ORNITHOLOGY 



121 



wonder. Think of it ! Eight hungry 

 babies calling constantly for food. 



The Federal Migratory Bird Law. 



It has been thoroughly demonstrat- 

 ed that the Federal Migratory Bird 

 Law has accomplished great good 

 throughout many states in not only 

 conserving some of our fast disappear- 

 ing game birds by protecting them in 

 their breeding grounds and through 

 the mating season, but it has also re- 

 sulted in a very substantial increase 

 in many localities of certain species 

 of our song and insectivorous birds. 



This bill was put through only after 

 exceedingly hard work by the friends 

 and lovers of bird life, and as it doubt- 

 less caused some inconvenience to pot- 

 hunters and to wealthy "sportsmen" 

 who wish to shoot at all seasons, there 

 has been a continued effort to get the 

 bill, or parts of the same, nullified, 

 though it has been generally acknow- 

 ledged to be of the utmost benefit to 

 the population as a whole, and has 

 been declared to be entirely constitu- 

 tional in its present form. 



"Original regulations in Massachu- 

 setts, Connecticut and Rhode Island 

 stopped shooting on January i. They 

 terminated shooting in Illinois, Iowa 

 and Nebraska on December i6 and in 

 Kansas and Missouri on January 16, 

 which is late enough. The latest pro- 

 posed regulations of the Biological Sur- 

 vey at Washington plan extending the 

 shooting season to January 15 in 

 southern New England and to estab- 

 lish an open season on wild fowl for 

 the gunners of Illinois, Iowa, Nebras- 

 ka, Kansas and Missouri between the 

 dates of February 9 and March 11, in 

 addition to the fall open season. 



"This is spring shooting in mating 

 time which is a crime against nature, 

 against sport and against the spirit of 

 conservation. If carried on it must 

 end in the wiping out of the birds. 

 These States are a valuable breeding 

 ground of our depleted flocks of wild 

 ducks and other waterfowl, which are 

 increasing in number under the benef- 

 icient Federal law. 



"All sections of the country are in- 

 terested in this, for more wild fowl in 

 Missouri means more wild fowl event- 

 ually in Maine, in Massachusetts and 



all other States. Moreover, spring 

 shooting in the Middle West will soon 

 mean spring shooting in the other sec- 

 tions. Spring shooting soon means 

 no shooting for it leaves no birds to 

 shoot. The real sportsmen understand 

 this as well as do the conservationists." 

 Let us take no backward steps in 

 bird protection. 



Swallows Gather Feathers for Nests. 



BY F. H. VAN HISE, SUMMERLAND, B. C. 



CANADA. 



On June 22nd, while in the yard by 

 the lake, I noticed a northern violet 

 green swallow trying to pick something 

 up from the surface of the water, and 

 upon going closer saw that it was a 

 white chicken feather, which the bird 

 finally secured. 



I then went into the house and 

 brought out a handful of feathers, 

 dropping them on the water, from our 

 wharf, one by one. I had been there 

 only a few minutes when the swallows 

 began to take them, coming sometimes 

 within a foot or two of me. When I 

 dropped them from a point as high as 

 I could reach some of the swallows 

 would catch a feather before it would 

 strike the water. Once a Wright fly- 

 catcher came and snapped at a feather 

 as it fell, but did not get it. 



There were about a dozen swallows 

 here at the same time gathering feath- 

 ers, and I frequently saw one bird take 

 three (picking up one at a time) at one 

 trip. Then they would fly away, 

 though sometimes the males would re- 

 main, circling around over the feathers 

 floating on the lake. Soon they would 

 all come back again for more. Some- 

 times when one got a feather the 

 others tried to make her drop it, and 

 then catch it as it fell. 



I do not think that the males took 

 any, but am not certain, as they were 

 taken so fast that it almost made me 

 dizzy to count them. These birds took 

 one hundred and twelve feathers in 

 forty-six minutes. 



Come out into the air, 



There's ozone enough to spare; 



'Twill fill your lungs and clear your 



head. 

 You'll better earn your daily bread, 

 If so your day you share. 



— Emma Peirce. 



