SiiDuncr Meeting. 79 



are doing their best to suppress the trattic in bird feathers for miUinery 

 purposes ; but the "man with tlie gun" who is responsible for the ap- 

 proaching disappearance of all the larger birds, cannot easily be sup- 

 pressed. All we can do is to correct his savage propensity by instruc- 

 tion in the school room, and if possible, in the court room. 



A hunter sees in every large bird a competitor in the chase. He 

 accuses every large bird of preying on game, poultry or fish, or on their 

 young and eggs ; in short he feels it his duty to help in the extermination 

 of every kind of hawk or owl, heron, crane, gull, cormorant or peUcan, 

 and he is only too easily convinced that everything that flies does some 

 harm in some way and should therefore be destroyed. 



I was surprised at the greatly reduced number of Storks in Southern 

 Germany, wdiere they are great favorites with the people, especially in 

 the country, not only for what they are supposed to bring — spring with 

 their arrival and good luck with their stay — but also for what they take, 

 as they are expert catchers of field mice. But the hunters found out 

 that once in a while a Stork gets a chance to pick up a littei of newly- 

 born hares, and such a crime is in the eyes of a hunter unpardonable 

 and must be avenged whenever it can be done without exciting the ire 

 of the populace. It is everywhere this dread of competition on the part 

 of the hunters and the fear of the loss of a young chicken or duckling 

 on the part of the farmer which seal the fate of the most useful of our 

 hawks and owls, those who live mostly on mice and other injurious 

 rodents, while the only two kinds of hawks who really do the mischief 

 are seldom caught, being too quick in their movements and too watchful 

 to be taken unawares. 



Here instruction of the right kind in schools and in the press is 

 needed, and should be given freely, not only by our National Govern- 

 ment, which does its share fully through the Department of Agriculture, 

 but by all who take interest in the welfare of our country. 



Less than twenty years ago in whatever direction one traveled one 

 could see from the railway car over almost every large cornfield one of 

 our handsome Red Tailed or Red Shouldered Hawks watching for mice 

 on a fence post, or could see a Marsh Hawk beating its way low over the 

 meadows in quest of its favorite prey, field mice. Now, you may ride 

 over these same roads for an hour before you spy a single one. What has 

 become of them ? They are gone, killed by the zealous hunter or farmer 

 who mistake them for the hawk which took his chick, while he should 

 know that these kinds of hawks do not touch a bird as long as they can 

 catch mice, frogs, snakes, craw fish, etc. As late as fifteen years ago 

 those who traveled from St. Louis to Hannibal or between Belleville and 



