No. 4.] REPORT OF STATE ORNITHOLOGIST. 245 



form laws for our migratory birds has been extended through- 

 out the country by co-operation with the many forces now at 

 work for bird protection. 



Following the passage of the act, the Senate of the United 

 States passed a resolution, authorizing treaties with other na- 

 tions on the subject of bird protection, and international nego- 

 tiations with this end in view are now under way, and may 

 eventually result in similar protection to migratory birds in 

 all American countries. All that has been accomplished, 

 however, is a mere beginning. In many parts of the United 

 States public sentiment must be educated to support the 

 government in protecting the birds. State laws must be made 

 uniform with federal regulations. Larger appropriations for 

 enforcement of the federal regulatipns must be secured. A 

 tremendous amount of work remains to be done before effec- 

 tive protection of migratory birds can be considered a fully 

 accomplished fact throughout the land. 



A Blow at the Plumage Teade. 



While the friends of the birds were still engaged in edu- 

 cational work to secure the passage of the McLean-Weeks 

 bill for the protection of migratory birds, Mr. Henry Oldys 

 of Washington, a well-known lecturer on birds, and president 

 of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia, began 

 maturing a plan to stop the sale of the plumage of wild birds 

 in the United States. 



On Dec. 28, 1912, the idea first came to him, and he imme- 

 diately wrote me a letter explaining the plan and asking my 

 co-operation, following this with letters to Mr. William 

 Brewster, president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, 

 Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of the I^ational Association 

 of Audubon Societies, Dr. William T. Hornaday, director of 

 the Xew York Zoological Park, and other prominent ornithol- 

 ogists and bird protectors. On January 3 he wrote that his 

 plan had the approval of Mr. Henry Henshaw and Dr. T. S. 

 Palmer, chief and assistant chief of the Biological Survey, 

 and that it looked feasible. It was proposed to destroy the 

 American trade in the plumage of wild birds by securing the 

 insertion of a clause in tlie new tariff bill prohibiting the im- 



