154 



Bird - Lore 



a thousand acres of this coast front and 

 has turned it over to the Government as a 

 "nature reserve." Bird protectionists will 

 welcome this as one of the evidences of 

 the increasing interest in bird sanctuaries 

 on the part of the English people. 



In a recent conversation with Dr. 

 Joseph Kalbfus, Secretary of the State 

 Game Commission of Pennsylvania, that 

 gentleman stated that during the hunting 

 season which recently closed, twenty-eight 

 men were killed and a hundred and twenty- 

 six wounded in the state as the result of 

 hunting accidents, "and there are fifteen 

 counties yat to be heard from," he added. 

 Reports show that seven hundred and 

 fifty-one deer were killed. Thirty does 

 were known to have been illegally taken. 

 Reports of other kinds of game killed 

 show records of one hundred and thirty- 

 eight black bears, seven hundred and 

 thirty-three Wild Turkej's, five thousand, 

 seven hundred and twenty Woodcock, 

 eighteen thousand, four hundred and 

 thirty-five Quail, ninety thousand one 

 hundred and si.xty Ruffed Grouse, seventy- 

 six thousand two hundred and eighty- 

 five squirrels, and three hundred and 

 forty thousand rabbits. 



Within the past few years there have 

 come to public attention several instances 

 of the wholesale killing of ducks by the 

 pouring of oil into water which they 

 frequent. The present winter such a case 

 was reported in Providence, Rhode Island, 

 where thousands of birds perished in 

 this way. A section of San Francisco Bay 

 was a few weeks ago polluted by the same 

 means as the result of the dumping of 

 great quantities of oil into the bay from 

 the wharves of the Northwestern Pacific 

 Railroad Company — at least the Cali- 

 fornia Game Commission so charges in 

 the warrant they recently served on the 

 officers of that road. This crude oil, be- 

 sides killing hundreds of ducks outright, 

 clogged the feathers of thousands of 

 water-fowl, which rendered them an easy 

 prey to many men and boys who went 

 hunting for them with clubs. 



It may not be generally known that, in 

 addition to the English Sparrow, the 

 English Starling, the English Ring-necked 

 Pheasants, and the Hungarian Partridge, 

 many other species of foreign birds have 

 been introduced into America from time 

 to time, with the hope that they might 

 find this country a land in which they 

 could successfully propagate and enrich 

 our bird fauna. Skylarks have been 

 brought over on several occasions, and, 

 for a time at least, these birds were known 

 to mate and nest on Long Island. Various 

 experiments have been made in an effort 

 to introduce the little Migratory Quail on 

 game preserves in North Carolina and 

 elsewhere. With the exception of the 

 Sparrow and Starling, and to a limited 

 extent, the Ring-necked Pheasant, all 

 efforts to establish foreign birds success- 

 fully in this country have resulted in 

 failure. With the memory of these facts 

 fresh in mind, ornithologists will view 

 with concern the attempt now being made 

 to introduce various species of English 

 song birds into the woods and fields of 

 Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A 

 recent dispatch from England stated that 

 a cargo of several hundred Goldfinches, 

 Linnets, Robins, Larks, and Blue-tits, 

 have been exported for this purpose. 



The fine collection of birds gathered 

 during thirty-three years' effort by Manly 

 Hardy, of Brewer, Rhode Island, has been 

 purchased from his heirs by the Rhode 

 Island Audubon Society as a memorial 

 to their beloved founder, Mrs. Henry 

 Grant. The Society has presented the 

 same to the Roger Williams Park Museum 

 of Providence. The collection is one of 

 unique interest and value and contains 

 about seventeen hundred specimens. The 

 City has accepted the gift, and a reso- 

 lution was recently passed that this 

 collection be properly housed, cared for, 

 and exhibited to the public in the Museum 

 within three years from the date of the 

 passage of the resolution. The Park 

 Commissioners have been authorized 

 to secure plans for the needed fireproof 

 addition to the Museum. 



