ETHICS AMONG BIRD LOVERS

My husband and I often marvel at the seeming paradox of our devising ways to aid in the demise of starlings and English sparrows when we are, in fact, quite dedicated to the protection of wildlife. My husband's chosen profession is that of saving animals' lives, not taking them, and both of us are avid birdwatchers. Actually, both concerns really fit together, for starlings and English sparrows, both introduced species, spoil all the things in which we believe strongly. They have wrested prime nesting sites from native North American birds that are unable to fight off the savage bills and tenaciousness of the aliens. Starlings, English sparrows and pigeons are the only birds not protected by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

I am saddened to learn that a reader here and there does not understand the necessity for eliminating those starlings and English sparrows that invade the nesting boxes and few natural cavities that are there for woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, bluebirds, and other hole-nesting birds. Killing an English sparrow by exposing it to a lethal breath of carbontetrachloride or the exhaust from a car is, to our minds, no more traumatic than putting a hospital patient to sleep with an anesthetic. Going to sleep is painless.

I have to presume that the very people who feel that someone who rids his yard of pest birds is unkind or irresponsible do not themselves bait traps when mice or cockroaches invade their kitchens. I have to presume, also, that these same people do not eat chickens or other forms of animal life that are raised to be killed and eaten by us.

To us and to the officers of the North American Bluebird Society and the Purple Martin Society, anyone who puts out a nesting box for bluebirds or martins and allows English sparrows or starlings to nest in them is akin to a criminal. There really ought to be a law against such irresponsible acts. There ought to be more laws, also, that prevent the wholesale destruction of wildlife habitat. Anyone who condones or profits by the building of a shopping center or a complex of townhouses is holding out a crueler death to our birds than are those of us who rid our yards of injurious species.

Unless you have walked in the shoes of someone who has almost had success with nesting bluebirds, only to have them driven off or killed by an English sparrow, can you know the agony of defeat. Unless you have watched over a pair of tree swallows as they built their nest of grass and feathers and waited hopefully for their eggs to hatch, can you know the feelings of dismay and horror that come when you have to remove the body of the brooding female, her head pecked open by an English sparrow.

It seems hard to make everyone understand the importance of protecting our native birds from introduced species. When man has upset the balance of nature, it is often up to man to take whatever measures are necessary to undo the damage of thoughtless acts. Those of us who do value the sanctity of life and who do respect the grand scheme of which we are all a part know that it is sometimes necessary to remove destructive elements. Removing or limiting the spread of introduced species is only one step in the restoration of threatened and endangered species.