210 BOARD OF AGRICULTrUE. [Pub. Doc. 



'i'hc albatrosses iwv killcil l)y flapanose feather hunters, and 

 the quills of the wings shipped to European milliners. 



The millions of swallows and other migratory birds that are 

 killed yearly in France, Italy and Spain supply the millinery 

 trade of Europe with a tremendous quantity of wings and 

 other plumage. Practically none of this now comes into the 

 United States, where its sale is illegal. The greater part of 

 the destruction of insect-eating birds of the United States 

 for millinery purposes was stopped by the activity of the 

 Audubon societies years ago, but it is stated that some small 

 birds are still killed here and the skins shipped to Europe 

 where they find a ready market. 



While the laws of -the northern States are so drawn as to 

 protect insect-eating birds, such laws are not in force in 

 several southern States. Vast numbers of small birds are 

 killed for food in the south, and many of them are sold in 

 the markets. 



The jSTational Association of Audubon societies has been 

 enabled, through the philanthropy of Mrs. Russell Sage, to 

 start an etfective campaign of education in the schools of the 

 south. Already the laws of some States have been improved 

 as a result of this work, but a tremendous bird slaughter 

 occurs annually in many States. A few years ago a single 

 dealer in the national capital is said to have reported the sale 

 of 2,000 robins in one month. These birds were killed in 

 North Carolina. Robins, thrushes, flickers, native sparrows, 

 bluebirds, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks, blackbirds, bobolinks 

 and even swallows have been and still are shot, sold and eaten 

 in great numbers in the south. In the present winter 

 (1911-12) the city council of Pittsboro, S. C, rescinded an 

 order forbidding shooting within the city limits so that the 

 people might shoot robins that had been driven into the town 

 by a severe storm to seek food and shelter. About 4,000 

 robins w^ere killed there. The mayor of the city, who was 

 away at the time, was so disgusted at what had occurred that 

 he resigned his office upon his rduni. A similar wholesale 

 destruction of purple martins in another southern town was 

 recorded in " Bird-Lore " a few years ago. 



