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Bird- Lore 



The Present Need of the Association 



More members are n,eeded at once in order 

 to recuperate the treasury of the Society, 

 which is now at a low ebb, owing to inces- 

 sant drafts upon it for legitimate expenses. 

 The Finance Committee cannot, with the 

 utmost business perspicacity, make one dol- 

 lar do the work of two dollars. Our members 

 and contributors are generous and loyal, and 

 they are not expected to do more financially 

 than they have already done this year (1906 ) . 

 There is, however, something each one can 

 do to help in this emergency; it is for each 

 person to get a new member for the Asso- 

 ciation before the mid-year. We have gained 

 thirteen life members since the last report, 

 but their fees cannot be used, but must be 

 invested, which has been done. One thou- 

 sand new sustaining members will place our 

 organization on such a sound basis that it 

 can not only carry on its present work, but 

 can expand, especially in its educational 

 efforts among children. — W. D. 



Legislative Season 



Although 1906 is one of the off years 

 when only a few States have legislative 

 sessions, yet in some of these the National 

 Association has had to do strenuous work 

 in order to help the State Society defeat bad 

 bills. There has never been a legislative 

 season that more emphatically has shown the 

 absolute necessity for Audubon Societies 

 and their work. If it had not been for the 

 determined opposition and persistent efforts 

 of these Societies, several exceptionally bad 

 bills would have now been laws. There is 

 not the slightest doubt that if the Audubon 

 Societies were to disband, in a very few years 

 all of the present excellent bird laws would 

 be so amended that protection would cease. 

 It is true that game-birds would not suffer to 

 the extent that the non-game-birds would, 

 because real sportsmen would naturally 

 urge good legislation for them. However, 

 sportsmen are not organized so well as the 

 State Audubon Societies and the National 

 Association. It is also a fact that these 

 Societies exert almost as much influence for 

 game-birds as they do for the other species. 



New Jersey. — Was a hotbed of vicious 



bills. Three were introduced, as follows: 

 To make the Mourning Dove a game-bird, 

 with an open season from August 15 to 

 October 1. The only reason given by the 

 enlightened Assemblyman who introduced 

 the bill was because many of his constituents 

 were glassblowers, and this date was their 

 vacation period and they wished something 

 to shoot. This gentle and beneficial bird 

 was to be sacrificed to make a politician 

 solid with his constituents. Why a bill was 

 introduced to remove all protection from the 

 Kingfisher was never discovered. Both of 

 these vicious measures were finally defeated. 

 The Flicker narrowly escaped being made 

 a game-bird. The bill was introduced in 

 the Assembly very late in the session, — too 

 late, in fact, to start a systematic opposition. 

 This was probably the intent of the intro- 

 ducer. Next to the last day of the session 

 the bill was passed in the Assembly, but 

 thanks to some earnest and vigilant friends 

 of the birds in the Senate, it was defeated 

 there. There were also some good friends 

 of the birds in the Assembly, but unfortu- 

 nately some of the members of the Assembly 

 Game Committee were not only prejudiced 

 but ignorant. One of them told your Presi- 

 sident that the Reedbird came from the 

 South, and expressed strong disbelief when 

 he was told that the bird was the Bobolink 

 in its fall plumage. This Committeeman 

 certainly was not a fit person to legislate for 

 birds, or, in fact, on any other subject. 



Ohio. — In this State an Assemblyman 

 introduced a bill "To better protect Quail, 

 birds and domestic fowls by the payment of 

 a fee for the heads of Hawks." Section 1 

 reads as follows: "Any one killing a bird 

 known as a Hawk, shall, on the presenta- 

 tion of such dead bird to the clerk of the 

 township where he or they may reside, be 

 entitled to a certificate to the amount of 

 fifty cents for each Hawk so produced." 

 Like all other bills of this character, it was 

 introduced because of prejudice and a cor- 

 responding ignorance of the economic value 

 of most of the raptores. 



The model law is now in force in Ohio 

 and the only species of Hawks that are not 

 beneficial are in the excepted list. This bad 

 bill was defeated largely through the efforts 



