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Bird - Lore 



greater the trouble that will be experi- 

 enced with the English Sparrow, and also 

 with the Starling, where the latter has be- 

 come established. They probably now 

 occupy a territory around New York City 

 the diameter of which is at least one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles. Unless some means 

 be devised to keep them in check, they 

 will eventually drive away all hole-breed- 

 ing birds between the sizes of the Bluebird 

 and the Flicker. Starlings and English 

 Sparrows are aggressive, and any person 

 who hopes to increase the native box- and 

 hole-breeding birds on his acres must ex- 

 ercise a constant watchfulness, and al- 

 ways be ready to succor and aid the de- 

 sirable bird tenants. The satisfaction I 

 have derived this year from my bird 

 neighbors, and the help I am certain I 

 have received from them, is my excuse for 

 telling the story of my pleasant experi- 

 ences in attracting and protecting birds. — 

 W. D. 



Some Audubon Workers 

 1. CAPTAIN M. B. DAVIS 



Capt. M. B. Davis, Texas Agent of the 

 National Association of Audubon So- 

 cieties and the Secretary of the Texas 

 Audubon Society, is a veteran of two wars. 

 He was born at Richmond, Virginia, Octo- 

 ber 14, 1844, and was taken out of a mili- 

 tary school in 1861, to assist in organizing 

 the Confederate Army, which was being 

 mobilized in the vicinity of Richmond. 



In July, 1861, when under seventeen 

 years of age, he was wounded in battle on 

 the Gauley River in West Virginia, but 

 soon recovered, and, with the exception 

 of periods in the hospital, while suffering 

 with other wounds received in battle, he 

 continued in General Robert E. Lee's 

 army until the surrender at Appomattox 

 Court House, April 9, 1865. 



Soon after the close of the war, he went 

 to Texas and enlisted in the Texas Rangers, 

 serving between three and four years 

 actively on the frontier against the 

 Apache and the Lipan Indians. He also 

 assisted, while a Ranger, with six-shooter 

 and Winchester, in suppressing the white 



outlaw gangs, most of the members of 

 which were killed or turned over to civil 

 authorities and hanged. 



Among the wounds received during the 

 Civil War by Captain Davis was one on 

 the left side of the head, and another 

 under the left eye, the scars of which still 

 continue visible and can be seen in the 

 accompanying photograph. 



By instinct a protector of wild life, 

 Captain Davns organized the first Game 

 and Bird Protective Association in Texas, 

 in 1881. C. C. McCuUough, deceased, 

 was its president, and Herman Ambold, 

 deceased, was its treasurer. Captain Davis 

 was the Secretary, and in that capac- 

 ity conducted a campaign through the 

 press chiefly. In later years, the Audubon 

 Society was started in Texas, but its most 

 active workers were drowned on the Texas 

 coast in September, 1900, in the great 

 West Indian hurricane, which destroyed 

 the city of Galveston, together with half 

 of its population, and wrought untold 

 horrors along the entire Gulf Coast. 



In 1903, the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies sent agents into Texas 

 and secured the passage of the Model 

 Bird Law. In 1904, the Texas Audubon 

 Society was re-organized, with Captain 

 Davis as its secretary, and since that time 

 he has been the most potential factor in 

 that state toward the protection of wild 

 birds and wild animals. He writes and 

 lectures constantly on the subject of bird 

 and game protection, and is exerting a 

 wonderful influence for good. 



The 'Times-Herald', the daily paper of 

 Waco, has this to say of his work: "Cap- 

 tain Davis has waged a brilliant and suc- 

 cessful campaign for bird protection for 

 several years, and has succeeded in re- 

 peopling the forests, the prairies, the 

 meadows and the groves with bird life, 

 which was rapidly reaching the point of 

 total annihilation at the time he took hold 

 of the work. To Captain Davis, more than 

 to any other one man, is due the pro- 

 tective laws on the Texas statute books. 

 He, more than any one else, deserves the 

 credit for the expulsion from the state of 

 the market hunters and the plume hunters, 



