We are glad to reproduce here an open letter written to him by Doctor William F. Blackman, President of the Florida State Audubon Society:
“Dear Sir: As a tarpon fisherman, holding the record in a recent year for the largest fish taken in the state, I was much interested in your article in the February Issue of Scribner’s Magazine, on ‘Tarpon Fishing at Bocagrande.’ But when you told your readers that you and your companions beguiled your leisure, on this occasion, by ‘potting with a Winchester .22’ at the Gulls, Man-o’-wars, Pelicans, and skimming Swallows which surrounded your boat, you surprised and pained and disgusted me beyond words.
“You doubtless knew that all these birds are protected by the laws of Florida, and some of them by the Federal laws also; your action was deliberately criminal; it was also unspeakably puerile, wanton, cruel, and vulgar.
“The citizens of Florida welcome tourists from other states; we are happy to share our excellent fishing and shooting with them within legal and decent limits, which, I am glad to say, the great majority of those who sojourn among us carefully and cheerfully observe; but we do not propose to allow our plumage and insectivorous birds to be slaughtered to provide fun for thoughtless and reckless gunners whether residents or visitors.
“You are too foxy to say whether you yourself succeeded in killing any of these birds, but I hereby give you notice that if you ever again set foot on our soil, and I am apprised of the fact, I shall see that you have an opportunity to tell your story in the courts. If proof can be had of your personal guilt, you will be punished to the full limit of the law, in both the state and federal jurisdictions, for a misdemeanor so unsportmanlike and inexcusable.”
A FEEDING-SHELF FOR BIRDS ERECTED BY JUDGE HARRY L. CRESWELL, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN