186 3IASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL, SOCIETY. 



them to most barefaced frauds, as it was shown that among the 

 scalps of birds brought in, and for which the regular bounties were 

 paid, there were " heads of common domestic fowls, partridges, 

 <?uckoos, and butcher-birds ; and, strange as it maj^ seem, even two 

 heads of English sparrows, which the officers were made to believe 

 were heads of blood-thirsty, fowl-devouring hawks or owls." "In 

 one county upwards of two thousand dollars were paid to a party 

 of hunters for a mule's skin and a buffalo robe, which were cut 

 into pieces and ' fixed up ' so that they passed for ' heads ' or ' ears ' 

 of predator}' mammals, or possibly the wise (?) magistrate accepted 

 a portion of them as the heads of hawks or owls." Also " a red 

 fox was slain in one of the mountain districts, and its pelt was cut 

 into sixty-one parts, from which, it is stated, the enterprising 

 hunters realized sixty-one dollars for their work. Birds of prey, 

 as well as other animals on which bounties were allowed, were 

 shipped to Pennsylvania from neighboring states ; in this way 

 large amounts of money were fraudulently obtained. As one 

 instance, Crawford County, one of the western districts, joining 

 the State of Ohio, paid over ten thousand dollars, and of this sum 

 it is said about seven thousand dollars were paid for hawk and 

 owl heads." Dr. Warren, in connection with Dr. C. HartMerriam, 

 Ornithologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, 

 *' carefully examined the contents of the crops and stomachs of 

 over three hundred and fifty hawks and owls on which bounties 

 had been paid." They found that "ninety-five per cent of the 

 matter consisted of the flesh of mice, other destructive quadrupeds, 

 grasshoppers, and many injurious beetles." This Avas done early 

 in 18SC, and this evidence, in addition to that of the many frauds 

 perpetrated, caused the repeal of the bounty law of 1885. Dr. 

 Warren recommended that permission be granted for poisoning the 

 English sparrows during the winter season, when nearly all of our 

 native birds are absent. 



Mr. Appleton stated that the present legislature have under con- 

 sideration the establishment of a commission, to meet a like com- 

 mission from each of the other states, for the purpose of concerting 

 measures which would, if adopted by all the states, secure, through- 

 out the country, uniformity in methods of dealing with the subjects 

 which should be brought before this joint commission and reported 

 upon by that body. He suggested that, as the English sparrow 

 has become a recognized evil in all the more thickly settled parts 



