iqoi 1 DuTCHER, Refort of Commitiee on Bird Protection. I IQ 



and the appointment of game wardens to look after them, because 

 I was not then certain where the greatest need for protection, in 

 this section of the country, existed. But I have since found out, 

 I returned only last night from an extended cruise among the 

 Keys to Cape Sable and the Southwest coast. At Cape Sable I 

 found the paradise of plume hunters and the purgatory of birds. 

 The latter, driven from haunt to haunt all over the State, have at 

 last reached the uttermost limit of mainland territory, and to it 

 the hunters have followed them. There dwells in a state of 

 constant terror the last surviving flock of Flamingo known to 

 exist within the boundaries of our State; they number nearly one 

 thousand birds and are wonderfully beautiful to look upon. There 

 are also Roseate Spoonbills, Egrets, Wood Ibises, and many other 

 species in sadly diminished numbers, but still numerous enough 

 to delight the heart of an ornithologist or bird lover. But, alas, 

 the relentless plume hunter has followed them even to this remote 

 sanctuary, and the reported destruction of bird life last month is 

 heart sickening. The utter extermination of those beautiful 

 remnants can only be averted by the prompt appointment of a 

 resolute game vv"?.rden and a rigid enforcement of existing laws. 



" The game warden, to deal with this situation, must be a resi- 

 dent, well acquainted with local conditions, a strong, fearless man, 

 and one fully alive to the value of bird protection ; also, he must 

 be not only willing but anxious to serve. 



"Fortunately for the birds and for us, I found residing at Cape 

 Sable, a man who combines in himself all these requirements. 

 He is a young man, brought up from earliest childhood on the 

 east coast of Florida, a thorough woodsman, a sturdy, fearless 

 fellow, filled with a righteous indignation against the wretches 

 who, in open defiance of all laws, are using every effort to kill off 

 the few remaining birds of that section, and he is anxious to be 

 invested with authority for the protection of those that still remain. 

 He has a brother equally interested in the subject who would 

 make a most efficient deputy. I have known these boys for many 

 years, and can honestly say that I know of no better man for 

 game warden in the whole State of Florida than the elder. It is 

 a case in which the promptest possible action is desirable, since 

 another season will doom the Cape Sable flocks to destruction if 



