The Audubon Societies 



303 



THE FIGHT FOR SONGBIRDS 



The movement so opportunely started 

 by this Association against the killing of 

 songbirds for food is meeting with most 

 hearty response from many parts of the 

 country, and calls for the cloth warning- 

 notices referred to in the last Bird-Lore 

 are daily coming in from all parts of the 

 country. Already more than 50,000 of 

 these have been distributed. If further 

 evidence is needed to show the urgent 

 demand for a campaign of this sort, it can 

 easily be furnished from the letters that 

 are being received from various writers. 

 One correspondent has written: 



"Not so long ago I was riding in a lonely 

 wilderness in the Guyandotte Mountains 

 of West Virginia, and near the Paint 

 Mountains, when I came across an Italian 

 who had a gunnysack half iilled with 

 songbirds. I could not say anything much, 

 because he had a gun and I was unarmed, 

 but reported the same at the nearest 

 point." 



Another bird-lover writes: 



"I would call your attention to the 

 wholesale slaughter of songbirds here in 

 our immediate vicinity: all foreigners 

 being offenders. Can you not induce the 

 county or town warden to act at once with 

 our local police, who are ready to make 

 arrests or cooperate to stop this dreadful 

 economic waste?" 



Another correspondent writes: 



"I am doing all I can to protect the 

 birds, but just this afternoon I saw several 



boys with guns. They had a basket and 

 were overheard to say they had a Robin. 

 I called to them, but they went on. I saw 

 one of them pick up a bird as it was try- 

 ing to flutter away. This was in North 

 Toledo." 



A similar letter may be added: 

 "Yesterday my wife and I spent the 

 day at Long Beach and came across two 

 sets of hunters. The first set was of three 

 men and three guns. They had shooting 

 licenses and game-law books. They had 

 one Lesser Yellowlegs and six or eight 

 Sanderlings. They seemed to be decent 

 men and were obliged when we told them 

 the small birds came under the five-year 

 clause of the Federal Law. Set number 

 two were simple bird-butchers. We heard 

 two reports and came upon them gathering 

 up the birds. They were Sanderlings. 

 They must have had at least twenty. One 

 man had a bunch held between both 

 hands, and the other the gun and three or 

 four birds. They seemed uneasy when 

 they saw us. My wife wanted to speak to 

 them, but I was strongly against it since 

 they were the kind that would probably 

 answer roughly unless we had authority. 

 I will gladly point out their house to a 

 game-warden." 



As long as the Association's supply of 

 the cloth posters holds out we shall be 

 able to distribute them gratuitously to 

 everyone who is willing to post them where 

 they may be read by the public. 



A DANGEROUS MOVE THWARTED 



Among the groups of people who were 

 requested by Mr. Hoover, United States 

 Food Administrator, to make suggestions 

 in reference to the conserving of food, the 

 hotel and restaurant owners have recently 

 distinguished themselves. 



On the first of August, representatives 

 of the hotels and restaurants formally met 

 at Washington, D. C, and in due time 

 produced a set of resolutions designed to 

 represent their wisdom in the matter of 

 conserving food. One of their resolutions 



was to the effect that the Government 

 should urge the various states to lengthen 

 their open seasons on fish and game. That 

 is, they recommended that the United 

 States Government use its influence in the 

 various states to break down the bars of 

 the present seasons when game cannot be 

 killed to the extent that the shooting 

 should be lengthened over a greater 

 period of the year. 



In considering this resolution it is well 

 to bear in mind that there are a goodly 



