Page 400 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

378 OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE
I a member of a board of education I wotild seek to establish and enforce thisrequirement. To-day,anyauthorwhowillpresumetowriteatext book of nature study or zoology without knowing and doing his duty toward our vanishing fauna, is too ignorant of wild life and too careless of his duty toward it, to be accepted as a safe guide for the young. The timeforcriminalindifferencehasgoneby. Hereafter,everyonewhois not for the preservation of wild life is against it • and it is time to separate the sheep from the goats.
From this time forth, the preservation of our fauna should be regarded as a subject on which every candidate for a teacher's certificate should undergo an examination before receiving authority to teach in a public school. Thecandidateshouldberequiredtoknowwhythepreservation of birds is necessary ; why the slaughter of wild life is wrong and criminal the extent to which wild birds and mammals return to us and thrive under protection; why wild game is no longer a legitimate food supply; why wild game should not be sold, and why the feathers of wild birds (other than game birds) never should be used as millinery ornaments.
As sensible Americans, and somewhat boastful of our intelligence, we should put the education of the young in wild-life protection on a rational business basis.
StATE Efforts.—In several of our states, systematic efforts to educate childrenintheirdutytowardwildlifearealreadybeingmade. Tothis end, an annual "Bird Day" has been established for state-wide observ- ance. Thissplendidideaisnowlegallyinforceinthefollowingstates:
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Bird Day is also more or less regularly observed, though not legally provided for, in New York, Indiana, Colorado and Alabama, and locally in some cities of Pennsylvania. Usually the observance of the day is combined with that of Arbor Day, and the date is fixed by proclamation of the Governor.
Alabama and Wisconsin regularly issue elaborate and beautiful Arbor and Bird Day annuals; and Illinois, and possibly other states, have issued very good publications of this character.
The Phillips Educational Campaign for the Birds.—Quite re- cently there has come under my notice an episode in the education of schoolchildrenthathasgiventhepublicprofoundsatisfaction. Iciteit here as an object lesson for pan-America.
In Carrick, Pennsylvania, just across the Monongahela River from the city of Pittsburgh, lives John M. Phillips, State Game Commissioner, nature-lover,sportsmanandfriendofman. Heisamanwhodoesthings, and gets results. Goat Mountain Park (450 square miles), in British Columbia, to-day owes its existence to him, for without his initiative and laboritwouldnothavebeenestablished. Itwasthefirstgamepreserve of British Columbia.
Three years ago, Mr. Phillips became deeply impressed by the idea
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