222 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



and, whirling the long lash around his head, yelled with full 

 volume of his lungs and cracked the whip; it sounded some- 

 what like a rifle shot. Mr. Donaldson stated that when the 

 birds get accustomed to the sound of the shotguns, the crack 

 of the whip, being an unusual sound, frightens them more 

 than the gun. 



My inquiries at the markets of Georgetown, regarding the 

 shipments of bobolinks, corroborated the statement made by 

 Mr. Rice to the eftect that the traffic had fallen ofl^ greatly. 

 Those markets which formerly furnished the greater part 

 of the supply w^ere doing very little business. On the Back 

 River, however, a firm was found which had established 

 quarters in a scow, roofed over, in which about 14 women 

 and children were engaged in picking the birds, and here the 

 hunters came in with their " game." Each negro " picker " 

 plucked the feathers from the birds and arranged them, when 

 plucked, in rows of a dozen each, when they were packed 

 in small baskets by the white man having charge of the 

 business. 



While it is probable that some birds have been killed to 

 protect the rice crop in the past, it seems quite evident now 

 that the killing is done for the price Avhich the birds bring 

 in the market, and the trade is fostered by the marketmen 

 who make a profit in selling the birds. The marketing of 

 ricebirds should be stopped. The rice business has nearly 

 disappeared from the Atlantic coast region, partly because of 

 the "hell?" problem and partly because of severe storms which 

 have laid waste the rice fields, also because of the competition 

 in Arkansas and Texas where rice can be grown by irriga- 

 tion upon comparatively dry lands and where machinery can 

 be used in planting and harvesting the crops. All indica- 

 tions point to the probability that rice-growing in the South 

 Atlantic States will soon be a thing of the past except such 

 rice as is grown upon uplands for local consumption. The 

 bobolink, therefore, should receive protection under the law 

 everywhere in the United States except when injuring rice 

 crops. Thus far there has been no complaint of bobolinks 

 in Texas and Arkansas, and in their route of migration they 



