484 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc 



or mockins: bird establish themselves so far outside their 

 usual range as Massachusetts, enthusiastic young naturalists 

 are very likely to secure them. Such shooting possibly 

 may prevent the gradual extension of a laird's range. 



The rage for collecting birds' skins and eggs, which was 

 so prevalent among school boys years ago, is believed to 

 be largely a thing of the past. Taxidermists and dealers 

 in birds' eggs generally report a very small demand for 

 birds' eggs and skins. Many of the students are now 

 studying the lives of the birds and following them with 

 the opera glass, instead of the gun. Nevertheless, Mr. T. 

 L. Burney of Lynn says that the kind of nature study 

 taught in many schools results in a tendency to rob birds' 

 nests. He speaks of two boys being arrested for robbing 

 nests, who said their companions were doing the same thing. 

 He also said he met, in the Avoods, many children who were 

 interested in birds, and said they hoped to get a collection 

 of eggs. Such children usually do not know that this kind 

 of nature study is an infraction of the laws of the Common- 

 wealth, punishable by arrest and fine. 



TroUeij Roads, Automobiles and Launches. — The cheap 

 transportation from city to country offered b}' the trolley 

 roads affords hunters, boys and foreigners an opportunity 

 to reach distant fields and woods, and so spreads the baneful 

 influences of the city over a much wider radius than ever 

 before. Foreigners and boys swarm into the country, and 

 practise with their cheap firearms on all animated nature, 

 from the slow-moving: turtle and the froo; to the farmer's 

 fowls or cattle. 



While the poor man takes the trolley car, the well-to-do or 

 rich take the automobile. The automobilist, with the long- 

 range, small-bore rifle, has the advantage over all the others 

 in killing any creature that can be shot while stationary. 

 The "auto," unlike the horse, will stand quietly for the 

 shooter. Farmers say that shooters in " autos" are killing 

 everything of any size within rifle range of the roads. Mr. 

 C. E. Bailey says that he believes they have killed most of 

 the hawks that were formerly to be seen sitting on dead 

 trees along the roads of the country over which he travels. 



