208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Bird Killing hy Foreigners. 



The year has been replete with coiu})laiiits regarding the 

 killing of small birds b}^ foreigners, particularly Italians. 



The hunter's license law, passed some years ago, greatly 

 reduced the number of foreign gunners, as under this law 

 unnaturalized foreigners cannot legally hunt. IN'ow, how- 

 ever, foreigners have devised ways of evading the law by 

 using firearms that are almost noiseless, or other devices 

 that are entirely so. Their depredations call for the con- 

 stant activity of many wardens, for they kill many parent 

 birds in the nesting season and leave the young in the nests 

 to starve. It is interesting to note some of the devices that 

 they use for killing birds quietly. 



Dr. R. W. Schnfeldt of Washington writes that while liv- 

 ing in jSTew York City a few years ago his attention fre- 

 quently was invited to the fact that great numbers of birds 

 were killed by the Italian workmen employed in the environ- 

 ment of the city, and he was told that they were using for 

 the purpose of killing birds a form of blowgun as well as 

 bird lime. It is well known that a certain form of blowgun 

 can be used with great effect on small birds by an expert 

 marksman. 



A deputy game commissioner took a large net which had 

 been stretched by some Italians near a pond to catch the 

 birds that came to bathe and drink. Huge nets are used 

 in Italy, stretched across the country for long distances and 

 reared high in the air to catch swallows and other birds. 



Another means that is used for taking small birds is the 

 horse-hair snare. These snares, when set in trees, are almost 

 impossible of detection until after the birds are caught, and 

 by skillfully baiting them some of these foreign " sports- 

 men " are able to catch many birds. The robin is one of 

 their chief game birds, and is easily taken by them in these 

 snares, as sho^vn in the illustration. 



