die Mutiution Societies! 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



Edited by T. GILBERT PEARSON, Secretary 



Address all correspondence, and send all remittances for dues and contributions, to 



the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. 



Telephone, Columbus 7327 



William Dutcher, President 

 Frederic A. Lucas, Acting President T. Gilbert Pearson, Secretary 



Theodore S. Palmer, First Vice-President Jonathan Dwight, Jr., Treasurer 

 Samuel T. Carter, Jr., Attorney 



Any person, club, school or company in sympathy with the objects of tfiis Association may become 

 a member of it, and all are welcome. 



Classes of Membership in the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild 

 Birds and Animals: 



$5 annually pays for a Sustaining Membership 

 $100 paid at one time constitutes a Life Membership 

 $1,000 constitutes a person a Patron 

 $5,000 constitutes a person a Founder 

 $25,000 constitutes a person a Benefactor 



Form of Bequest: — I do hereby give and bequeath to the National Association of Audubon 

 Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals (Incorporated), of the City of New York. 



SLAUGHTER OF AMERICAN EAGLES 



The Territory of Alaska has entered 

 upon a campaign to destroy all the Bald 

 Eagles within its boundaries. A law en- 

 acted in 191 7 by the legislature of the 

 Territory reads in part as follows: 



"Section i. That there be, and hereby 

 is placed upon every eagle within the Ter- 

 ritory of Alaska, a bounty of fifty cents 

 ($0.50), said sum to be paid in accordance 

 with the provisions of this Act. 



"Section 2. To obtain said bounty, any 

 person killing an eagle within the Territory 

 of Alaska, after the passage of this Act, 

 shall, as soon as possible, exhibit both feet 

 of said eagle, to any United States Com- 

 missioner within the Territory of Alaska, 

 together with a certificate in substantially 

 the following form, etc." 



As a result of an investigation we have 

 learned that from the date of the passage 

 of this measure, April 30, 191 7 to Decem- 

 ber 6, 1918, a period of about nineteen 

 months, bounties have been paid for 5,100 

 dead Eagles — an average of 266 a month! 



In a letter recently received from a cor- 

 respondent in Juneau, there occurs this 

 statement: 



"So far as I have been able to ascertain 

 no specific information or statistics were 

 presented to the legislature as a basis for 



the passage of the bill, the basis for its 

 enactment being upon statements by ob- 

 servers that in their belief the depreda- 

 tions of this bird were seriously affecting 

 the salmon supply by destroying the fish 

 while engaged in spawning in the small 

 streams, that they also killed a great many 

 fawns of deer, and young forest and shore 

 birds, as well as ducks, geese, etc." 



Thus another instance has come to light 

 where a wild bird has been tried and con- 

 demned apparently without any previous 

 scientific investigation as to the validity 

 of the charges made against it. 



The legislature that passed this law is 

 not controlled by wild Indians and ignor- 

 ant Eskimos, but by men who have mi- 

 grated from the States and men who should 

 know better than to condemn any form of 

 wild life merely on rumors and the loose 

 statements of prejudiced observers. 



This is a sample of the kind of efforts 

 the National Association of Audubon So- 

 cieties has had to face in all parts of the 

 North American continent for the past 

 fourteen years. The fact that the battle 

 is not yet won is indicated afresh by com- 

 munications just received to the effect that 

 some of the southern states will, during the 

 present legislative year, seek to take from 



(72) 



