62 



Bird - Lore 



iiirti Hore 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. II 



April, 1900 



No. 2 



SUBSCRIPTION RATES. 



Price in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, 

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Subscriptions may be sent to the Publishers, at 

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Price in all countries in the International Postal 

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Copyrighted. 1900, by frank m. chapman. 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 



A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand. 



The amendment to the law designed to 

 protect non-game birds by making the 

 possession of their plumage an actionable 

 offense, which was introduced into the 

 New York assembly on January 15, 1900, 

 by Assemblyman Hallock, representing 

 the New York State Audubon Society, 

 has been heartily endorsed by those 

 genuinely interested in the preservation 

 of our birds, and as strongly opposed by 

 others who imagined, rightly or wrongly, 

 that it would interfere with their own 

 selfish interests. 



One critic, a collector of bird skins 

 for alleged scientific purposes, stated 

 that, in his opinion, this measure was 

 "a high-handed attempt to confiscate 

 the property of numerous bird lovers 

 throughout the country," and congratula- 

 ted himself that his collection of 2,000 

 birds' skins was not within the State of 

 New York. 



No less solicitous of their own welfare 

 were the numerous women who asserted 

 that the passage of the law would make 

 them liable to fine should they wear 

 the feathers of prohibited birds. 



These protests, however, amounted to 

 nothing as compared with the very def- 



inite and practical opposition which the 

 proposed amendment encountered from 

 Assemblyman Doughty, of Nassau county, 

 a member of the Committee on Fisheries 

 and Game. Mr. Doughty very plainly 

 said that he thought the passage of this 

 amendment would interfere with the 

 business of his constituent and personal 

 friend, Mr. Wilson, of Wantagh, Long 

 Island, and that he should therefore do 

 all he could to defeat it. It will be 

 remembered that this Wilson is one of 

 the largest dealers in native birds' skins 

 in this country ; and he it is who sends 

 out bird-slaughtering expeditions along 

 our coasts (see Bird-Lore, December, 

 1899, page 198, and February, igoo, page 



II)- 



Mr. Dought3''s opposition was found 

 to relate to the supposed protection 

 by the amendment of Gulls and Terns 

 These birds, it seems, are Mr. Wil- 

 son's especial desidera/a at present, and 

 as his business interests are of more im- 

 portance to his representative than ab- 

 stract questions of bird protection, Mr. 

 Doughty re-affirmed his intention of de- 

 feating the amendment. If, however, its 

 proposers would except Gulls and Terns 

 from its workings he would urge a favor- 

 able and prompt report on it by the As- 

 sembly Committee on Fisheries and 

 Game. 



As a matter of fact, the amendment 

 affects only those birds the killing of 

 which is prohibited at all seasons, and, 

 as under the section of the law relating 

 to web-footed wildfowl. Gulls and Terns 

 may be killed on Long Island from 

 October i to May i, they do not come 

 within the provisions of the amendment. 

 As a means, therefore, of saving the 

 measure from certain defeat, the rep- 

 resentatives of the Audubon Society 

 accorded Mr. Doughty a nominal victory 

 by conceding a point of no legal signifi- 

 cance. 



In the Senate, however, the words 

 "Gulls and Terns" were stricken out; 

 the Assembly accepted the change, and 

 there is every prospect of the bill being 

 passed. 



