THE OOLOGIST. 



23. 



protection of water fowls applies with 

 equal force to all birds of the Grouse 

 family, to Woodcock, Qiaii, and to the 

 Snipe and Plover families. 



Laws sbodld be made to open on all 

 kinds of gam a on a given day and c!ose 

 on all kinds 30 days later, and the man 

 found in the woods, in the fields, or on 

 the waters with a gun, at nny other 

 time of the year, that fact should be 

 considered prima facifl evidence that 

 he has violated a gam« law or is trying 

 to do so, and he should be liable to a 

 fine of not less than $10 on conviction. 



The following species are habitually 

 pursued by many sportsmen, but are 

 not game birds, and (with the exception 

 of two species of Hawk) should nf^ver 

 be killed: Hawk?, Owls, Blackbirds, 

 Gulls, Pelicans, Cranes, Loons, Ibises, 

 Egrt'is, rorm^rants, Bittiuns, Herons, 

 Doves, Eagles, Wocdoeckers, Robins, 

 and Meadow larks. 



Much that has been said as to the 

 protection of game birds applies with 

 equal force to song and insectivorous 

 birds Many of the?e are killed and 

 eatan — not, I am glad to say, by real 

 sportsmen, but in many cases by men 

 who pose as such. Tho greatest enem- 

 ies of song, insectivorous acd plumage 

 birds are the Italians and other for- 

 eigners who live in the great cities 

 An army of these men go out of every 

 great city every Sundav morning during 

 at least eight months ' f the year with 

 cheap shotguns, and kill every bird 

 they can find, no matter of what kind. 

 Robins, Thrushes, Orioles, Tanagers, 

 Blue Jays, Pewees, Song Sparrows, 

 Blue birds— all go into the Dag:)'s bag; 

 then into the pot and from th«re into 

 his rapacious maw. 



Many states have enacted laws pro- 

 hibiting the killing of song birds at any 

 time of year, but unfortunately such 

 laws are not enforced as they should be 

 The remedy for this lies in a greater 

 number of game wardens and of more 

 vigorous action on the part of all bird 



lovers. There should be at least one in 

 every county of this state, and if one 

 could be provided to each township, so 

 much the better. The minimum fine 

 for killing a song bird or an insectivor- 

 ous bird should be $25 Half of this 

 should goto the game warden, and in ad- 

 dition he should be paid a salary which 

 would warrant him a comfortable living. 



Another great enemy of song birds, 

 and especially those classed as plumage 

 birds, is the market hunter. This man 

 kills and skias the small birds for mil- 

 linery purposes. He also kills thous- 

 ands of plumage birds, such as Egrets 

 and Ibis and plucks a few plums from 

 each and leaves the bird to rot In 

 many cases he kills the mother bird 

 and a brood of young are left on the 

 nest to starve to death. All this in- 

 famous tradic should be suppressed, as 

 speedily as possible. 



All states should prohibit the wearing 

 of skins or plumage of birds on hats. 

 A few of the slates have already passed 

 laws to prohibit the killing and selling 

 of such birds for such purposes, but this 

 does not cover the case. The way to 

 remedy an evil is to strike at the root 

 of it. Let us destroy the market for 

 bird skins, and bird feathers, then the 

 vandals who are slaughtering these 

 birds finding their occupation gone, 

 will have to gi at somethidg else. If 

 they are too l&zj to work, let them go 

 to stealing horses and they will soon 

 land in the penitentiary, where they 

 should have been long ago. 



Let it be considered the duty and the 

 privilege of every friend of bird pro- 

 tection to condemn and decry, at every 

 opportunity, the habit of certain wom- 

 en of wearing bird skins or plumage on 

 their hats. The only hope of saving 

 from total extinction the many species 

 of birds in this country, lies in the rap- 

 id creation of a strong public sentiment 

 against the millinery traflSc in bird 

 skins. 



This warning is not the result of im- 



