238 



Bird - Lore 



Blue-Bird might be subscribed for. The 

 publications relating to birds by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, 

 the state governments and experiment 

 stations, which usually are very instruc- 

 tive, ought to be displayed and attention 

 called to their value. Notices should be 

 placed on a bulletin board of new books, 

 and of good articles in current magazines, 

 in the field of nature-literature; and pic- 

 tures should be shown wherever practi- 

 cable. The colored plates issued in its 

 Educational Leaflets by this Association 

 should be displayed on bulletin boards 

 in all libraries, with information as to 

 where copies may be obtained. 



In these and other ways, libraries may, 

 and should, give aid to the cause of bird- 

 protection and bird-study, and thus 

 render a service to their communities for 

 which they are peculiarly well fitted. 



Audubon Prosecutions 



One of the great roosting-places of 

 Robins which resort in winter to the more 

 comfortable region south of the Ohio 

 River and gather in enormous numbers at 

 certain favorable places, was, last winter. 



in the mountains near Rugby, Tenn. 

 Millions roosted in the evergreen trees on 

 the hillsides and at evening gathered in 

 the branches in such clusters that dozens 

 might be killed by a single charge of shot. 

 "It has been the custom," says a local 

 newspaper, "of the people in the neigh- 

 borhood to kill the Robins by the thou- 

 sands. In fact, this winter two carloads 

 of the birds have been shipped to the 

 markets from Rugby. It was known to 

 everybody about the place that the Robins 

 were being killed, and nobody seemed to 

 care anything about it one way or the 

 other. Certainly the plain folks of Rugby 

 did not know it was against the law to 

 kill the birds." 



This is the same sort of information 

 that used to fill western papers when the 

 vast flocks of Passenger Pigeons suffered 

 slaughter year after year until presently 

 all were gone. The men and boys of that 

 time took no heed of law or thrift; and 

 the "good people" of Rugby were equally 

 ignorant and thoughtless. But before the 

 shooting had gone far, "an agent of the 

 Audubon Society," we are told, went to 

 the town, told the people the killing of 

 Robins was against the law, and to prove 



PHOTOGRAPH OF 527 SKINS OF BIRDS OF PARADISE 

 Seized by Government Agents at Laredo, Texas, January 29, igi6. They were being smuggled 

 into the United States. These were divided among educational institutions by the Government, a 

 number being sent to the National Association of Audubon Societies. 



