132 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 23, 1910. 
less thousands of dog-tooth violets, bluets, 
Dutchman’s breeches and hearts-ease. Richly 
colored trilliums were numerous. But this was 
dog-tooth violet day and they certainly were 
responding; the Easter lily was on time! 
High in the elms golden-crowned and ruby- 
crowned kinglets were catching insects then ac¬ 
tive. White-throats were contentedly twittering 
and scratching among the dry leaves. 
While lying flat on our backs, watching the 
actions of a new warbler which I am sorry to 
say we were unable to identify, a flock of mal¬ 
lards whirred overhead, circled, recircled, finally 
dropped in a distant bayou. Titmice were un¬ 
usually noisy. Their calls, “Peter, peter, peter, 
peter,’’ were heard on all sides. A friend had 
fj 
told of his having reproduced their calls and 
thereby brought them within a few feet of him. 
We tried this experiment and were much grati¬ 
fied to hear answering calls that each time were 
nearer and nearer. Finally several birds were 
directly overhead. Chickadees, too, were numer¬ 
ous and somewhat excited. 
A four-foot water snake frightened 11s by 
rattling dry leaves with his tail. He carried 
relations too far when he showed fight. 
During the day we met with the following 
larger birds: Bluejay, robin, cowbird, red-wing, 
bronzed grackle and mourning dove. A flock of 
vultures seemed particularly interested in some¬ 
thing upon a certain hilltop. Five species of 
woodpeckers were seen—downy, redhead, hairy, 
red-bellied and flicker. Phoebes and meadow¬ 
larks were abundant. 
Night was fast approaching and wc must leave 
the woods which were becoming dark and quiet. 
Crows were leisurely returning to their favorite 
roosting places and the vesper sparrow’s wild 
high-pitched voice bade us adieu as we returned 
across the meadows. A. F. S. 
Big Game Measurements. 
The time is now at hand when big-game 
hunters are making their plans for the autumn 
campaign. Some men feel a great need for a 
Maine moose, others are going to Newfound¬ 
land for the big caribou, while in other parts 
of the land deer, elk or mountain sheep beckon 
the hunter to enormous exertion, which success 
will amply repay. 
In these days people no longer start out and 
kill something merely to eat it. The flesh is 
the smallest part of success in hunting. It is 
the trophy that the city man thinks about. He 
likes to look up at the spreading shovels of the 
big moose head that hangs upon his wall, or to 
think of the sensations that he felt when he 
peeped over the rocks and saw standing or lying 
within easy rifle shot the great ram, of whose 
curving horns he is still so proud. In these 
days we measure our heads by inches and points, 
and it was in order that there might be an es¬ 
tablished standard for measuring American big 
game ’that the Measurement Committee of the 
Boone and Crockett Club some years ago pre¬ 
pared its game book. 
It was compiled by J. H. Kidder, whose great 
experience in Alaska is so interestingly told of 
in “American Big Game in Its Haunts.” Few 
men of late years have had so much hunting 
experience in a wholly wild region. The book 
is handsome, useful, durable, and big-game hun¬ 
ters who are going afield should study it and 
provide themselves with material for measuring 
the trophi'es which they secure. The book and 
the steel tape weigh scarcely anything and may 
be carried in the pocket. 
Shall We Lose the Birds? 
Montreal, Can., July 7. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: An exceedingly strange and interest¬ 
ing feature of the recent aviation meet in Mon¬ 
treal was the complete exodus of birds of every 
description from the vicinity of the meet. Farm¬ 
ers for miles around declare that during the ten 
days the flying machines were dominating the 
air there was an absolute and uncanny absence 
of every kind of bird life. This absence was 
the more marked in the early hours of the morn¬ 
ing; except for the lowing of cattle the silence 
of death reigned. Even the bold and thieving 
crow fled to parts where monstrous and fantastic 
shapes, with a human shape in their vitals, did 
not rush to dizzy heights and then come to earth 
again with terrifying whirr and beat. 
That brigand of the air, the hawk, also ex¬ 
hibited equal fear and dread of the new deni¬ 
zens of the air, for not a single one of them 
was seen while the meet lasted. Even domestic 
fowls shared in the general terror. No sooner 
would one of the planes be seen throbbing sky¬ 
ward than the hen would utter strident and 
warning cries to her brood. A rush, little chirps 
of terror and her family was under her wing. 
Did the hen think the plane was some new 
species of stupendous hawk? Time and obser¬ 
vation alone can answer. One thing the meet 
has proven beyond refutation, and that is, for 
some reason or other, everything that flies in 
the form of bird life wings away in affright 
from this new invention of man’s. 
