22 



LEGISLATION EOR THE PROTECTION OE BIRDS. 



ROBINS. 



In some sections of the South, particularly in New Orleans, all kinds 

 of small birds, even thrushes, are considered legitimate game, and are 

 offered for sale in the markets. According to Prof. H. Nehrling, 

 "one main cause of the fearful decrease of our small migratory birds 

 must be looked for in our Southern States. There, millions of all 

 kinds of birds are killed to satisfy the palate of the gourmand. * * * 

 There is scarcely a hotel in New Orleans where small birds do not 

 form an item on the bill of fare. At certain seasons the robin, wood 

 thrush, thrasher, olive-backed thrush, hermit thrush, chewink, flicker, 

 and many of our beautiful sparrows form the bulk of these victims; 

 but cat-birds, cardinals, and almost all small birds, even, swallows, can 



-zstttz^--— 



FlG. 7.' — Robin (Mwula migratoria) . 



be found in the markets." 1 Mr. Andrew Allison, of Now Orleans, 

 gives similar testimony: "In the fall migrations, when all the migrants 

 are literal butter-balls, appalling numbers of cat-birds, wood thrushes, 

 red-eyed vireos, king birds, tanagers, and in fact any easily -shot birds 

 are killed * * * near the coast towns. Wood thrushes and cat- 

 birds are more persecuted than any other, under the name of grasse, 

 and many are sent to the markets here in September and October." 1 

 Robins (Iferula migratoria — fig. 7) are perhaps more generally killed 

 than any of the other thrushes, and in some States their killing is 

 legalized at certain seasons — for example, in North Carolina, from 

 October 15 to April 1. A few years ago large numbers of robins were 



^ee W. T. Homaday, 2d Ann. Rept. N. Y. Zool. Soc, p. 86, 1898. 



