220 



RECREATION. 



is beyond the jurisdiction of the Swiss 

 people. In the neighboring section of 

 Northern Italy the inhabitants possess an 

 insatiable mania for the destruction of 

 birds. There the willow wren, hedge 

 sparrow, black cap, swallow, nightingale, 

 in fact all birds of small variety, fall vic- 

 tims to the trap, the net and the gun. As 

 seasons come and go, Swiss birds make 

 their pilgrimage South during the cold 

 weather, returning across the land of 

 Northern Italy and the Swiss canton of 

 Tessin, where they are pursued by the 

 young and the aged of all classes. At 

 Lake Maggiore it is estimated that at 

 least 960,000 feathered songsters are 

 trapped or killed every year; and in the re- 

 gion about Bergamo, Verona, Chiavena and 

 Brescia many millions are indiscriminately 

 slaughtered to satisfy the table and for 

 millinery purposes. One plan that is more 

 destructive than any other is the use of 

 bird lime, which is a certain kind of paste 

 possessing such adhesive qualities that 

 wherever a bird may stop in its flight for 

 rest or food, it is held in helpless captivity. 

 This paste is smeared over the limbs of 

 trees, rocks and even telegraph wires 

 along the line and throughout the districts 

 of bird migration. In one year recently 

 the board of police of Tessin captured and 

 destroyed 13,000 bird traos that had been 

 set to imprison these delicate little fliers. 

 The criminal courts of Tessin have many 

 more bird lav/ violation cases than for- 

 merly, a condition of affairs that has re- 

 sulted in greater severity in meting out 

 suitable or necessary punishments for 

 these offences. Leniency has gradually 

 been replaced by considerable severity in 

 this matter, as the exigencies of the case 

 had assumed serious phases, and more 

 stringent methods were found absolutely 

 necessary. 



One of the disastrous effects of interfer- 

 ing with nature's arrangements for the 

 control of animal life is noted in the his- 

 tory of the mongoose in Jamaica. For 

 generations the natives killed off the 

 natural birds of prey until the cane fields 

 became infested with rodents and snakes 

 to such a degree as to threaten the entire 

 destruction of the sugar cane. To offset 

 this state of affairs the mongoose was im- 

 ported from Africa and domiciled on the 

 island. For some time he was considered 

 a friend of the planter and agriculturist 

 because of his energetic manner of mak- 

 ing war on the rats and snakes that had 

 become such an intolerable nuisance. 

 There is such a thing, however, as being 

 too energetic, which proved to be a fault 

 of the mongoose. When it had destroyed 

 all the rats and snakes it could find, it 

 turned its attention to more toothsome 

 articles of diet. It destroyed young pigs, 



kids, lambs, puppies, kittens, poultry, 

 game birds that nested on or near the 

 ground, eggs, grpund lizards, frogs, tur- 

 tles' eggs and land crabs. It was also 

 known to eat ripe bananas, pineapples,, 

 young corn, pears, sweet potatoes and. 

 other fruits. In the meantime the rats 

 of the country learned a new trick by 

 which they outwitted the mongoose. By 

 taking to the palm trees they could live 

 comfortably on cocoanuts, thereby making 

 the life of the owners miserable in that 

 direction. When the ground nesting birds 

 were destroyed, ticks, that ever present 

 source of annoyance to live stock in warm 

 countries, began to multiply enormously, 

 as their natural enemies, the birds, were 

 no longer present in numbers sufficient 

 to effectually hold them in check. ■ 



Experiments are now being tried to rid 

 the trees of rats by importing hawks and 

 owls; while the ticks are in a fair way 

 of evening up matters by attacking the 

 mongoose. 



Throughout the United States the fight 

 between plumage hunters, wholesale milli- 

 nery and fashion mongers on the one side, 

 and the League of American Sportsmen, 

 the Audubon Societies, scientists and ag- 

 riculturists on the other side, has been 

 fierce. State laws for the protection of all 

 kinds of birds have been enacted, and in 

 turn have been evaded by technicalities, 

 interstate laws, State constitutions, indif- 

 ference of government officials and in a 

 hundred other ways, until the whole 

 country became aroused. The Honorable 

 John F. Lacey consolidated these differ- 

 ent measures in a bill which he introduced 

 in Congress. Through the influence and 

 by the aid of the League of American 

 Sportsmen this bill became a federal 

 statute. It apparently covers the ground, 

 and for the first time in the history of the 

 United States our song birds are ade- 

 quately protected. 



The study of birds and their natural 

 place in the economy of the universe, leads 

 one to continually appreciate their value. 

 Without the protection of birds, insects 

 would destroy every valuable product of 

 the soil to such an extent as to render 

 any country uninhabitable. 



BREEDING QUAILS. 

 A California correspondent recently sent 

 me the following item from a paper: 



One of the interesting sights of Soquel is the 

 collection of birds owned by Walter Welch, the 

 game warden. He has a large array in his yard. 

 The most attractive and beautiful birds are the 

 pheasants, of which he has 7, received from Al- 

 many, Oregon. Adjoining the aviary is a breeding 

 pen, and in it is a nest containing several pheas- 

 ants' eggs. Mr. Welch has 82 quails; also a 

 good collection of Mexican ring doves. 



I thereupon wrote Mr. Welch as follows: 



