236 Wild Bird Guests 



is highly demoraUzing — as much to those who 

 permit the barbarous practice as to the young 

 men who murder the helpless birds for money. 

 Would it not be a noble work for the Boy Scouts, 

 with permission from the authorities, of course, 

 to organize a "first-aid" corps to save the swans 

 wounded by going over Niagara Falls? The 

 Scouts could arrange to patrol the river bank 

 at certain points during the brief period in March 

 when the swans usually come over, take the 

 birds from the water, and convey them to some 

 suitable place where they would have every 

 chance to recover, and later to continue their 

 journey northward. Dead birds, instead of 

 being plucked and eaten, might be sent to mu- 

 seums and to scientific collectors in the United 

 States and Canada to become of permanent value 

 as skins or mounted specimens. Such a corps 

 would set a splendid example, and its work 

 would become widely known. 



Disease 



Individual scientists here and there, though 

 usually hampered by lack of sufficient funds, 

 are doing splendid work in their investigation 

 of the causes of disease in birds and in their 

 search for methods of prevention and cure. 



