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Bird- Lore 



The above table was prepared by Prof. 

 C. L. Marlatt, Assistant Entomologist, 

 United States Department of Agriculture, 

 and was published in the ''Year Book," 

 1904. Professor Marlatt says, "'In no country 

 in the world do insects impose a heavier tax 

 on farm products than in the United States. 

 The lessening or prevention of this loss is the 

 problem for the economic entomologist to 

 solve." The members of the National 

 Association arc doing their part to solve the 

 problem. Every wild bird that is saved is 

 an additional natural check. Reader! Have 

 you among your possessions a tree or bit of 

 land that you cherish and love? Then encour- 

 age the wild birds to dwell with you; be an 

 example to your neighbor, and also help the 

 Association to spread its propaganda every- 

 where. 



"In some time, His good time, I shall 

 arrive." — W. D. 



The Audubon Club in the Bahamas 



Perhaps nowhere in the world are birds 

 more needed than in Nassau, New Provi- 

 dence. Ants infest the gardens, borers rid- 

 dle the trunks of the most useful trees — in 

 short, nothing but the lynx-eyed, hungry 

 bird is able to cope with and check the 

 ubiquitous West Indian creeper and crawl- 

 er. And yet, strangely enough, birds are 

 scarce throughout this beautiful island. 

 Tourists, enamored with Florida's glorious 

 song-birds, complain of this defect in our 

 favorite winter resort, which, climatically, 

 is unequaled. Various causes are assigned 

 to the phenomenon, as the absence of run- 

 ning streams, etc. But the main cause is 

 this : the native children are incessantly 

 catching and killing the lovely bright-plu- 

 maged native birds. Sapodilla-gum, traps 

 —all possible devices are utilized to this 

 unspeakable end. 



Convinced by long observation that, once 

 the value of the bird, and the joy of culti- 

 vating his acquaintance in the tree, could 

 be brought home to these children, the 

 problem of bird protection would be solvetl, 

 I began in the winter of 1906 distributing 

 Audubon Bulletins, with short informal 

 talks; the response was a surprise. A num- 



ber of young colored men formed themselves 

 into a police-corps for the protection of the 

 birds. Now any boy detected with a bird 

 tied by the leg to cap or buttonhole, with a 

 bit of string, is promptly seized, and, if 

 necessary to the release of the victim, is 

 thrashed, and the frightened, often injured, 

 bird is after some careful nursing set at lib- 

 erty. In short, so much interest has devel- 

 oped that three Bird Clubs are now 

 regularly organized. One, the " Nassau 

 Audubon," has a membership of intensely 

 interested little white girls. Another, the 

 " De Lancey-Town Audubon," is made up 

 of young colored men and is doing a splen- 

 did work. The third is a club of eighty school 

 children of Nicoll's Town, Andros Island. 

 These children have made a marvelously 

 practical move by planting guinea corn for 

 the birds around the school yard. A fourth 

 club is now forming under the leadership of 

 another Andros Island boy in the settle- 

 ment of Fresh Creek. Herbert, who visits 

 Nassau from time to time in his father's 

 boat, loaded with kindling-wood, strayed 

 into my cottage: to my questions whether 

 birds were abundant in Fresh Creek, and 

 whether he clubbed and trapped them, he 

 laughed and answered "Ves'm." A set of 

 Bird Bulletins to read and carry to his 

 school-teacher with the usual "talk" per- 

 suaded Herbert that there was a lot more in 

 the bird than he had ever dreamed of. A 

 month later, a letter came from Herbert, 

 brought direct to the cottage by a brother, 

 because he had "done forgot how to spell 

 your name." He wrote that he had "got 

 into many a strife" and been taunted with 

 indulgence in "fool talk" through his ad- 

 vocacy of the cause of the birds. He ended 

 with "I am getting on fine with the birds. 

 O, I love them and all what you say is 

 true." Two months later, the day before 

 we sailed, he again appeared on the porch. 

 He was overjoyed to find on our table a 

 package of magazines and newspapers ad- 

 dressed to him, and which we were just 

 about mailing. On May 23, he, with 

 other faithful friends, carried our many bags 

 and baskets aboard the tug "Colonia," said 

 "good-bye," and went back to his isolated 

 island home cheered and enheartened by 



