xii BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Birds vary greatly in the extent of their natural range and here again comparison may 

 be made between the California Vulture and the Robin ; the one ranging in suitable localities 

 from southern Florida to Alaska, the other being restricted to the California mountains. 

 The bird of greatest range in the world is the Arctic Tern, which in the northern summer 

 haunts the North American coastline from Maine to the Arctic seas, and during our winter 

 feeds along the shores of the Antarctic continent. Most birds have a much more restricted 

 range and but few are found in every state. Some species occur only along the Pacific coast, 

 others only in the northeastern States and Canada, and still others are confined to the south 

 Atlantic and Gulf States. 



The earlier legislative enactments for bird-protection in the United States dealt almost 

 entirely with game-birds. So persistently was this class of birds shot, trapped, and netted 

 after the coming of the Europeans, that it soon became apparent that restrictive measures 

 must be taken if some of the more popular game-birds were to be preserved for posterity. 

 These laws at first were quite amateurish, but as a result of experience they later were estab- 

 lished along certain definite lines, viz., first, those setting aside certain seasons of the year 

 when the birds could be killed, the idea of this being to afford them protection during the 

 period of incubation and caring for the young; second, forbidding certain methods of capture 

 as for example " fire lighting " at night, netting, and shooting into flocks with large swivel 

 guns; and, third, limiting the number that might be taken in a day or season. 



It was found that the ordinary civil officers could not, or would not, enforce the game 

 laws satisfactorily, hence there soon developed a plan of employing special state officers 

 known as game wardens whose specific duty it was to see that the laws protecting birds and 

 game were observed. In order to raise funds for the employing of these officers and also 

 to increase the restrictions on gunners the custom arose of requiring hunters' license fees 

 of all who desired to kill these State assets. These fees run from one dollar to three dollars 

 for a resident of the State and from five to seventy-five dollars for a non-resident of the 

 State. This hunting license fund in some of the larger States at times amounts to $200,000 

 or more annually. 



It was not until about the middle eighties that public attention was drawn strongly to 

 the desirability of preserving that group of birds usually referred to as " non-game birds." 

 By a campaign of education the Audubon Society, first formed at that time, began to edu- 

 cate the public sentiment on the subject with the result that the law usually known as the 

 Audubon Law and which has for its purpose the protection of this large group of birds, has 

 been enacted in the Legislatures of all the States with the exception of six. By the enact- 

 ment of the Federal Migratory Bird Law on March 4, 1913, a provision protecting these 

 birds was created which covers the United States. On December 10, 1916, a treaty between 

 this country and Great Britain was ratified, which extends protection to non-game birds in 

 the Dominion of Canada. 



The best place to study wild birds is on a Bird Reservation for here the birds have 

 greatly lost their fear of man, and primitive conditions, so far as the birds are concerned, 

 have thus largely been restored. In one of the protected sea-bird colonies of North Carolina 

 I have photographed Royal Terns standing unafraid on the sands not twelve feet distant. 

 They had become so accustomed to the warden in charge that they had regained their 

 confidence in man. At Lake Worth I saw a man feed Scaup Ducks that swam to within 

 two yards of his boat. In thousands of door-yards throughout the country wild birds, won 

 by kind treatment, now take their food or drink within a few feet of their human protec- 

 tors. This is because the door-yards have been made little bird reservations. I have a number 

 of friends who regularly feed Chickadees in winter as the birds perch on their outstretched 

 hands. It is astonishing how quickly wild creatures respond to a little reasonable treat- 

 ment, as may readily be learned by any householder who will try the experiment. With a 

 little patience any teacher may instruct her pupils in the simple art of making the birds 

 feel at home in the vicinity of the school-house. 



