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Bird - Lore 



present constituted under the Federal 

 imigratory-bird law. It also contains pro- 

 visions for the artificial propagation of 

 ^ame, bag-limit, restrictions on sale and 

 •shipment of game, and the trapping of fur- 

 tearing animals. In the first bill the Audu- 

 bon Society asks to be relieved of the 

 authority of enforcing the bird-and-game 

 laws, which were granted to it by a special 

 •charter from the legislature in March, 

 1903. 



Minnetonka Bird-Sanctuary 



Lake Minnetonka has been made the 

 Minnetonka Bird-Sanctuary by the peti- 

 tions of hundreds of residents of the region 

 and by the activities of leading citizens, 

 and of many sportsmen of Minneapolis. 

 Dr. Thomas S. Roberts, of Minneapolis, 

 one of America's leading ornithologists, 

 and long a member of the National 

 Audubon Association, has taken a leading 

 part in creating the wide interest which 

 has had this gratifying result. The State 

 Game Commission has now prohibited 

 shooting, and even the carrying of fire- 

 arms, either on the lake or on a surround- 

 ing zone of land one mile in width. 



Good Work at a State Fair 



The opportunity to show the beauty 

 and advantage of gathering and favoring 

 the song-birds about the farm and house, 

 afforded by the large assemblage of visitors 

 at a state fair, was seized by the ladies of 

 Washington, who organized a "Court of 

 the Birds" at the Washington State Fair, 

 held at North Yakima in September of 

 1914. Strenuous efforts were made by 

 Mrs. Granville Ross Pike, who planned the 

 exhibit, and by the ladies associated with 

 her, to gather an exhibit of wide educational 

 interest, to which the National Association 

 sent such aid as it could; and the effort 

 was rewarded with striking success. One 

 valuable feature was a series of prize- 

 competitions for young people in writing 

 essays on the usefulness of various birds; 

 in the construction of bird-houses and 



nesting-places; and in photographs of 

 natural objects. It is highly desirable that 

 this example should be followed. 



Birds in the Great War 



The effect of a war on the wild birds and 

 animals of the region affected is usually of 

 a beneficial character. No doubt game- 

 animals, especially, have increased during 

 the past four years of political disturbance 

 in the unhappy republic of Mexico. In 

 Europe, game-preserves in northern 

 France and eastern Prussia have probably 

 suffered, but, on the whole, bird-life in 

 eastern Europe has enjoyed, during the 

 past six months, a freedom from persecu- 

 tion to which it has long been a stranger. 

 France has stopped all hunting, and the 

 Minister of War has issued an order that 

 the sale of no native game will be tolerated. 

 Ordinarily more than one thousand tons of 

 native-killed game are annually sold in 

 the markets of France. The Larks of Bel- 

 gium will evidently enjoy a year of unusual 

 freedom from disturbance. In time of 

 peace the people of Belgium export to 

 France alone every year more than fifty 

 thousand of these interesting birds. It is a 

 pleasure to feel that some small good at 

 least is to come out of the unspeakable 

 holocaust we are now witnessing in 

 Europe. 



A Law-Violator Fined 



Mrs. E. E. Coulson, of Bradentown, 

 Florida, who has long been an active 

 Audubon worker, recently sent us word 

 that King W. Wiggins, a prominent 

 business man of that section, had taken 

 the game-laws into his own hands, and 

 exceeded the bag-limit by killing four 

 wild Turkeys in one day. She also 

 reported that the local game-warden 

 seemed disposed to wink at the case. We 

 at once communicated with E. Z. Jones, 

 State Game Warden, with a result that 

 Wiggins was haled into court and fined. 

 The case created much local interest, and 

 won increased respect for the game-laws. 



