may now well be asked what is the attitude of the State toward creatures whose 

 welfare is so closely connected with that of its citizens? Does it take proper 

 measures to protect them? Does it urge the employment of methods designed to 

 aid in their increase? 



It is true that the State formally recognizes the value of its assets in bird-life 

 by the passage of laws intended to give birds legal protection, but no adequate 

 means are provided for their enforcement. Where one person is prevented from 

 killing a bird a thousand commit murder unchecked ; nor can this evil be remedied 

 without a material increase in the force of game wardens. The latter, as their 

 official title implies, are appointed chiefly to enforce the laws relating to game 

 while the laws concerning the far more numerous, and economically more valuable, 

 non-game birds are generally dead letters. 



So-called sportsmen shoot these birds in pure wantonness, pot-hunters slaugh- 

 ter them for market, foreigners kill them for food, milliners' agents collect them to 

 supply fashion's demands, boys find them a tempting mark for bean-shooters and 

 air-guns ; while birds' eggs are taken as the legitimate prize of nearly every child 

 who finds a nest. To these unnatural and remediable causes for the destruction of 

 our birds should be added the ravages of the so-called domesticated cat. There are 

 probably not less than two million cats in the State of New York. While many of 

 them are well-fed pets, the larger proportion are to a greater or less extent depend- 

 ent on their own efforts, often preferably so, for food. A single cat has been 

 known to catch sixty wild birds in a season, and a well-known naturalist and 

 authority on the birds of New England estimates that at least 1,500,000 birds are 

 killed annually by cats in the New England States. 



It is unnecessary here to dwell on the decrease in bird-life following the clear- 

 ing of forests, draining of land, accompanying the growth in our population, for 

 this, in a measure, is unavoidable, it being my object only to show that so far as 

 the State assumes an attitude towards the birds, that attitude is one of destruction. 



It being demonstrated that, in the main, birds are of great value to the State 

 it follows that the State should spare no effort to afford its citizens of the air 

 the protection they deser\'e. How, then, may we most effectively prevent the 

 great destruction of bird-life which occurs in this State? The most rational 

 methods would appear to be : (1) Enforcement of the law; (2) licensing of 

 cats and destruction of all non-licensed cats; (3) teaching children to realize 

 the economic and aesthetic value of birds ; (4) leaving hedge rows, undergrowth, 

 and clumps of trees as resorts for birds. The laws of the State of New York 

 relating to birds are so well drawn that their enforcement would give our 

 non-game birds complete legal protection from their enemy man. But, as has 

 been said, the present force of game wardens is far too small to afford our 

 birds the protection which is their due. What is needed, however, is not an 

 addition to the number of game wardens, but a new officer who shall be known 

 as a bird warden, and whose especial duty shall be to enforce the laws designed 

 to protect non-game birds. Such officer should not only prevent the illegal 

 killing and trapping of birds, but should examine the stock of milliners and 

 others who offer plumage for sale. 



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