ANNUAL MEETING AT LEXINGTON. 315 



DISCUSSION. 



Prof. Tracy — If grapes rot after being bagged it is because the 

 bags were not placed upon the fruit before the spores were upon its 

 surface. I don't believe the spores would get up if covered deeply 

 with the plow in the fall, but it is impracticable to cover them all. It 

 can't be done. They have no balloon and will not come up through the 

 g:round if they are covered. 



A PLEA FOE OUR BIEDS. 



BY THEO. G. LEM3I0N. 



To one engaged in the study of Missouri Ornithology it is an evi- 

 dent, as well as deplorable, fact that some of our most interesting and 

 useful native birds are diminishing in numbers with a rapidity indica- 

 tive of early extinction. The pleas, under which this uncalled for kill- 

 ing is carried on, are almost as various as the whims of those who do 

 the killing. The-boy-with-a-gun, the call of a senseless fashion, and 

 the supposition that certain birds are destructive to an extent that their 

 killing is thus warranted, are the principle causes of destruction. 



To you whose pursuits and tastes are such as to bring you into 

 contact with bird life and an appreciation of its beauties, who own lands 

 over which the sportsman (?) and vandal carry on the work of destruc- 

 tion, I come with a plea, begging you to enforce the laws preventing 

 shooting on your grounds, except by those whom you can trust to carry 

 out your instructions as to what to shoot. If you are for an instant 

 in doubt about what to have shot, let me offer you a few facts gleaned 

 from fourteen years of study of Missouri birds as well as some gleaned 

 from other studejits in other fields, nor will I call your attention to a 

 single bird that I do not know to have been taken within the bounda- 

 ries of our State. 



