Notes on Legislation 
The United States Biological says a bounty on English 
sparrows has proven futile in the states where tried; has 
led to inhumanity on the part of boys, and a great deal of 
fraud. It should be remembered that death and injury came 
to several boys as the result of the last state bounty law in 
Michigan. Mr. P. A. Taverner, an expert orinthologist of 
Detroit, says that such a law would benefit Ohio, Indiana and 
Canada, as much or more than Michigan, as English spar- 
rows are quick to take up vacant territory and would soon 
flock from the overcrowded districts. The U. S. Department 
of Agriculture says that money spent in a sparrow bounty is 
wasted: 
The meadow lark is sometimes killed as a game bird, but 
under our laws is classed as a song bird, and is absolutely 
protected. Senator Traver says that some sportsmen want 
this bird put on the game list. The U. S. Biological Survey 
has learned from examining the stomachs of the meadow 
larks that it is one of the greatest destroyers of insect pests 
and is worth on the average twelve dollars yearly to the 
farmer. These birds will live probably five or six years, and 
consequently each bird would be worth from sixty to seventy 
dollars to the state. It has been estimated that these birds 
increase the value of the grass crop $336.40 in each town- 
ship of 36 square miles during the grasshopper season. Their 
body is so small as to make them practically useless as food. 
Sportmen say they do not kill this bird for the food but for 
the sport. Such sport is rather expensive to the state. 
Besides the meadowlark is a song bird, and one of the most 
beautiful to look upon. The Audubonists throughout the 
country would protest against putting this bird on the game 
list. 
The legislature should abolish the barbarous practice of 
pigeon shooting from traps. Many states have refused to 
recognize trap shooting of live pigeons as sport, and the 
practice has been abolished in the advanced European coun- 
tries. The contest in trap shooting of pigeons that takes 
