The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-01-22
GAME CENSUS MOVE,
Audubon SoOiety's Plan to Ascer'
tain Amount Hunters KiIL
SPoRTSMEN ARE INTERESTED

Purpese 10 to Find Out How Fas'
Birds and Animals Are Being E>
tsrninated-Attempt TO BE Made Z
All Legislatures to Get Laws Per-
mittins q Count.
To measure the contents Of Uncle
Sans game bag during the new yeaI
Is the object Of a concerted effort In
which sportsmen from every section Of
the United States and the National AS
sociation Of Audubon Societies IN New
York city are joining hands. 1t is pro
posed that detailed records of each
days shoot be secured from every true
sportsman and required by law Of
every one else in all states where the
Audubon and sporting interests car
obtain the necessary legislation. I'm
less the annual inroads upon the rap
idly decreasing game Of America are
thus determined, so the leaders Of the
new movement declared the other day
shooting as a healthful recreation will
soon be killed In almost every region
Of the continent.
That the health, crops and woods, as
well as the sport, Of many extensive
localities are today seriously menaced
by the threatened extinction of game
birds will be demonstrated through the
latest scientific Investigations by gov,
ernment authorities at Washington
Waterfowl and shore birds will be
shown in their natural capacity Of de.
stroying the anopheles mosquito, as
well as many other recognized disturb.
ers Of deadly germs. Gulls and many
other varieties of sea and inland water
birds will be proved by ornithological
experts to be wholesale destroyers OF
grasshoppers and multitude Of the in.
forest loss Of nearly a billion dollars,
or more than the entire national debt,
according to the most recent calcula.
lions Of the government bureau Of en-.
tomology. The case Of Salt Lake City,
whose people have erected monument
to the gulls that saved all their crops
from destruction by an insect plague,
will also be cited.
In every one Of the forty-four state
legislatures which convene in the new
year special efforts will be made to OBJ.
tain legal provision for this game
census, says the New York Post
Where a hunters license law is al
ready in force the addition of a law
to enforce the recording Of all game
birds and animals shot will be urged
1t is proposed, in order to protect the
true sportsmen and to detect market
hunters, to punish failure to report the
seasons shoot by forfeiture Of II
cense and false returns by proceeding
as against perjury. Special blanks fol
the purpose are being prepared. as ar
attachment to all hunters license cards
When the purpose and necessity Of
this widespread checking up Of the
nations game bag are realized by the
people at large, the labor Of com
piling the records Of the individual
prowess Of millions of hunters will be
begun. In this gigantic task the Off
GERS Of the National Association Of
Audubon Societies have been prom
ised the hearty assistance of the di
rector of the national conservation
commission, Of which their organiza
tion has become coordinate branct
by special invitation Of the author
tiles at Washington. This conserva
tion movement they will forward a,
one Of their principal activities for the
new year, together with their regular
work Of education, bird care on reser
vations and legislative campaigning
for general bird protection.
"The conservation Of the dying race.
Of the game birds and animals Of thii
continent is an object for which W.
are finding every true sportsman ready
and eager to cooperate" said william
butcher, president Of the National As
ISOLATION Of Audubon Societies, at itl
headquarters In New York city thu
other day. "The proposed census II
the only sure way Of determining tn,
extent Of the existing commercial bird
butchery and the means to check 1t
Though we shall, of course, have tt
fight the organized and financially pow
erful market hunters at every step to
ward this end, feel sure that the sup
port Of the sportsmen will help u.
greatly and that we may rely upol
the support Of every patriotic Amer
lean as well. The whole public deb
Of this nation has just been reported
as $997 ,349, ,751. With known annua
loss of many millions more than thii
due to the growing inroads Of the in
sects which our game birds destroy,
do not think Americans can ignore thii
subject much longer"