608 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



to be injurious, they protect at all seasons of the year. 

 Certain game birds, too, that are becoming very scarce 

 are given absolute protection for a term of years and, 

 furthermore, all traffic in feathers is stopped. In back- 

 ward states, however, many birds known to be insectiv- 

 orous are still classed as game, and open seasons on all 

 game are designated regardless of the laws of neigh- 

 boring states. 



Spring shooting, for example, is acknowledged by 





CA.WA^-HAC 



OMlXt, li,\i K 



Since the stopping of spring shooting tjiese ducks, beloved by epicures, are now 

 reappearing on the Chesapeake and are increasing everywhere. There are a 

 few bluebills among the canvas-backs in the photograph. 



every thinking person to have been the chief factor in 

 the very rapid decrease of waterfowl and shorebirds. 

 Ducks mate early in the year, during February or early 

 March at the latest, and when one of a pair is killed the 

 other does not remate and no brood is forthcoming the 

 following season. At best but two birds are secured in 

 the spring instead of five or ten in the fall. To say the 

 least, it is very poor economy and when added to it, the 

 birds are disturbed on their nesting grounds during April, 

 and perhaps, do not breed at all, no thinking person should 

 indulge in spring shooting. 



With the abolishing of spring shooting in most states, 

 there immediately occurred a great increase in all species 

 of ducks ; likewise shorebirds and some, notably the wood 

 duck, woodcock, curlews and upland plover, were act- 

 ually saved from extermination. Ponds that had not seen 

 ducks for years again teemed with them, and hunting 

 grounds that had been abandoned again gave good sport. 

 In spite of this manifest improvement, however, we find, 

 as late as 1915, some state laws still permitting the shoot- 

 ing of waterfowl until the middle of April, and when a 

 revision of the Federal Statutes was called for, these 

 states were insistent upon this privilege. One of the 

 greatest difficulties that conservation workers have met 

 in trying to establish model game laws has been the 

 jealousy aroused by the laws permitting spring shooting 

 in neighboring states. As long as any state permits 

 spring shooting, the adjacent states will not be satisfied 

 without it, because of the fact that waterfowl are migra- 

 tory and the very birds that they are protecting on Mon- 

 day may be shot on Tuesday if they fly across the border. 



If all game and insectivorous birds were permanent 

 residents, like the grouse and the quail, state laws would 

 be sufficient, because no one would sutfer except the 

 makers of the laws, and if the people of a state wished 

 to exterminate their song and game birds, they would be 

 despoiling only themselves. But when we know that the 

 majority of birds are migratory and can be said to belong 

 to no state in particular, an entirely different problem pre- 

 sents itself. It becomes necessary for the Federal Gov- 

 ernment to step in. 



To be more concrete, the people of North Dakota 

 might claim that the mallard ducks belong to them be- 

 cause they breed about their lakes and consume the wild 

 rice of their marshes. The people of Louisiana, how- 

 e\ cr, with equal justice could claim the same birds, be- 



I'lii-; BL.Ai k-iu-;llied plover 



These birds were threatened with extermination but are now increasing. A flock 

 of a dozen on a bar at the north end of Cayuga Lake, New York. A few years 

 ago it was e.xceptional to see more than two or three together. 



cause from October until l''ebruary they are consuming 

 the duck potatoes of their lagoons. The citizens of the 

 intervening states have some claim, likewise, because for 

 a month or two in the fall and spring, while the mallards 

 are passing between their breeding and wintering grounds, 

 they stop in their ponds and feed upon their property. 

 Now if the people of North Dakota should see fit to reap 

 the harvest of their ducks in summer and thereby exter- 

 minate them, they would at the same time be exterminat- 

 ing the ducks of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas 

 and Nebraska. 



In a similar way, the people from New Jersey to 

 South Carolina can declare the " ricebirds " feeding about 

 their marshes to be injurious and slaughter them by thou- 

 sands. But for every " ricebird " that is killed the people 

 of New York and New England lose one bobolink from 

 their clover fields. 



Realizing this, conservationists have gradually come to 

 the conclusion that the game of a country belongs to the 

 people as a whole rather than to the individual states, as 

 was formerly believed, at least in so far as migratory 

 species are concerned, and for the last twelve years they 

 have been trying to bring this realization to the country 

 at large. Ever since 1904 bills have been brought into 



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