60 
BY'THE WAYSIDE 
THE BIRD OF THE MONTH 
The Cowbird 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except 
July and August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin, Illinois and 
Michigan Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year Single copies 5 cents 
Contributions to By the Wayside are invited 
from all lovers of Nature and friends of the 
birds. All communications should be sent to 
Roland E. Kremers, 1720 Vilas St., Madison, 
TIT • 7 5 
VY IS. 
YOUR OPPORTUNITY. 
The new tariff act is being readily 
framed and there is pending before 
Congress, at the suggestion of the New 
York Zoological society, the following 
proposal:— 
“At the end of Sec. No. 438 of the 
new Tariff Law, add the following: 
“Provided, that the importation of 
aigrettes, egret plumes or “osprey” 
plumes and the feathers, quills, heads, 
wings, tails, skins or parts of skins, or 
wild birds, either raw or manufac¬ 
tured, and not for scientific or educa¬ 
tional purposes, is hereby prohibited; 
but this provision shall not apply to 
the feathers or plumes of ostriches, or 
to feathers of domestic fowls of any 
kind.” 
The avowed aim of this proposal is 
the purpose of stopping the “plume 
trade.” The cause for its enactment 
is the rapidly approaching extinction 
of many of the most beautiful birds on 
the earth. The cruelty of the “trade” 
is a byword. It is no legitimate trade 
for it employs the outcasts of civiliza¬ 
tion and savages to do its butchering. 
Such skilled workmen as are employed 
will find positions in the every increas¬ 
ing industry centered about the manu¬ 
facture of ornaments from the feathers 
of domestic fowls We have largely 
prohibited the slaughter of our native 
birds for millinery purposes, why 
should we make the enforcement of 
Law more difficult in other countries 
by keeping our markets open to an eli¬ 
cit trade which we ourselves condemn? 
Write your congressman that you want 
this provision included in the next 
tariff bill,—this is your opportunity. 
Or if you are too busy to write at once, 
clip this and send it with your endorse¬ 
ment. 
Australia has already done what we 
propose. Similar legislation is pend¬ 
ing in Great Britain, and many people 
on the continent are in sympathy with 
the plan. 
Shumway, Ill., April 4, 1913. 
Dear Wayside: 
I would like to write you my notes 
on the Cedar Waxwings. I had long 
wished to see them and to study their 
habits, and so you can imagine my de¬ 
light to see a flock of fifteen or twenty 
cedar waxwings feeding on the last of 
our cherries. They were a little small¬ 
er than a robin and a kind of grayish 
brown in color. Their wings were 
tipped with red and the tail was edged 
with yellow. The breast was a lemon col¬ 
or fading into white. They had a kind 
of insect chirp, like two wires scrap¬ 
ing together. When I approached the 
tree, they left with a loud swish but 
no frightened sound. The waxwings 
stayed a few days feeding on the cher¬ 
ry trees which were quite an attraction 
for the bird neighborhood, but none 
were as welcome to me as the cedar 
waxwings. 
The robins arrived here about a 
month ago and the wrens are already 
singing their cherry song. 
Yours Truly, 
Age 14. Mamie Laue. 
