BY THE WAYSIDE 
67 
scene of distraction. Even after that 
state passed the model law it was diffi¬ 
cult for wardens to guard the wilderness 
of forest and swamp in which were the 
Heron rookeries. I think that everyone 
must have heard of what went on in 
these places. Hundreds of birds form a 
colony and nest close together. The 
plume hunter may shoot at ease for the 
brave birds will not leave their young. 
The massacre is general; the adults are 
all killed or wounded and their wings 
torn awav and thousands of voting are 
left to starve in their nests. The wardens 
of Florida need courage as well as other 
virtues. In 1905 Guy Bradley, a splen¬ 
did young fellow who had served the 
state faithfully for three years, in spite 
| of threats from plume hunters, was mur¬ 
dered by a man whom he was arresting. 
I Must not this crime, too, b© laid at the 
door of the women who still demanded 
Egret feathers. Our own heronries are 
now nearly exhausted and the business 
has moved to Mexico and Central Amer¬ 
ica, but it is still going on! A recent de¬ 
cision of the Supreme Court makes it 
illegal to sell foreign birds that cannot be 
S killed in the United States, so that we 
may hope that the time is approaching in 
this country at least, when Egret feathers 
will disappear from the head-gear of 
women. We can never protect, by law, 
the birds that do not visit the United 
States, such as the brilliant Parrots, the 
lovely Marabouts, and the Birds-of-Para- 
; dise. 
The history of the Audubon work in 
America would be incomplete without 
some account of the part that has been 
played in it by President Roosevelt. 
Fortunate, indeed, it was, that in this 
:ime of need the man who had the power 
,o act was so broad in his interests and 
<o vigorous in his interpretation of his 
fights and his duties. Month aftermonth 
re has, bv executive order, set aside bird 
•eservations, until from Maine to Florida 
md Texas, and, on the Pacific Coast, from 
Washington and Oregon stretching south¬ 
ward a chain of islands makes a secure 
rreeding place for the birds of the sea. 
[f the Pilot of the Galilean lake, with 
fiis massy keys, is a nature lover, Theo¬ 
dore Roosevelt will need for his passport 
into heaven nothing more than his exec¬ 
utive decrees setting apart forest and bird 
reservations. 
The work of the Audubon Society is 
well begun, but it will not be finished 
until the lesson of protection for all forms 
of harmless and useful animal life has 
been so well learned as to become a part 
of the heritage of coming generations,— 
until no ‘‘bright bird or gentle beast” 
need fear injury at the hands of men. 
Mrs. G. W. Peckham. 
Lecture Work at the Milwaukee Museum. 
Editor of By the Wayside: 
Dear Sir:—In answer to your request 
to write something about our new lecture 
work at the Public Museum. Milwaukee, 
where it touches upon bird matters, I 
may say that we began in September last 
our first full courseofstereopticon lectures 
to the school children of Milwaukee. 
The lectures to the Seventh and Eighth 
grade children, 6,000 in number, make 
mention of birds to a considerable extent; 
to the former on “Conservation in the 
United States” and “The Natural Re¬ 
sources of Wisconsin,” and to the latter, 
“Birds and Insects in Relation to Man,” 
taking up in sufficient detail most of the 
leading reasons for the agitation of Audu¬ 
bon Society matters and the good to the 
farmer from the protection of beneficial 
birds. After the hour’s talk the children, 
who came to us in three groups every 
school day, totaling about 150 to 200 per 
day, are taken by our able Guide on a 
tramp through the Museum to see collec¬ 
tions which will still better illustrate the 
points brought out in the lecture. Sev¬ 
eral other lectures are given to the Fifth 
anc Sixth grades, but the above consti¬ 
tute the chief emphasis placed upon birds. 
At the same time, several examples of 
wrongly made and rightly made and col¬ 
ored bird houses are exhibited to suggest 
to the manual training boys or the chil¬ 
dren with inventive genius what they 
may do to attract birds about their homes 
together with some of the simple things 
they can plant about their homes for food 
plants, as sumach, mulberry, bayberry, 
(Continued on page 68.) 
