The Audubon Societies 



133 



Scribner's Magazine, doubtless greatly 

 pleased at the privilege of being allowed 

 to publish an article from the pen of a 

 gentleman so distinguished, kind and 

 altruistic, has taken these boasting 

 sentences and printed them, regardless of 

 the fact that the magazine will go into 

 thousands of homes to be read by young 

 men who may later go tarpon-fishing in the 

 limpid waters about Bocagrande, and 

 who might be inspired to follow the ex- 

 ample of the noble deeds of this celebrated 

 novelist. 



We are glad to rci)ro(luce here an ()|)en 

 letter written to him b_\' Doctor William 

 F. Blackman, President of the Florida 

 State Audubon Society. 



^'Dear Sir: As a tarpon fisherman, hold- 

 ing the record in a recent year for the larg- 

 est fish taken in the state, I was much 

 interested in your article in the February 

 Issue of Scribner's Magazine, on 'Tarpon 

 Fishing at Bocagrande.' But when you 

 told your readers that you and your com- 

 panions beguiled your leisure, on this occa- 

 sion, by 'potting with a Winchester .22' 

 at the Gulls. Man-o'-wars, Pelicans, and 



skimming Swallows which surrounded your 

 boat, you surprised and pained and dis- 

 gusted me beyond words. 



"You doubtless knew that all these birds 

 are protected by the laws of Florida, and 

 some of them by the Federal laws also; your 

 action was deliberately criminal; it was also 

 unspeakably puerile, wanton, cruel, and 

 vulgar. 



"The citizens of Florida welcome tourists 

 from other states; we are happy to share 

 our excellent fishing and shooting with them 

 within legal and decent limits, which, I am 

 glad to say, the great majority of those who 

 sojourn among us carefully and cheerfully 

 observe; but we do not propose to allow 

 our plumage and insectivorous birds to be 

 slaughtered to provide fun for thoughtless 

 and reckless gunners whether residents or 

 visitors. 



"You are too foxy to say whether you 

 yourself succeeded in killing any of these 

 birds, but I hereby give you notice that if 

 \'ou ever again set foot on our soil, and lam 

 apprised of the fact, I shall see that you 

 have an opportunity to tell your story in 

 the courts. If proof can be had of your 

 personal guilt,- you will be punished to the 

 full limit of the law. in both the state and 

 federal jurisdictions, for a misdemeanor so 

 unsporlmanlike and inexcusable." 



A FEEDING-SHELF FOR BIRDS ERECTED BY JUDGE HARRY L. CRESWELL, 

 GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN 



