8 Massachusetts Audubon Society 



is a mystery. Where the migrants go is also a mystery, for the scientists are 

 familiar with the surrounding country, know every covey of birds in the 

 vicinity, and have never been able to detect any addition to them. Dr. 

 Fisher now plans to catch the birds in traps, band their legs, and release 

 them. Anyone who kills a banded quail will be asked, through notices 

 in the newspapers, to notify the Biological Survey. In this way the scientist 

 hopes to shed light on a mystery in the life of Bob White. 



The biologists have set aside this tract of land for their investigations, 

 not only because wild animals and birds are becoming rare, but because 

 the wild flowers and other plants having an ornamental value are being no 

 less rapidly exterminated. With the coming of the automobile and the 

 crowds of pleasure seekers which it carries into the country, such plants 

 as the dogwood, the holly, the ground pine and the wintergreen, which are 

 esteemed as decorations, are disappearing from the vicinity of Washington 

 and other large cities. This is almost wholly due to thoughtless vandalism. 

 People do not seem to realize that the plants growing in a bit of woodland 

 are as much the property of the owner as his apple trees or his corn crop, 

 and may be equally valuable to him. They seem to think that if the plant 

 is a wild one, they have a right to destroy it, and they proceed to do so. 

 They are seldom content with picking a few light sprays, which would 

 not seriously injure the plant, but commonly tear it to pieces. After a few 

 attacks, the plant dies. That is why you so seldom see a holly tree in the 

 woods anywhere near a city, and why the dogwood is becoming more and 

 more rare. Even the hardy and abundant laurel is becoming scarce in 

 some sections because it is an evergreen and is valued for decorative pur- 

 poses in the fall and winter. Old-timers say that the appearance of the 

 woods has been radically altered by these depredations. 



The wild flowers have suffered even more than the large woody plants. 

 The trailing arbutus, which was once a common wild flower in the vicinity 

 of Washington, has been almost exterminated by the thoughtless woods 

 roamers, who are seldom content to pick the blossoms, but usually tear up 

 the plant by the roots. Often it wilts before they reach home, and is thrown 

 down by the roadside. The wild phlox, which used to festoon the woods in 

 great beds, has also nearly disappeared. 



Ferns have also suffered heavily. The gathering of ferns, and also of 

 evergreens, is often followed on a commercial scale, and local florists are 

 much to blame, but the ever-increasing tribe of the autoist is most to blame. 

 It is often he, too, who sets the leaves on fire, either by a carelessly dropped 

 cigarette, or in building a campfire. The result of these ground fires is to 

 destroy the nourishing humus of the forest soil, the seedlings of trees and 

 flowers, and the eggs of ground-nesting birds. 



In order to protect a bit of the countryside from these violations, and 

 to set an example that owners of large estates would do well to follow, the 

 Washington biologists have founded their club of 50 acres. They believe, 

 that the damage which is being done to American woodlands could be 

 checked if people understood the serious effect of such depredations. This 

 story is a plea to those who go into the woods not to destroy wantonly, but 

 to leave beauty for others to see and eaijoy. 



