Over a century ago, as WWI was raging in Europe, a determined U.S. Senator named George P. MClean was fighting his own battle on behalf of then millions of wild birds in North America. MClean was trying to get legislation passed through Congress to protect the birds. It took him years to do it and he was finally able to get the Migratory Bird Act made into law. And it remains the law of the land. At that time wild birds were not being protected and millions of them were getting slaughtered. Hunters were wiping out waterfowl in huge numbers. Songbirds were being killed to provide feathers to decorate women's' hats. MClean understood that mass extinctions of birds were going to happen if there wasn't some legislation passed to protect the birds. It was already too late for the passenger pigeon, once so numerous that passing flocks would darken the sky for miles. Hunters had exterminated them. The last one died just a few years after MClean's landmark legislation was made into law.
Have you ever heard of George P. MClean, the "Birdman" of the Senate ? I had not. Will MClean Greeley's biography of his stubborn ancestor provides us with the details of the legislative maneuvers this remarkable man engineered over a century ago on behalf of the birds.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public.
