FOREST AND STREAM 
SEPTEMBER, 1917 
406 
lODTO^DAIL ©©IMlMIIlINnr 
on happenings of note in the outdoor world 
THE POSITION OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
AST winter the State of Ohio placed the quail on 
the list of song birds, thereby insuring absolute 
protection. Since then, we have been repeatedly 
asked “Is the Audubon Society opposed to the shooting 
of game birds”; for the action of the Ohio legislature 
has been attributed by some to the work of that 
organization. 
The question raised is of far reaching importance and 
as Forest and Stream is identified with the history and 
work of the Audubon Society, a clear statement on the 
question is of moment to Forest and Stream readers. 
The Audubon Society was organized by Dr. George 
Bird Grinnell, E. R. Wilbur and C. B. Reynolds, of 
Forest and Stream. It was conducted from this office 
and supported by this magazine and its friends for a 
period of four years; since then as the result of able and 
conscientious management of its affairs the Audubon 
Society has become the largest and best financed organi¬ 
zation for the protection of wild birds and animals in 
the world. 
1 o make sure of the Audubon Society’s present atti¬ 
tude toward shooting, especially quail shooting, inquiry 
was made at the headquarters of the National Audubon 
Society, in New York and brought forth the following 
letter from T. Gilbert Pearson, the executive head of the 
Association. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
The National Association of Audubon Societies is not and 
never has been opposed to field sports. At times we have 
advocated a closed season, for a period of years, on some 
game-bird or game-animal that seemed threatened with ex¬ 
termination, in a given part of the country. Thus we worked 
for a closed season on quail for two or five years, at' the 
recent legislation in Ohio. We were rather severely criti¬ 
cised by some prominent sportsmen’s organization of that 
State whose name I have now forgotten, stating that they 
had brought a number of quail into the State and liberated 
them, and they therefore should have the right to shoot. 
I investigated all other reports received, and they showed 
that the quail had not sufficiently increased in numbers dur¬ 
ing the previous closed period to wisely admit of shooting. 
In the midst of this discussion the farmer vote of the Ohio 
legislature took the matter into their own hands, and put 
the quail on the song bird list. That is to say, all shooting 
of this bird in future has been prohibited. So the farmers 
and land owners of Ohio put this law on the statute-book, 
and not the Audubon Society. 
There is a little history I may mention: Of all the States 
but about seven or eight, the laws protecting game-birds, 
and non game-birds, were drawn and advocated by the 
Audubon Society, and in not a single instance did the Audu¬ 
bon Society advise the prohibition of the killing of any 
game-bird. I mention this, as an organization, like indi¬ 
viduals, is best judged by its deeds. 
Yours very truly, 
(Signed) , T. Gilbert Pearson. 
This letter of Mr. Pearson’s is clear and definite. 
Among the officers and directors of the Audubon Society 
are some of the nation’s leading authorities on Natural 
History, men as well who have often enjoyed going 
afield in quest of game. Behind the Audubon Society 
is a long list of achievements in the way of legislation 
foi the protection of game-birds and animals, and those 
birds that are not considered game-birds. It has been 
active in the establishing of a number of game commis¬ 
sions and warden systems, has actively supported federal 
legislation, and contributes annually substantial sums to 
game-piotection organizations, game commissions, and 
otheis in need of funds for the work of game-protection. 
It is a big force, and has done a wonderful work. Every 
true sportsman in America is under obligations to the 
National Association of Audubon Societies, and every 
unprincipled shooter, who masquerades under the name 
of “sportsman,” has in this Society a foe to be feared. 
AN APPEAL TO SPORTSMEN 
N the city of Portland, Oregon, there resides a lovable 
old lady whose hair is whitened by more than four 
score years. She is no other than Mrs. Gertrude 
Jane Denny, the widow of Judge Owen N. Denny, whose 
name is so familiar to all who have made any study of 
the history of the Chinese or Denny pheasant. 
Mis. Denny, who was at one time a lady of great 
piominence, not only in this country, but particularly in 
Ivoi ea and China, known during her husband’s activity 
in the Orient as the Korean “Foreign Queen,” is today 
m such straitened circumstances that her condition is 
very serious; so much so that the sportsmen of the State 
of Oiegon, under the auspices of the Oregon Sports¬ 
men’s League, have undertaken to raise a fund sufficient 
to relieve Mrs. Denny of her embarrassing financial dis¬ 
tress, and to keep her in comfort during her declining 
years. The sportsmen have undertaken this work not 
only as a memorial to the name of Judge Denny, but 
particularly because of a sense of deep gratitude to his 
widow. 
i 
It was while Judge Denny was in the Orient, follow¬ 
ing his appointment during President Grant’s adminis¬ 
tration as Consul General to China, that Mrs. Denny 
induced her husband to ship, entirely at his own expense, 
and to liberate in Oregon, a few of these beautiful birds! 
The birds were not successfully transplanted until the 
second attempt, and then only after Mr. Denny had ar¬ 
ranged for their careful protection upon an island in the 
Columbia River, during such time as they were threat¬ 
ened with extinction. The expense which Judge Denny 
freely assumed was great, amounting to some $3,000. 
Ill health forced the Judge to return to America and 
he died in this country in the year 1900. 
Remittances may be mailed to Dr. E. C. McFarland, 
President of the Oregon Sportsmen’s League, 857 Mor¬ 
gan Building, Portland, Oregon. 
