Monthly Bulletin 3 



tuary of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and they have taken the idea 

 with them into wide fields of action. One concrete result of this mission- 

 ary work done at Sharon is the Brockton Audubon Society's newly estab- 

 lished bird reservation, a twenty-three acre estate of diversified woodland. 

 Another is the proposed plan to utilize two and a half miles of beach, marsh 

 and sand dunes on Plum Island as a reservation for shore and marsh birds. 

 The largest bird sanctuary in the United State is an area about the size 

 of Massachusetts in the delta of the Yukon River, Alaska. It is a great 

 area of low ground and marshy tundra where enormous numbers of wild ducks 

 and marsh birds breed every year. Massachu»etts may not compete with the 

 Federal Government in the size of its bird protection areas. It is, how- 

 ever, steadily increasing the number of spots where bird life finds sanc- 

 tuaries. 



Evidently the world's pace is in the direction of the millennium and 

 is rapidly accelerating. We have the substance of dreams come true in 

 prohibition and suffrage, and now an enthusiast comes in and believes that 

 the next great step is going to be a reasonable and effective cat-license bill. 



The leaves are falling, and before we know it, almost, the snow will 

 fly. It is time to plan for your winter's feeding of the wild birds. The 

 example and precept of Audubon Society members did a great work in the 

 preservation of ground-feeding birds during last winter when the snow and 

 ice so long and cruelly covered up their usual supplies. It is not too soon 

 to put the feeding stations in order, to establish new ones^if you think they 

 will be needed, and to begin to put out the bird food where the birds will 

 find it and make a mental note of its presence for use when the inclement 

 weather arrives. If you have no farm, or even backyard or lawn space, 

 where you can yourself feed the birds, the Audubon Society will be glad 

 to receive your contribution for this purpose and see that it is placed where 

 it will do the most good. Through the generosity of our members we were 

 last year able to supply the State Conservation Commission with several 

 hundred dollars worth of grain. This grain was placed by deputies and 

 others at strategic points, and the generosity of the donors was thus made 

 immediately available in the saving of bird life. 



Most boys love to acquire and display skill in markmanship, and an 

 air rifle is oftentimes the one thing which the youngster hopes to find in 

 his Christmas stocking. That the possession of one of these, combined with 

 that instinctive desire to hunt which is normal in most boys, tends to bring 

 about much destruction and suffering in bird life is a fact, but the air rifle 

 does worse than that. Several instances have lately beep brought to our 

 attention where children have lost the sight of an eye through the use of 

 these weapons. If you are thinking of giving your boy an air rifle, please 

 remember this and don't do it. Also, it would do no harm to remember 

 that if the boy is under fifteen the laws of Massachusetts forbid you to give 

 him an air rifle under penalty. The law reads as follows: Chapter 199, 

 Acts of 1909, Amending Section 92 of the Revised Laws — Whoever sells or 

 furnishes to a minor under age of 15 years any firearms, air guns or other 

 dangerous weapon shall be punished by a fine of not less than $10 nor 

 more than $50 for each offense, but instructors and teachers may furnish 

 military weapons to pupils for instruction and drill. 



