e gone.
Already we are told in some other countries that used to be full of
birds they are now almost gone. Even the Nightingales are being killed
in Italy.

"Now we humbly pray that you will stop all this and will save us from
this sad fate. You have already made a law that no one shall kill a
harmless song bird or destroy our nests or our eggs. Will you please
make another one that no one shall wear our feathers, so that no one
shall kill us to get them? We want them all ourselves. Your pretty girls
are pretty enough without them. We are told that it is as easy for you
to do it as for a blackbird to whistle.

"If you will, we know how to pay you a hundred times over. We will
teach your children to keep themselves clean and neat. We will show
them how to live together in peace and love and to agree as we do in
our nests. We will build pretty houses which you will like to see. We
will play about your garden and flowerbeds--ourselves like flowers on
wings--without any cost to you. We will destroy the wicked insects and
worms that spoil your cherries and currants and plums and apples and
roses. We will give you our best songs, and make the spring more
beautiful and the summer sweeter to you. Every June morning when you go
out into the field, Oriole and Bluebird and Blackbird and Bobolink will
fly after you, and make the day more delightful to you. And when you go
home tired after sundown Vesper Sparrow will tell you how grateful we
are. When you sit down on your porch after dark, Fifebird and Hermit
Thrush and Wood Thrush will sing to you; and even Whip-poor-will will
cheer you up a little. We know where we are safe. In a little while all
the birds will come to live in Massachusetts again, and everybody who
loves music will like to make a summer home with you."

The singers are:

Brown Thrasher, King Bird,
Robert o'Lincoln, Swallow,
Vesper Sparrow, Cedar Bird,
Hermit Thrush, Cow-bird,
Robin Redbreast, Martin,
Song Sparrow, Veery,
Scarlet Tanager, Vireo,
Summer Redbird, Oriole,
Blue Heron, Blackbird,
Humming Bird, Fifebird,
Yellow-bird, Wren,
Whip-poor-will, Linnet,
Water Wagtail, Pewee,
Woodpecker, Phoebe,
Pigeon Woodpecker, Yoke Bird,
Indigo Bird, Lark,
Yellow Throat, Sandpiper,
Wilson's Thrush, Chewink.
Chickadee,

THE CAPTIV