His future domination of the air raises many 
interesting conjectures. As he rushes through 
space to distant cities, and even far-off countries, 
will flying things still continue their fear of him? 
If the answer is in the affirmative—and it is to 
be feared it will be—the time is not far distant 
when only in the most remote places will bird 
life be found. It must be remembered that all 
wild animals give way before human approach. 
Species after species has died out, while legis¬ 
lators are passing laws everywhere in the hope 
of preventing still further extinction. And now 
bird life is to be invaded* 
One can picture to himself the hordes of 
ducks, bluebills and goldeneyes in lakes St. 
Peter, St. Louis and St. Francis being hunted 
from an aeroplane. At the present time these 
feathered tribes are almost inaccessible of ap¬ 
proach, as they seek their food far out from the 
shore on battures most difficult of access. It is 
undoubtedly this precaution on their part that 
has preserved them in such vast numbers up to 
our day. But what would be the situation if 
planes could hunt them on the wing? It would 
simply mean that no flying thing would be in¬ 
vincible, and the sportsman’s paradise would 
soon be a thing of history. It is true that human 
progress cannot be stopped even if all bird life 
disappears, but at the same time it gives one a 
creepy feeling to think of a world where the 
“people of the air” can never be seen or heard 
unless in cages. The time is not far distant 
when entirely new rules and regulations regard¬ 
ing the protection of birds will have to be passed 
by the Government of countries. Rene Bauset. 
Lunch to William Butcher. 
On Thursday, July 14, a number of ornitholo¬ 
gists and persons interested in matters zoological 
entertained at luncheon at the' City Lunch Club, 
William Dutcher, president of the National As¬ 
sociation of the Audubon Societies. Mr. Dutcher 
has just returned from Europe, where he had 
gone to attend the Ornithological Congress re¬ 
cently held in Berlin. The lunch was in the 
nature of a welcome from his friends and also 
for the purpose of announcing to him the foun¬ 
dation by the subscriptions of persons interested 
in his work of the Mary Dutcher Memorial 
Fund, the income of which is to be devoted to 
Audubon work. 
Mr. Dutcher spoke interestingly of the prog¬ 
ress made at the Congress in respect to bird pro¬ 
tection and declared that fourteen governments 
would be asked to pass laws preventing the sale 
and use of bird plumage in millinery. Resolu¬ 
tions were offered at the Congress to be sub¬ 
mitted to various governments, calling for action 
to limit the import and the export of bird plum¬ 
age. It is hoped that such laws will be passed 
as will check the smuggling of bird skins and 
plumes from, the countries which do not join in 
the international movement for bird protection. 
A deep general interest was felt, said Mr. 
Dutcher, by all the 200 delegates in attendance 
at the Congress and all promised to bring every 
possible argument to bear on their governments. 
He said: 
“As a member of the international committee 
I shall submit to the United States Government 
the recommendations that are to be laid before 
thirteen other world powers. There are six 
recommendations in all, but the two most im¬ 
portant deal with legislation against the use of 
plumage for millinery decoration. We intend to 
urge the enactment of a non-export and a non¬ 
import law covering the traffic in bird plumage. 
In most cases, the non-export law would be 
sufficient. But in order to prevent smuggling, 
we believe a non-import law will be necessary. 
“It was the sense of the 200 delegates that the 
Governments should unite in putting a stop to 
the traffic in bird plumage, but we also agreed 
that questions of bird protection should be left 
to each country to settle for itself. From what 
I was able to observe, the sentiment of Northern 
European countries, Switzerland and Germany 
was in favor of international suppression. France 
appeared to be the least enthusiastic.” 
At the luncheon were Dr. H. C. Bumpus and 
Frank Chapman, of the American Museum of 
Natural History; Dr. T. S. Palmer, of the Bio¬ 
logical Survey, Washington, D. C.; W. T. Horn- 
aday, of the New York Zoological Society; L. A. 
Fuertes, the bird painter; E. H. Forbush, of Bos¬ 
ton; W. W. Grant, S. T. Carter, A. Wagstaff 
and many others. 
The changed condition in the American export 
trade in cage birds is commented on by W. E. 
Teschemaker: 
“Since the passing of the last protection act, 
practically no birds from the States have ap¬ 
peared in the market, except a few Virginia 
cardinals which, as one importer puts it, has been 
‘slyed across.’ ” 
Most of these cardinals probably came from 
Mexico. 
