274 



Bird - Lore 



There is scarcely a state in the Union 

 which needed a game commission more 

 than Georgia. Here Robins are probably 

 shot as extensively as in any other single 

 section of the South; it is here that the 

 famous "Dove shoots" take place, some- 

 times resulting in the slaughter of thous- 

 ands of Doves in a day in a single baited 

 field. It is in Georgia that the trappers 

 of live birds for market have their last 

 stronghold. This trapping of song-birds 

 has evidently been going on there for 

 many years. We first discovered it in 

 July, 1907. President Dutcher, who was 

 always on the alert for an injustice done 

 to the birds, discovered that caged 

 Painted Buntings or Nonpareils were 

 appearing in numbers in Philadelphia, 

 and at once instructed the writer to 

 locate the source of the supply. After 

 visiting different points in the South the 

 trouble was found to be at Savannah. 

 There were a number of trappers in the 

 vicinity. One of these, an old man named 

 Adams, was visited in his home. His 

 traps were examined and much informa- 

 tion obtained from him. He stated that 

 he and his wife had been in the bird- 

 trapping business for thirty years, and he 

 evidently furnished the entire supply 

 of traps used in the region. He declared 

 that about forty negroes were engaged in 

 the business. He stated further, that the 

 season for catching Nonpareils was from 

 April 15 to June i, and that after that 

 date it did not pay to trap, as all the 

 birds taken would quickly die in captivity. 

 This he attributed to grief at parting with 

 their mates, and being kept away from 

 their nests. During the season which 

 had just closed, he had caught over 400 

 Nonpareils, receiving $35 a hundred 

 for them. In the winter he and his wife 

 trapped and shipped Cardinals in the 

 same way. 



This traffic in live birds was clearly 

 in violation of the provisions of the Audu- 

 bon Law enacted some time before, but 

 we found it absolutely impossible to get 

 the local authorities to take any action 

 in the matter. No one seemed to care 

 anything about the case. We found that 



the birds were being shipped north on 

 steamships, and the company operating 

 the vessels agreed to use their efforts 

 to stop the illegal trade. There is reason 

 to believe, however, that the trapping 

 and shipping of song-birds has continued. 

 We shall look to the newly established 

 Game Commission to right these, and 

 many other evils. — T. G. P. 



The Montclair Killing 



In August of this year, during the 

 'flocking time' of the birds, the residents 

 of a certain street in Montclair, New 

 Jersey, were annoyed by the great num- 

 bers of birds which made the shade trees 

 growing along the sidewalk their mighty 

 rendezvous. It was not merely that the 

 birds, at times, were noisy, which created 

 the disturbance that followed, but the 

 fact that, owing to their great numbers, 

 the sidewalk beneath was rendered quite 

 filthy, and the unpleasant odor pervading 

 the neighborhood was exceedingly dis- 

 agreeable. Some of the residents of the 

 street who suffered the inconveniences of 

 Hving in the immediate neighborhood 

 of such a large roosting-place complained 

 bitterly of the presence of the birds, and 

 cast about for some means of ridding 

 themselves of what they regarded as 

 a nuisance. 



One of them engaged a colored man, 

 named Peter Stevens, to shoot into the 

 trees at night. This the man did for 

 two evenings in succession, killing a 

 number of the birds, but without the 

 desired effect of causing the survivorr 

 to seek some other roosting-place. 



The matter was at once reported in the 

 daily papers, and in an exaggerated form 

 the story swept rapidly through the press 

 over a large section of the United States. 

 Some statements placed the number of 

 birds shot as high as 500 on the first night 

 of the killing. Everywhere the action 

 was condemned as a cruel, wanton, un- 

 necessary destruction of bird-life. As 

 soon as the matter was reported the 

 Secretary of the New Jersey Audubon 

 Society made a personal investigation 



