396 



Bird - Lore 



"Mr. Raymond J. Gregory, of Prince- 

 ton, chairman of the State Grange's com- 

 mittee on protection of wild birds, pre- 

 sided at the afternoon meeting, and the 

 speakers were E. E. Chapman, of Ludlow, 

 the State Grange Master; Wilfred Whee- 

 ler, who promised the cooperation of the 

 State Board of Agriculture in future work; 

 Winthrop Packard; E. H. Forbush; and 

 Mrs. Ladd, who announced that the 

 State Grange would hold ten Bird Field- 

 Days next year, and would present fifty 

 bird-boxes to school-children for meritor- 

 ious work in the places where these field- 

 days should be held. At the close of the 

 speaking, bird-walks about the grounds 

 were taken with several leaders, and 

 despite the unfavorable hour for seeing 

 or hearing birds, one party found twenty- 

 three, another twenty, different kinds. 



"On the next day, the same program 

 was repeated so far as possible in Pitts- 

 field, with the addition of a pageant under 

 the supervision of Mrs. John Noble; but, 

 as the weather was very unfavorable, 

 much of the field-work was omitted." 



A conference of New England grange 

 lecturers at the College of Agriculture at 

 Amherst during the following week, called 

 by Mrs. Ladd, had a bird period, on July 

 30, at which Mr. Gregory presided and 

 made an address, and Messrs. Packard 

 and Forbush and Mrs. O. E. Marshall 

 spoke. It was declared to be the most 

 interesting period of the two-days' con- 

 ference. The principal address was that 

 on "Special Bird Work," delivered by 

 Mr. Raymond J. Gregory. 



"The subject presents to my mind,", 

 said Mr. Gregory, "two sides for develop- 

 ment — the esthetic and the economic. 

 Because we, as Patrons of Husbandry, 

 are intensely interested in agriculture, we 

 should realize that birds are of as great 

 value to life esthetically as they are from 

 an economic standpoint. Each may work 

 independently of the other, but the best 

 results are to be obtained when both are 

 considered. Therefore, note the flight, 

 song, and plumage of a bird, as well as 

 study its economic relations to its sur- 

 roundings. A true bird-student should 



be as eager to try to understand one class 

 of facts as the other. 



"It is highly important that every 

 state should have its ornithologist. If I 

 am not misinformed, but one of the six 

 New England states has such a salaried 

 officer today, and a comparison of the 

 laws in the statue-book of that state with 

 the laws of the others reveals a surprising 

 difference in the development of that 

 live question, which is always before the 

 bird-lover, namely bird-protection. Now 

 let me urge you to begin, when you return 

 to your homes, to work through your 

 grange to create a public demand for 

 such a state officer and for his appoint- 

 ment. Plead your case before your State 

 Board of Agriculture, under whose juris- 

 diction an ornithologist would be placed. 

 Impress on your state master the exceed- 

 ingly close and extremely important 

 relation of birds to agriculture. Let him 

 be informed of the wishes of the people 

 of the grange by a little publicity cam- 

 paign, and there isn't a state grange 

 master in our land but would rise to the 

 occasion and create a bird-protection 

 committee. 



"If you haven't within your grange 

 membership noted students, do not let 

 the subject pass without action. It is 

 almost impossible today to find a section 

 of our state where there is not at least 

 one bird-protectionist. Just make your 

 best selection and get into touch with 

 your master, and in a short time your bird- 

 committee wiU have become a live wire. 



"What will be its duties? To watch 

 the state legislature to see that the exist- 

 ing laws are not changed to lower the 

 bars of protection; to seek to enact laws 

 for the establishment of close seasons for 

 those species that are in danger of extinc- 

 tion; to make possible the establishment 

 of state preserves, where all kinds of life 

 may find a haven of rest and security. 

 In Massachuetts many town-sanctuaries 

 are being established under the super- 

 vision of the Fish and Game Commission. 

 The land-owners simply waive their 

 rights to hunt or fish on these lands for 

 a certain period of years; then the state 



