1 84 



Bird- Lore 



was a particularly brisk one, so far as the 

 Audubon interests were concerned. Ow- 

 ing to the activity of the Louisiana Audu- 

 bon Society in preventing the sale of the 

 plumage of wild birds, especially that of 

 White Herons, the New Orleans milliners 

 combined and introduced through Sena- 

 tor Louque, former attorney for one of the 

 millinery firms, Bill No. no, which was 

 intended to repeal that part of the Model 

 Law which prohibited the sale of the 

 plumage of birds or parts thereof whether 

 taken within or without the state. The 

 hearing on this bill, at which five members 

 of New Orleans dry goods firms were 

 present, occupied nearly two hours, but 

 the milliners were unable to make out a 

 case and the committee having the bill iu 

 charge voted against its progressing any 

 further. The chief spokesman for the 

 milliners tried to cloud the issue by refer- 

 ring to the possibility of confusing exotic 

 plumage with that of species found in 

 Louisiana. On the other hand, President 

 Miller, of the State Audubon Society, 

 and Mr. Kopman, field agent of this Asso- 

 ciation, kept prominently before the com- 

 mittee that it was necessary to forbid the 

 sale of plumage of all birds whether exotic 

 or local, in order to protect local birds. 

 Preventing the repeal of the Model Law 

 was a great victory and cannot fail to 

 have its effect in other parts of the coun- 

 try. 



President Miller has been advocating 

 for many months, and by his educational 

 work had gradually prepared the way for 

 the passage of two bills, which, after a 

 strenuous fight, are now laws and place 

 the state of Louisiana among the leaders 

 so far as good bird and game legislation is 

 concerned. The bills were introduced in 

 the House by Representative Ventress and 

 were known as Numbers 82 and 83. 



Bill No. 82 was to establish a Board 

 of Commissioners for the protection of 

 birds and game and fish, defining their 

 duties and empowering them to employ 

 game and fish wardens and to provide the 

 means to carry this into effect. The legis- 

 lature of Louisiana, through this bill, has 

 done a great deal to protect one of the 



state's most valuable assets, for no matter 

 how excellent the game laws of a common- 

 wealth may be, if there is no one to see 

 that the laws are enforced, they are prac- 

 tically valueless. 



Bill No. 83 provides for hunters' li- 

 censes, resident, non-resident, and alien, 

 and also fixes the open seasons. This is 

 one of the greatest advances ever made in 

 bird and game legislation in Louisiana, 

 especially as it removes Robins and Cedar- 

 birds from the game list. At one time it 

 was not thought possible that this could 

 be done, but, owing to the splendid educa- 

 tional work referred to above, this radical 

 measure was passed, only by a bare 

 majority, however. 



The Louisiana Audubon Society was 

 organized in 1904. Mr. Frank M. Miller 

 was elected President and has remained 

 in that important position up to the pres- 

 ent time. When he took charge of the 

 work, he found a commonwealth with 

 practically no bird or game laws of any 

 kind and, in consequence, song and insec- 

 tiverous birds were commonly sold in the 

 markets. The birds of the coast had been 

 almost exterminated, and, in addition, 

 the state of Louisiana, furnished a very 

 large part of the Cardinals and Mocking- 

 birds that were exported from this country. 

 In contrast, it is but justice to Mr. Miller 

 to call attention to the present conditions 

 in Louisiana which are almost entirely 

 due to his splendid educational work and 

 his activities in other lines. Louisiana now 

 has some of the best game laws in force 

 in the country, has a self-supporting Game 

 Commission, has entirely prevented the 

 export of live birds, has prohibited entirely 

 the sale of wild birds' plumage, irrespec- 

 tive of where the plumage comes from, and 

 has a greater number of Federal Bird Res- 

 ervations than any other state in the coun- 

 try, and, in addition, owns or controls a 

 large number of bird-breeding islands; 

 in this latter respect, it is the banner state 

 in the country. — W. D. 



Oklahoma. — At the close of the first 

 session of the legislature of the new state 

 of Oklahoma, the Audubon Societies 



