146 DuTCHER, Report of Committve on Bird Protection. \ j"^^ 



adequate for the conditions. Prosecutions for killing deer and 

 papabottes (Bartramian Sandpipers) out of season have been 

 secured, and a wholesome fear of violating such laws as do exist 

 has been easier to secure than the winning of councilmen and 

 legislators to the views of bird protectionists, or for that matter, 

 in getting them to take any view but a jocular one, and even in 

 some instances, any view but an unprincipled one. 



" Five hundred appeals to the people of Louisiana have been 

 issued since last December, and the better part of them have been 

 circularized. A part of this appeal was published in ' Bird Lore ' 

 shortly after the appeal was issued. To facilitate the observance 

 of the game law, the Society has issued 100 large cards giving the 

 closed seasons. These have been distributed to postmasters and 

 clerks of courts over the State. One hundred cards of the same 

 size offering a reward of $25.00 for the arrest and conviction of 

 anyone violating the non-game or game provisions of the State law 

 have also been issued. 



" The Educational Leaflets received from the National Committee 

 have been distributed among the members. Local secretaries 

 have been appointed in several parts of the State. The member- 

 ship of the Society at present, including associates and life mem- 

 bers, is about eighty. 



" Between the present time and the convening of the Louisiana 

 General Assembly for the session of 1904, the Audubon Society 

 will have a great work on its hands in bringing the question of bird 

 protection before the legislators of the State. From the work 

 along this line that has already been done, there will not be a great 

 deal of difhculty in convincing the law makers from the country 

 districts and from the smaller towns that bird protection is an 

 essential for any civilized community. There are no indications 

 that there will be any serious opposition from any part of the State 

 except the southeastern, and the interests of the other sections 

 properly aggregated will outweigh any combination of bird dealers, 

 market hunters, misguided ' sportsmen,' and corrupt and indiffer- 

 ent legislators. 



" One pleasant feature of the work of the past year is that the 

 milliners of New Orleans have established with the Audubon Soci- 

 ety the same cordial relations as have been established between 



