BY THE WAYSIDE 
19 
“Bradley is a martyr to the cause of 
bird protection,” said William Butcher, 
who is president of the National Associa¬ 
tion of Audubon Societies and who in be¬ 
half of the association has retained State 
Senator Harris of Key West to prosecute 
Smith. “Bradley was noble and brave, 
a lover of birds and an enthusiast in their 
protection.” 
Bradley had been warden of the Nat¬ 
ional association in the southern district 
of Florida since 1902. He was a native 
of Illinois, about 35 years old and a noted 
hunter. His parents settled at Flamin¬ 
go, at the southerly point of Florida years 
ago and his father is the present post¬ 
master at that place. He had a wife 
and two little children. He was recom¬ 
mended for the position of warden in the 
Cape Sable district by Kirk Munroe, a 
vice president of the Florida Audubon 
Society. Ornithologists and members of 
the National association who visited 
Bradlev at various times always returned 
with praise for him, his knowledge and 
love of birds and his fidelity to his work. 
%> 
In his launch, the Audubon, Bradley 
traveled thousands of miles in the wat¬ 
ers around southern Florida in the per¬ 
formance of his duties and was willing to 
undergo any hardship to protect the 
birds. His war against the plume hunt¬ 
ers was unceasing and relentless. They 
regarded him as their deadly foe and fre¬ 
quent threats against his life were made. 
He spoke of these threats to officers of 
the association, but said he did not mind 
them and would go on with his work. 
Tragedy and pathos mark the history 
in recent years of the birds in whose pro¬ 
tection Bradley suffered death. The 
American aigret and the snowy heron, 
both of the same species, and during the 
breeding season beautified by the pretty 
and graceful aigrets so greedily sought 
for by the professional hunter, were once 
numerous along the Atlantic seaboard 
and shores of the Gulf of Mexico. But 
when fashion brought the aigret for 
women’s bonnets into the market the 
work of extermination began. Now the 
birds are found only in the Florida ever¬ 
glades and among some remote islands 
along the shores or the gulf states. Be¬ 
tween the American aigret and the snowy 
heron the only difference is in the size, 
the former being twice as large as the lat¬ 
ter and producing longer plumes. 
Although the laws of Florida and other 
states are severe against the plume hunt¬ 
ers, the dealers of New York and else¬ 
where have constantly offered them in¬ 
ducements to slaughter the birds. In 
1903 New York feather dealers offered 
$23 an ounce for the plumes .—Milwaukee 
Sentinel. 
A Queer Tenant. 
This spring a pair of robins built their 
nest and reared their young sucessfully 
in the corner of the porch under the roof, 
' After a time it was discovered that the 
vacant nest had been appropriated by a 
colony of bumble-bees. They made their 
presence known by angry buzzing when¬ 
ever the post of the porch wasshakened. 
A cautious investigation from the top of 
a step-ladder one evening showed the 
nest filled with dried grass from which 
a few drowsy bees came forth com- 
plainingly. R. M. 
A Few Writers on Birds. 
James Russell Lowell, Henry W. Long¬ 
fellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Alfred 
Tennyson, Celia Thaxter; Henry D. 
Thoreau, Wilson Flagg, D. Lange; Flor¬ 
ence Merrimam, F. Schuyler Matthews, 
W. Hamilton Gibson. Frank Bolles, Olive 
Thorne Miller Ernest Thompson-Seton, 
Bradford Torrey, John Burroughs, Frank 
M. Chapman, John B. Grant, Mabel Os¬ 
good Wright, Elliott Coues. 
