74 Report of Committee oti Bird Protection. Ff"'' 



for the shooting or shipping of game birds out of season, and 

 shooting and trapping song or insectivorous species. The Audu- 

 bon Society, in conjunction with the Game Commissioner, has had 

 the game laws printed on a 14 x 19 poster and mailed to the 

 postmasters of 2500 offices in the State, with a request from the 

 Governor to place them in a conspicuous position where they 

 would be certain to strike the eye of the public. 



" On July 23, 1900, Game Commissioner Loveday, assisted by 

 two deputies, engaged in a novel raiding expedition in Chicago, 

 visiting some twelve bird stores and seizing from two to three 

 hundred caged birds, largely Mockingbirds and Cardinals. The 

 case was not brought to trial until September, and for soine un- 

 known reason the Justice has not yet rendered his decision. We 

 trust it will favor the prosecution, as it is a case of much impor- 

 tance for the future."^ 



Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey has sent the following in regard 

 to plume hunting in southern Texas : 



" While working in Texas last spring Mr. Bailey and 1 spent 

 two weeks in the neighborhood of Corpus Christi. In talking 

 with the settlers we gradually discovered that we were in the heart 

 of a plume hunting district. The discovery was gradual, as the 

 people seemed afraid to talk to us at first, apparently on account 

 of a rumor of some prohibitory legislation in the North. As an 

 old bird hunter said afterwards, the report was that 'they were n't 

 going to buy any more birds- — there was some law about it.' 



" So absolutely is the southern plume hunting business controlled 

 by the northern market that this rumor had held up the trade, and 

 it was only as time went by without its confirmation that the hunt- 

 ers prepared to start out again. 



" As they watched our work the people came to talk quite freely 

 to us and we learned a good deal about the number of birds killed, 

 the principal kinds taken, and the prices paid for them. One man 

 boasted - — moved perhaps by the small number of birds we found 

 it important to shoot ^ — that he and another plume hunter had, in 

 1889, shot 816 birds in five days, and 1,023 in six to seven days. 



1 Since this was put in type, Mr. Dean has informed that the case was 

 decided in favor of the Game Commissioner, and the dealer fined $100. 



