Mr. William L. Finley, President of the Society, and the Pacific Coast field-agent for the National Association, in company with Mrs. Finley, has this spring been spending several weeks in the East, where he has been constantly engaged in giving lectures illustrated with moving pictures of sea-birds, Sage Grouse, sea-lions, cougars, black bears, antelopes, and other interesting forms of western wild life.
Work Along Columbia River
The Federation of Women’s Clubs in the State of Washington has been notable among such organizations for that practical interest in bird-life which arises from an appreciation of their usefulness as well as their beauty. It has recently testified to this most substantially by becoming a member of this Association. Last year, and to a less extent in the previous year, the Federation was represented largely at the State Fair by an exhibition that was called the “Bird Court,” in which all sorts of ornithological things were displayed to great advantage. The success of these exhibitions was due largely to the wisdom and energy of Mrs. G. R. Pike, of North Yakima, who has been indefatigable in her efforts to spread the study of birds in the schools. She has been traveling and lecturing throughout the state for some time, under the auspices of the State Federation, which has supported this agency generously. The National Association has coöperated in all these matters, and feels that it is abundantly rewarded by results. It has now enabled Mrs. Pike to extend her work, and it anticipates still larger results in the organization of Junior Classes, and in the stimulation of a general interest in the cause throughout the Columbia Valley.
Feather Importation In Canada
It may not be generally known to the readers of Bird-Lore that, immediately following the passage of the Tariff Act in Washington, on October 3, 1913, which prohibited the importation of feathers to this country, the Canadian Parliament, largely through the efforts of Dr. C. Gordon Hewitt, passed a somewhat similar measure. The Canadian law prohibits the importation of:
“Aigrettes, Egret plumes, or so-called Osprey plumes, and the feathers, quills, heads, wings, tails, skins, or parts of skins, of wild birds, either raw or manufactured; but this provision shall not come into effect until January 1, 1915, and shall not apply to the feathers or plumes of Ostriches; the plumage of the English Pheasant and the Indian Peacock; the plumage of wild birds ordinarily used as articles of diet; the plumage of birds imported alive, nor to specimens imported under regulations of the Minister of Customs for any natural-history or other museum, or for educational purposes.”
Allan Brooks a Soldier
Allan Brooks, the artist, many of whose colored pictures of birds have appeared in Bird-Lore, is with the English Army “somewhere in France.” In the summer of 1915 he wrote the office that he would not be able to do further work for the Association for some time, as he was going to Europe to study. Almost immediately after his arrival in England war broke out. He at once returned to Canada and enlisted in a company at his home in British Columbia. He has been promoted from the rank of Lieutenant to that of Captain. Last December, when Captain Brooks had attained the distinction of the longest continuous trench service of any officer of the Canadian army, he was offered a more restful position behind the lines, but he declined it.
In a letter received by one of his friends a short time ago he stated that he had thus far escaped injury with the exception of deafness in one ear, as a result of a shell-explosion; and that, if he survived the war, he would return to America and hoped to paint better pictures than before.
Deer-Killing Dogs