~i5 ie 
URBEC TOLERATES KILLING OF "SNOWBIRDS" FOR FOOD 
On an island near the city of Quebec, St. Jean d'Orlesns, the Quebec Fish and Game 
Authority allows a centuries-old practice to continue. A special "hunting" season 
opens in March, when flocks of Snow Buntings descend on the south shore of this 
tiny island. The fields are baited with seeds scattered around hoop-like traps, 
loosely knotted with a fine string and covered with snow. The strings entrap the 
feet or necks of the birds. A family or neighborhood bec is hold at intervals to 
free the birds from the traps,pluck them, and prepare them for market. Thousands 
of buntings are sold to hotels and restaurants and served to gourmets as "Canada's 
only indigenous dish." Snowbirds appear on menus as ortolans or bruants des neiges. 
One heartening note regarding this hunting of one of our most loved winter birds 
is that the number of farm families dealing in this very local gathering and sale 
of Snow Buntings is dwindling. In ten years the number has declined from 25 to 
just seven families. This is still seven too many. 
A former President of the Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds, Justice 
George H. Montgomery, deplores the practice but admits that it is not illegal. 
For one thing, there is no evidence that the specics is threatened. (This argu- 
ment is more than familiar to Amcrican bird-watchors.) The Migratory Bird Act 
does not cover seed-cating birds - only insectivorous migrants. However, the 
Chipping Sparrow has been added to the protected list, so why not this whitest 
and brightest of the field birds? 
--Excerpts from THE MONTREAL GAZETTE, Canada Weckly, 
april 1963. From Holen McMillen, Evanston, Ill. 



MEMBERS{ PLEASE REPORT YOUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS TO: 

Mr. Paul Schulze, Membership Chairmam 
622 S. Wisconsin Avenue, Villa Park, Illinois 


C.0 Rak. Oriel or Nive PSDIECA GS 
In the June 1963 AUDUBON BULLETIN, your Editor inadvertently retired a 
Director who has not retired in the least. VERNON GREENING of Springfield 
is still very much a member of the I. A. S. Board. However, he has been 
compelled to give up his duties as Chairman of the Extension Committee. 
* * * AUDUBON WILDLIFE FILMS -- 1963-64 *%** 
The complete schedule of dates for our forthcoming series of Audubon Wildlife Films 
to be presented by the I. 4. S. at the Chicago Natural History Museum this fall 
and winter, has already been worked out by the Screen Tours Committee. Official 
programs, giving titles of the films and names of the lecturers, will be mailed to 
all members in about a month. Each lecture will be presented on a Sunday at 2230 
at James Simpson Theater of the Museum, Roosevelt Road and Lake Shore Drive. 

Save these dates: September 29; October 13; November 3; January 5, 1964; March &. 


