes must bo taken from the 'mother birds while they are taring for their youns, thus not only killing the old bird, but letting her brood starve to death or exposing It to the attacks of the wild animals that prey on birds' ntsts. "'Henry Ford. In Detroit, has set aside 4,000 acres for a bird park, which l: of tremendous aid in beau tifying the city. Every device to attract birds Is employed. Kord even going so far as to install an elec tric heater to keep a pond open In the winter timo ,o that the birds may have fresh drinking water and a place to bathe. "Pittsburg and Memphis have re cently enacted legislation protect ing birds. In foreign countries London and bt-rlin arc In the fore front of this movement Recently a German baron set aside a part of his estate for a bird park, and last year there were counted 500 differ ent species. A significant thing about the baron's action was tho freedom of his estates from tho Caterpillar plague which devastated a large section of Germany a few years ago. The birds ate every in sect which crossed the baron's boundary line, while the country round was stripped of every living sign of egotatlon. ' This Idea ought especially to ap peal to the cities In the Mississippi Valley, for they lie directly In the path of the greatest annual migra tion, and they have the most splen did opportunity of any section of the United Spates to attract those birds to them "An example of the economic value of birds to the country was revealed not long ago by an exami nation by the Department of Agri culture chemists of the stomachs of a brood of young wrens. It was found that In a period of fourteen days In tho nest they had eaten 6,000 pernicious Insects, among which were 600 cut worms. And esery farmer knows that the cut worm Is one of his worst enemies, and the hardest with which to deal "It Is very easy to attract wrens to the home. All that Is necessary Is to build a house for them, but care should be taken to make the entranco very small, or the English sparrows, or plundering animals, will destroy them "Attracting birds to the cities means an added means for the edu cation cf the children. The girls love them, as everyone knows, and, strange thought It may seem, thcro Is nothing more Interesting to the average boy than birds. It Is an axiom that ever boy is a horn sav age, but it is also true that every boy Is a born naturalist, and onco the latter Instinct Is awakened In him It will far overshadow the sav agery". "As our city populations grow, and tho area of settled territory In creases, the birds aro losing their nesting places and consequently aro decreasing In numbers proportion ately. Tho best means of bringing them back Is to restore tho nest ing sites nnd Improve them with tho artificial aids known to man. 'The extinction of the plumo birds Is looked upon by many Americans as none of our business as most of these birds live In for eign countries. It is very much of our business, however. "The sale of the native birds' Plumage Is forbidden by law, but there aro hundreds of plumes sold in this country ns Importations from lands across tho seas that really are taken from American birds. Tho purchaser does not know the differ ence. The recent prohibition by Congress of tho importation of plumes will eliminate this practice to a large extent, however. "But the world belongs to all of us. Mankind was made trustee of the earth, and siven merely a life estate lure. It is our duty to pre serve it unimpaired, and If we fall wo rob. for our own temporary ben eilt, those who come after us. And posterity will brand us as bandits and Idiots, nnd rough, uncultured ba rbarlans. There could bo nothing more ed ucational than moving pictures of birds. But If we kill tnem all w will not be able to get the pictures. We- won't hae any opportunity to study them and learn their habits, which are among tho most fasci nating of studies. "For instance, how many people know that birds hold regular dances, Just the same as human be- i ings How many people know that JH they go through set forms of figure movements, much In the manner of tho uncivilized tribes, and even the folk dances of cultured nations? They do. H "For example, take the albatross. H They arc famous dancers. Two birds will approach and bow. Then they will circle round one another g and nod. Coming close, they fence with their bllla Then one tucks his H hill under his win? and the other snaps his bill. Tho first bird then rises on his toes, lifts his bill In the air, and groans, while number two either keeps on snapping h!s bill or Joins in the groaning. They both then bow and end the dance Some times the affair Is varied when one bird picks up a twig and offers it to the other. The second bird always declines, but finds another twig and j offers thai to his partner. This also H ,- ' line I; tho conventionalities H adhered to, the dance Is resumed. fl Sometimes if a man hows to an albatross tho bird will bow back. gravely, as If expecting the man to begin the dance And the moving pictures takon of Lieutenant Scott' expedition into the Antarctic show a sa,Uor .lancing on the sncw with a penguin. "Within ten pears. If wo do not slop the ruthless slaughter now go- Ing on and offer the birds adequate protection, from fifteen to twenty lie most beautiful species will .he exterminated. We can't hope to do anything through th? 1 women, for lf plumes aro fashion- H a Mo tliey'll wear them. is Impossible to police th tm trade, for. In spite of the most H stringent non-export laws, plumes H will gt in'o the trading centers. London. New Tork. Berlin and H Paris. We must stop the importa Hon, however, and world-wide ac- SJI tlon will bo necessanv H "Public sentiment Is the only way H with which to do this. England has made nine attempts In the last H Hve vears to stop bird slaughter. H and a bill now before Parliament fJJ appears to have a good chance of M passing Australia two years ago took action, and tho recent United Slates tariff bill helped much. Gcr- I many Is ready to pass the laws, but w have much work to do In Pari-. H Ones we gel the French allies With us we'll have the fight won. H "Aigrette Hipping on tho docks in WM United States ports Is a drastic measure, but it Is deeded. If harsh H steps were not taken we never WOUld abje to make the women recognlzo the law, but by the time a hundred or so women have lost their plumes In a public manner tho JI rest will think twice before spend- fjl Inrr their money on the Continent for articles which thev cannot bring into the country. Then a large part of tho European trade will be stopped and a source of income to the shop keepers stopped They'll have to Invent new styles which don't Include feathers."