343 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



little hairy things. Its particular food that it likes especially, is 

 the hairy caterpillar. It is almost the only one of the birds that 

 will eat those caterpillars, and I have been interested there in Wash- 

 ington to see how the habits of the bird has changed owing to an 

 incursion of these caterpillars. The cuckoo is naturally a very 

 retired bird, found out in the thick woods, but of late years the 

 maple trees in the city of Washington have been attacked by the 

 Tussock moth and the cuckoo has come out of the woods and come 

 into town to eat those caterpillars of the Tussock moth, and we 

 lind them more commonly around the streets of Washington than 

 I have ever seen them anywhere out in the woods. 



1 said in the beginning that persons had become convinced that 

 birds were not receiving the protection that they deserve, that pro- 

 tection under the State laws was not sufficient and that it was 

 necessary to get Federal law on the subject. The agitation for this 

 began several years ago and as soon as the campaign was fairly 

 under way the people in charge of it were quite surprised to find 

 that a large part of the gunners of the United States came over 

 to their side. They had taken it for granted that they would have 

 to tight against the hunting part of the community, but the hunters 

 had awakened to the fact that the game birds were becoming les- 

 sened in number; the wood duck was one of the ducks, one of the 

 game birds, that showed most conclusively that the laws were not 

 strict enough, and so by the help of the gunners they were able 

 to get through this Federal law. 



The woodcock was another of the game birds which showed a 

 very alarming diminution in number. This picture of the wood- 

 cock on its nest was taken at Washington. A man of my acquaint- 

 ance found the nest, and by approaching very carefully, without 

 alarming the bird, was able to walk up to the nest and stoop down 

 and stroke the back of the sitting bird, while another friend took 

 the photograph. So you can see what a very persistent sitter the 

 woodcock is when the eggs are very near hatching. 



When this Federal Game Law passed^ it was almost the last 

 official act done by President Taft, the signing of that Migratory 

 Game Bird Law, just a few hours before he went out of office. 

 That law covered migratory birds. It was found that Congress 

 could not pass any other kind of a law. A bird which lived all 

 the time within the boundaries of a state had been declared by the 

 highest Court over and over again to be the property of that state 

 and not subject to Congressional action, so that the only kind of 

 a law which Congress could pass was one that would have effect 

 on the migratory birds, those which passed from state to state, 

 both in the game birds and the insectivorous birds. It happened 

 that the carrying out of the provisions of that law was put in 

 the hands of the Department of Agriculture, and I was one of the com- 

 mittee and still am, that has charge of the carrying out of the pro- 

 visions of that law, and one of the first things we had to do after that 

 law was passed was to find out what birds would come under the pro- 

 visions of that law, what birds were migratory and what birds 

 were not, and that has occupied quite a little of my time for the 

 last two years. 



The bird on the screen here now, the cardinal, is one of the best 

 examples of an absolutely non-migratory bird. You do not have it 



