i6o 



Bird-Lore 



was called, officers for a Junior Audubon 

 Society were elected, and the require- 

 ments of the society more definitely 

 explained. To strengthen the enthusiasm, 

 I gave the president full control of the 

 meeting. He proceeded to business by 

 appointing two members to prepare 

 papers on some bird of their choice, to be 

 read at the next meeting. An additional 

 fee of 25 cents was assessed upon each 

 member, for the purpose of purchasing 

 books about birds. Some of the boys have 

 agreed to build a bird-house to be placed 

 on the school-grounds." 



Anna M. Heaney. 

 Wallkill, N. Y. 



NOTES OF RECENT LEGISLATION 

 Shall Cats Be Licensed? 



The bird-lovers and agricultural econo 

 mists in both Massachusetts and New 

 Jersey have renewed this year their 

 efforts to get state laws licensing cats, in 

 order to reduce the number of strays, 

 which are virtually wild animals of prey, 

 and cause the death of innumerable birds 

 whose services would be of benefit to the 

 community. In Massachusetts, the pro- 

 posal, which was defeated in committee 

 on March 13, was that a single male cat 

 should be permitted unlicensed to each 

 family; but that all others should be safe 

 from capture and death only on payment 

 of a license ($1 for a male, and $2 for a 

 female), indicated by wearing a collar 

 and tag. 



In New Jersey, a bill, originating with 

 the game commission, has passed the 

 Assembly, and is now pending in the 

 Senate. 



In both these cases, members of the 

 State Audubon Societies, and of several 

 organizations interested in game-protec- 

 tion, as well as many private supporters, 

 have appeared to urge the passage of the 

 measures; and this Association has 

 added its influence. The opposition comes 

 mainly from conservative farmers, and 

 from women defending their pets; but 

 the arguments of both were sentimental 

 rather than substantial. 



No Escape by Parcel Post 



That the facilities of the parcel post 

 cannot be used by malefactors as a means 

 of breaking the law against the importa- 

 tion of prohibited millinery feathers has 

 been established by rulings of the post- 

 office authorities. Among the first results 

 of this wise decree were the seizure, in 

 the Chicago post-office, of two packages 

 of foreign feathers, mailed, one from 

 China, and one from Japan, to ladies in 

 Massachusetts, and in Ohio. 



Progress in Great Britain 



A cable message from London informs us 

 that the bill prohibiting the importation 

 into Great Britain of the plumage of 

 wild birds, or "bits of birds," passed its 

 second reading in the House of Commons 

 on March 9, and was forwarded by the 

 overwhelming majority of 297 to 15. 



A Check in Virginia 



The bill to establish a state warden 

 force, to be supported by the license- 

 fees of resident hunters, which has been so 

 strongly urged in Virginia by the State 

 Audubon Society, encouraged by this 

 Association and other kindred influences, 

 failed on March 13, by four votes, to pass 

 the Assembly, after having passed the 

 Senate, because, as President Hart says, 

 some members could not obtain objec- 

 tionable amendments. 



Relief for Birds-of-paradise 



The German government, through Dr. 

 Wilhelm Solf, Minister for the colonies, 

 has forbidden any hunting of Birds-of- 

 paradise in German New Guinea during 

 the next eighteen months, the order 

 issuing on March 11. In announcing this 

 decision in the Imperial Parliament, Dr. 

 Solf said he had originally intended to 

 make the prohibition permanent, but 

 had changed his view after receiving a 

 report from an expedition in the interior 

 of New Guinea, which said there were im- 

 mense numbers of birds there, and that 

 no danger existed of their extinction. 



