XXX 



Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 



is this latter view confined to certain classes of our population; very 

 few of our county judges see the use of stringent laws prohibiting 

 the killing of birds, and convictions or judgments are hard to obtain 

 in such courts. Laxity in the enforcement of state laws is the reason 

 why federal laws are more highly respected, because violators brought 

 before federal judges seldom escape severe punishment. 



Formerly it was thought that everybody had a right to kill any 

 wild bird at any time and any place he had a chance to do so. When 

 it became apparent that something had to be done to prevent the 

 threatened extermination of game, the states claimed ownership of 

 all game and wild birds and created laws based on this claim of 

 ownership. By closer scrutiny of the question we find that this claim 

 cannot be satisfactorily established, since with the exception of few 

 species, mainly Quail, Grouse and Turkey, all game birds and nearly 

 all non-game birds are migratory and most of them are only transient 

 visitors in the United States. Ducks, Geese, Snipes and Plovers have 

 their breeding grounds in Canada and spend the winter south of the 

 United States. In fact there are very few wild birds which remain 

 on the same ground the entire year; most of them spend the summer 

 in one state, the winter in another and in traveling to and fro stop 

 temporarily in a number of states on both ways. This forces us to 

 regard migratory birds as guests, not of a county or state, but of the 

 Nation at large. What is true of land birds holds equally good of 

 sea birds, which come to our shores to breed, or fly along our coasts 

 to feed, or visit them temporarily in their migrations. They are as 

 much the guests of the Nation as the inland birds and are entitled 

 to the care and protection of the country at large. A few attempts 

 to protect them on their breeding grounds have been made by the 

 National Association of Audubon Societies, and lately President 

 Roosevelt set aside by executive orders fifty-three parcels of ground 

 used by bird colonies for nesting purposes, chiefly along our coasts — 

 a few in the interior. Valuable as this is, it is not sufficient, for, to 

 preserve these beautiful and interesting creatures for future gener- 

 ations, we have to protect them all the year round from wanton 

 slaughter by the wily plume hunter. This is a very difficult task 

 which the all-powerful National Government only can take upon its 

 shoulders, but a Nation so charitable and humane as that of the 

 United States can ill afford to withhold the largest measure of pro- 

 tection to such defenseless creatures as her feathered wards, the 

 migratory birds. 



The following were elected to membership : Chas. H. 

 Franck, Wm. E. Hoke, C. L. Holman, Geo. E. Kessler, 

 Geo. C. Stinde and Frank C. Thompson. 



March 21, 1910. 



President Trelease in the chair; attendance 30. 



Mr. Julius Hurter gave the life history of the Blind 

 Salamander of Missouri, showing specimens at various 

 stages of development. 



