i86 



Bird - Lore 



the neighborhood of Tallahassee. Fla., and 

 arrangements were at once made with him to 

 employ two guards for the Association to take 

 care of the birds the present year. 



R. D. Camp, of Brownsville, Texas, is pro- 

 tecting our famous Green Island rookery in 

 Laguna Madre. 



The effort to save these exquisitely beau- 

 tiful white birds in our southland has been a 

 long, hard fight, but prospects for ultimate 

 success seem decidedly brighter now than 

 they did a year ago. 



Milliners Against Sale ot Plumage 



The following letter has been issued by 

 Rufus Davis, representing the Millinery 

 Chamber of Commerce of the United States. 

 This is a body with whom the Association 

 cooperated last fall in bringing before Con- 

 gress the desirability of making it illegal 

 to sell in this country the feathers of 

 birds that have been smuggled in violation 

 of the law. 



This Millinery Chamber of Commerce is 

 composed of a large number of the most repu- 

 table millinery houses in the country. Many 

 of these companies fought the Audubon Asso- 

 ciation for years in our attempt to get laws to 

 prohibit the sale of feathers, but once the 

 laws were written on the statute books, the 

 firms represented in the Millinery Chamber 

 of Commerce, being directed by honorable 

 men, felt that they should be upheld. 



"To the Members of the Millinery 

 Chamber of Commerce 



"Your attention is called to the new Tariff 

 Act now before Congress, paragraph 1419 of 

 which reads, in part, as follows: — 



"Birds of Paradise, Aigrettes, Egret 

 Plumes, and the feathers and parts of Wild 

 Birds, the importation of which is prohibited 

 by the Act of October 3, 1913, would be 

 deemed to have been unlawfully imported 

 after the passage of the above Act wherever 

 found except when in actual use for personal 

 adornment or for scientific or educational pur- 

 poses. The burden of proof to establish law- 

 ful possession would be upon the holder when 

 such articles are proceeded against in for- 

 feiture proceedings. 



"In other words, the possessor must prove 

 conclusively to the representatives of the 

 Government that the identical plumage in 

 his possession, the importation of which is 

 prohibited by the Act of October 3, 1913, was 

 imported prior to the passage of the last- 

 mentioned Act, and failing to do so to the 

 satisfaction of the Government, the merchan- 

 dise will be confiscated. 



"Aigrettes. In this connection the Milli- 

 nery Chamber of Commerce wishes to state 

 clearly the status of Aigrettes. The importa- 

 tion of these goods is prohibited by law, and 

 the purchase and sale are forbidden by the 

 Federal Migratory Bird Law and also by the 

 laws of most of the States of the Union, and 

 therefore the article cannot be legitimately 

 dealt in in the United States. 



Rufus Davis, 



Chairman, Plumage Committee 

 Millinery Chamber of Commerce." 



ACTIVITIES OF AFFILIATED SOCIETIES 



Some time ago the Hamilton (Ontario) 

 Bird Protection Society, through its local 

 postmaster, secured permission from the 

 Dominion Government to use a cancellation 

 stamp in the post office at Hamilton bearing 

 the legend "Protect the Birds and Help the 

 Crops." On all mail matter, therefore, issued 

 from the post office at Hamilton during the 

 month of May this stamp was used. Mr. 

 Robert H. Merriman, father of R. Owen 

 Merriman, President of the Society, writes 

 that this was accomplished by an expendi- 

 ture of $15 on the part of the Society, this 

 being the amount required to make the die. 



Our bird friends in Hamilton have been 

 very active the past year, holding lectures, 

 bird-walks, and organizing Junior Audubon 

 Clubs in the schools. Miss Ruby R. Mills, 

 the secretary, from her position in the Public 

 Library, comes constantly in contact with 

 the young people of the city. She is an in- 

 domitable worker, and has much to do with 

 the widespread interest in bird-study mani- 

 fested in the schools. A bird-box contest the 

 past spring was a noteworthy one. Many 

 useful boxes were constructed and erected. 

 The Society is also endeavoring to secure 

 official action in establishing a bird-reserva - 



