178 



Bird -Lore 



COMMENT ON CURRENT EVENTS 



Migratory Bird Treaty Bill 



On April lo, 1917, the Migratory Bird 

 Treaty Bill was introduced in the House of 

 Representatives at Washington by the 

 Hon. Henry D. Flood, of Virginia, and 

 was referred to Mr. Flood's committee, 

 which is the Committee on Foreign 

 Affairs. On the same day the Hon. Marcus 

 A. Smith, of Arizona, introduced the 

 measure in the Senate for Senator George 

 P. McLean, where it was referred to the 

 Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. 

 On April 20 this committee reported the 

 bill favorably, and at the present writing 

 it is on the calendar of the Senate, ready 

 for a vote. 



There appears to be no great reason 

 why the bill should not pass and become 

 a law. The opposition to it is of a weak, 

 illogical character, and surely Congress 

 will find time in the midst of its other 

 activities to conclude the arrangements 

 for enforcing a treaty which has already 

 been ratified between this country and 

 the friendly nation of Great Britain. 



Proposed Cat Legislation 



Bills intended to restrict the number of 

 vagrant, homeless cats of the country have 

 been introduced of late in the Legislatures 

 of the following states: Massachusetts, 

 New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, 

 New Jersey, and Wisconsin. Probably in 

 none of these states will the bill pass at 

 this time, although an increasing amount 

 of support of the idea seems to be indicated 

 each year. Thus, in the New York Legis- 

 lature that never seriously considered the 

 bill before, it recently was brought to a 

 vote in the Senate with the result that it 

 was passed by a \ote of twenty-eight to 

 fifteen. 



In New Jersey the bill passed the 

 Assembly, and went to the Senate late in 

 the session. It was referred to the Senate 

 Committee on Game and Fisheries and 

 favorably reported by that Committee, 

 but was re-committed by request of its 



chairman to the Committee of Miscel- 

 laneous Business. It was there amended 

 by striking out all of the original matter 

 and making it read that any cat running 

 at large in the fields or woods would be 

 considered a nuisance and might be killed 

 by any person, without criminal or civil 

 liability. This action, at that late day, 

 was equivalent to killing the bill. 



Yearbooks 



It is a good plan for Audubon societies 

 and bird-clubs to issue yearbooks, even 

 if on a very moderate scale. This Associa- 

 tion is glad to get any publications of 

 that sort and will file them. The year- 

 book of the Hartford (Conn.) Bird Club 

 is an excellent example and shows that 

 that club, founded in 1909, has an im- 

 portant place in the social and intellectual 

 life of its city. A program of field-meet- 

 ings and of indoor sessions is arranged for 

 every Tuesday in the year from Septem- 

 ber 19 to June 16, and two excursion 

 parties for midsummer. 



This club now has nearly fiv'e hundred 

 really active members. 



A useful little pamphlet issued by the 

 Cocoanut Grove Audubon Society, of 

 Florida, contains a brief digest of the 

 bird-laws of that state and a list of its 

 twelve bird-reservations, one of which 

 (Paradise Key) is the property of the 

 State Federation of Women's Clubs. 



Plumage Importation Halted In 

 Great Britain 



Letters from Mr. James Buckland in- 

 form us that the British Government 

 has suspended the importation of the 

 plumage of wild birds during the war, and 

 that he is later going to try to have the 

 prohibition made permanent. Mr. Buck- 

 land has been working very hard to secure 

 this measure; no doubt it will be easier 

 to make the rule permanent after the war 

 than it has been to get the matter begun 

 in the previous time of peace. 



