SEVENTH ANNUAL REPOKT OF THE STATE 

 ORNITHOLOGIST. 



To the Honorable Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture. 



Some socialist has said that government is a system by which 

 money is taken away from one class of people and given to 

 another. However much or little truth there may be in this 

 saying, it is a fact that bird laws have been so made in the past 

 that birds which should have been jDrotected for the benefit of 

 agriculture and forestry have been exploited for the benefit of 

 commercial interests much to the detriment of agriculture. Any 

 attempt to secure legislation to protect birds, which is likely to 

 interfere with the profit of any trade or business, is met with 

 desperate organized opposition. Whenever a movement is made 

 to secure needed protection to save birds from extinction, organi- 

 zations of feather dealers, marketmen, or some other interest 

 that receives a profit from the killing and sale of birds is 

 aroused to furious oj)position at the prospect of the loss of a 

 money-making privilege. Such interests will spend money lib- 

 erally to defeat legislation for the protection of birds. Hence 

 it becomes necessary not only to impress upon legislators the 

 necessity for such enactments, but also to arouse their con- 

 stituents until they realize the danger that threatens the birds 

 and the necessity for bird conservation. Therefore, all suc- 

 cessful attempts to secure legislation for bird protection must be 

 preceded or accompanied by much educational work. 



Legislative ak^d Educational Woek. 

 The law under which the office of the State Ornithologist was 

 established in Massachusetts (chapter 245, Acts of 1912) pro- 

 vides that the incumbent shall act in an advisory capacity in 

 matters regarding legislation for the protection of birds. In 

 the first years of my incumbency, my advice was rather too 

 freely offered to the Legislature. ISJ'evertheless, most of the 

 measures recommended have since been enacted into law in 

 Massachusetts and several other States. 



