The New Student's Reference Work/Audubon Societies

Audubon Societies, organizations formed in over thirty states of the American Union, with about 75,000 members, for the study as well as the protection of bird-life. These societies have waged their battle for birds along many lines and with gratifying results. Through their literature and through the newspaper and magazine press they have awakened a wide interest in behalf of the birds, they have enlightened the public in regard to the æsthetic and economic value of birds; they have enlisted the interest of teachers in the public schools and through them have created in the minds of the young a love of birds and bird-lore; they have secured the enactment of laws forbidding the slaughter of birds and have practically stopped the trade in bird plumage. In cooperation with the federal government they have purchased and set aside as refuges, safe from depredation, many of the islands used as breeding places by various species of sea-fowl along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and in certain points in Oregon and Washington. A warden is placed in charge of each of these whose business it is to patrol the refuge and see that the birds are protected from trespassers. In order that he may have the prestige and authority of a government officer, the federal government pays him a salary of one dollar a month, but his real salary is paid by the Audubon societies. Pelican Island, in Florida, the first bird reservation, was set aside by proclamation of the president in March, 1903. This island is the only known breeding place for brown pelicans on our Atlantic coast, and the colony had been almost exterminated when the government interfered. Here and in other reservations where many species of wild fowl, including grebes, coots, rail, white ibises, egrets, heron, etc. make their winter homes, these beautiful birds are now rapidly increasing in number. Much similar work is carried on by state organizations. In Louisiana the state Audubon Society controls 750 square miles of land and water on the east side of the Mississippi River near its mouth and a similar tract of territory on the west side. Massachusetts, New Jersey and other states have secured extensive tracts in which wild birds are to be protected. It is probable that ere long similar action will be taken by every state in the Union.

In 1903 the Audubon Societies east and west secured agreements with the Merchants' Millinery Association and the Western Jobbers' Association whereby the sale of the plumage of wild birds was discontinued. It is stated on the authority of the government Bureau of Ornithology that bird life in this country, which during the fifteen years preceding 1903 had been reduced fifty per cent. by the merciless slaughter of birds for their plumage, is now slowly but steadily on the increase, thanks to the vigorous legal measures and the awakening of public sentiment which have resulted from the work of the Audubon Societies.