.MU'IlUiAN AlDllSON SOCIKTY. 
9 
and the time to devote to the same. The deputy game 
warden claimed to have neither, though apparently appointed 
for this purpose. It was out of the question for a business 
man to travel twenty-five miles and spend a day in securing 
evidence, thence go to Pontiac, make the complaint and re- 
turn to prosecute. This meant from three to four days’ time 
beside the expense. In order to get the public to stand the 
expense the secretary of the Audubon Society wrote to the 
prosecuting attorney (summer of 1904:) at Pontiac, and laid 
the matter before him. No answer was ever received. Mr. 
Fisher, the deputy game warden at Detroit, said that it would 
be useless to appeal to the prosecuting attorney for Oakland 
• county, as he was in league with the sportsmen and had 
previously refused to take action upon complaint. 
As a young man at Pontiac boasted that he had killed 
twenty-three of the blue herons during the season, it seemed 
necessary to take some action or the colony would be oblit- 
erated in another season or two. The secretary made a 
trip to the colony and heard shooting. While there 
he saw two men carrying guns, one had the wings 
of a great blue heron and explained that his mother 
wanted them for dusters. The secretary was about 
fifty yards distant when one of these young men shot 
a heron which flew away quacking and probably died in the 
swamp in which it flew. It left a nest full of young, a few 
seconds before it was shot. These young men were given 
notice of the law and prosecution was threatened. A num- 
ber of farmers were visited, some of them joked about the 
shooting of the ‘‘Sandhill Cranes,” as they called the birds. 
Others said that the acts of not only the young men but 
some of the older men in the community was shameful in 
destroying these harmless creatures. Others said they could 
not see any harm in the boys having a little sport. 
The Audubon officers could see little hope of accomplish- 
ing anything without arousing the public. Public officials 
are influenced by public opinion, and where it has not been 
customary to enforce certain laws, it is difficult for a new 
official to see any reason for him to enforce them when the 
public is indifferent and apparently satisfied with prevailing 
conditions. It takes considerable discussion to arouse him 
