206
Of course, ignorance of the law is held to be no excuse for breaking it but this is one of many cases of legal injustice cieties have tried posting the game-laws
Various so»
broadcast on trees, fences and in country stores, usually printed in English, occasion- ally in Italian, the most frequent result be- ing that in a few weeks they are either torn down or overshadowed by tlte latest poster advertising a county fair or a political rally. I aln fltlly convinced that individual effort in this matter will do much more than indiscriminate posting.
Here in Connecticut we now have a law constituting every man his own constable where trespass on his land is concerned, thus rende g practical the ancient law against general trespass. which was perforce a dead letter, All states do not have this law, but equal results could be attained, as far as hird protection is concerned, it every
owner of either a garden plot or an exten~ Sit'e farm alike would not only keep their grounds thoroughly posted on the roadside insidt: of the fence, where to remove the poster would be a trespass in itself. but also scatter the posters through remoter parts of wood lots and private lanes. where they would be seen by those avoiding highway publicit Then, after this is done. offen- may he brought justly to justice. I am convinced that if half a dozen lanthowners
der:
in every community would do this, a chain could he formed that would soon bind an entire state.
An Audubon Society may print a thou- sand or twot-opies of the game-lawson stout muslin and see that they are distributed and lacked up along highways, but r they are pulled down almost immediately they ltave merely their labor for their pains. If, how- ever, individuals could have these posters on application and take personal interest in their preservation and renewal, the result would be very different. AI, . it has been recently suggested by one high in authority, as well as in the knowledge of bird protec- tion, that it maybe sometimes possible to persuade a general contractor or section foreman of a railroad to read and emphasize the bird-laws to the gangs of foreigners hey employ.
Given a poster printed in
Bird- Lore
scholastic Italian, how much does it mean to those accustomed to a local patois, and when the unfamiliar names of our birds are added, what can Giaonto of the railway ditch make of the thing?
A few days ago an intelligent woman tvho has traveled much said to me: “I know that the Italian and Slavs seem lawless and kill birds indiscriminately, httt for this we are responsible, not they, lntltefitstplace, they are not thoroughly informed, and, in the second, to get out to the woods for amusement is one of the few cheap pleasures this country offers foreigners who come from lands where, if bread is scarcer. amusement is there plentiful, We must teach them, antl tlo it tactfully. for I have this season seen almost a race-riot started by the arrest of an alien for ta g shoreahirds' eggs from nests in a sand-barren. when the whole outraged attitude of the man showed that he was unconscious of wrongdoing."
'I‘ruly it is not enough to make the laws, The illiterate foreign public are our charge for instruction in this. as in the matter of general education: and, while we are sending out free libraries to interest school children in the birds theln~ selves. it would be well—since posters are often forbidden in school buildings~to send to each school teacher who circulates a library a pocket copy of the Bird Laws, with a re- quest to read tlte same intelligently to her In our winter meditations and heart- felt dreams of do for bird protection "when the nestingseason opens," let us remember that for the protectionist there is nu closed season when he has tothresh out the problem of informing the stranger nn his country's gales.~Ma o. w.
or to enforce them.
class. what we will
Reports of Societies
Report of the Audubon Society of the District of Columbia for 1903
This society was organized for the study and protection of birds, Under the heading of study. the work accomplished has been through lectures, meetings for members, held -monthly, field meetings, and classes for the instruction of teachers. conducted by
