ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 27 



should also be prepared for such a contingency. The support Audubonites 

 in general have given to the program of the United States Biological 

 Survey where the enforcement of the Migratory Bird Law is concerned, 

 and the active opposition of the sportsmen's organizations above named to 

 this same program, do not seem to promise unanimity of effort for the 

 future. But it still remains that some of the most important contentions 

 of the group of sportsmen under consideration are of unquestionable value, 

 and merit the support of Audubonites. It is true that the stand of these 

 sportsmen in Illinois and adjoining states in securing the enactment of 

 laws prohibiting the sale of game and limiting the "bag" of the hunter, 

 has been wholly admirable, and has made for the conservation of bird 

 life. They have insisted upon reserving the game for those who hunt it, 

 and who pay license fees to maintain the game departments of the state. 

 Before the sportsmen of Illinois and Missouri made it illegal to sell game 

 in those states, there was considerable rivalry between commission dealers 

 of Chicago and St. Louis as to which city was the greatest game market 

 in the world. 



The sportsmen of the middle west want federal laws restricting the 

 activities of hunters and prohibiting the sale of game, so that in those 

 states which have not yet enacted such laws the wholesale slaughter and 

 shipment of game birds must cease. They claim that the marketmen 

 of the nation congregate in the South when the game birds have arrived 

 there for their winter sojourn, and that these marketmen, together with 

 the wealthy class of citizens that can afford to go there for sport, can 

 kill and ship fowl to those states which permit the importation of game, 

 "when killed in other states," etc. One single shipment of one hundred 

 thousand mallard ducks sent to market, is cited together with the killing 

 of eighty thousand ducks in one single game resort during the federal 

 season. In opposing such conditions, Audubonites and sportsmen may well 

 make common cause. It can be only gratifying to Audubonites that there 

 is no controversy between them and sportsmen's organizations over the 

 principle of bird conservation and it is hoped that they can arrive at some 

 common agreement as to the exact methods of attaining such conservation. 



To promote clearness of statement it should be added that in the 

 controversy over wSpring shooting, organizations of sportsmen of northern 

 Illinois worked aggressively in opposition to the various groups repre- 

 sented by the Illinois Sportsman. The Fish and Game League of Illinois 

 for instance, should be mentioned in this connection as effective sup- 

 porters of the program of the Biological wSurvey. This latter organiza- 

 tion had an important part in the preparation of the present state law re- 

 lating to the sale of game and the limiting of the "bag" of the hunter. 



Congressmen and Audubonites. 



Here is the place to refer to the list of seventeen congressmen from 

 Illinois who were named as friendly to those who opposed the regulations 

 of the Biological Survey. Knowing that one can easily get a great deal of 

 "information that ain't true," the editor of this Bulletin wrote each of 

 the seventeen congressmen for a statement of his position. A few replies 

 have been received to date, which are of value. Doubtless the strenuous 



