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Bird - Lore 



permanently the entire year within the 

 borders of any state or territory, shall 

 hereafter he deemed to be within the 

 custody and protection of the government 

 of the United States, and shall not be 

 destroyed or taken contrary to regulations 

 hereinafter provided for. 



"Sec. 2. That the Department of .A.gri- 

 cuhure is hereby authorized to adopt suit- 

 able regulations to give effect to the 

 previous section by prescribing antl fixing 

 closed seasons, having due regard to the 

 zones of temperature, Ijreeding habits, and 

 times and line of migratory flight, thereby 

 enabling the de])arlment to select and 

 designate suitable districts for different 

 portions of the country, within whic h said 

 closed seasons it shall not be lawful to 

 shoot or by any device kill or seize and 

 capture migratory birds within the pro- 

 tection of this law, and by declaring penal- 

 ties by fine or imprisonment, or both, for 

 violations of such regulations. 



"Sec. ,v That the Department of .\gri- 

 culturc, after the jjicparalion of said regu- 

 lations, shall cause the same to l)e made 

 public, and shall allow a ])eri(jd of three 

 months in which said regulations may 

 be examined and considered before final 

 adoption, jjermitting, when deemed proper 

 public hearings thereon, and after final 

 adoption to cause same to be engrossed 

 anrl submitted to the President of the 

 United States for approval: Provided, 

 however. That mnliing herein lontained 

 shall be deemed to alTect or interfere with 

 the lotal laws of the slates and territories 

 for the |)rotection of game localized 

 within their borders, nor to prevent the 

 states and territories from enacting laws 

 and regulations to i)romote and render 

 efTicient the regulations of the Depart- 

 ment of .\gri( ullurc jirovided under this 

 statute. " 



.•\s soon as this bill was brought to the 

 attention of the Association, Representa- 

 tive Weeks was written to and asked to 

 have the bill amended by striking out the 

 word "game" between the words "migra- 

 tory" and "birds," in order that all migra- 



tory birds should be placed in charge of 

 the Department of Agriculture. A reply 

 was promptly received from him as fol- 

 lows: 



"I am inclined to think that you are 

 right in your judgment that other migra- 

 tory birds than game birds should be in- 

 cluded in the provisions of the bill which 

 I have introduced, and, if I can get the 

 bill up in Committee at this session of 

 Congress, I will ask to have that change 

 made. My own limited experience in the 

 South confirms your statement that Robins 

 are killed in great numbers." 



The experience of this Association has 

 been that it is almost impossible to obtain 

 uniform legislation for wild birds from the 

 several legislatures in the United States. 

 There are so many diverse interests that 

 place obstacles in the way of such legis- 

 lation that the ordinary legislator has his 

 judgment warped by local interests. It 

 seems almost farcical that on one side of 

 an imaginary line birds are protected 

 against spring shooting and on the other 

 side of the line they receive no protection 

 whatever. Should this bill become a law 

 after the desired amendment, all migratory 

 birds would then receive uniform treat- 

 ment at the hands of the experts of the 

 Department of Agriculture. In addition, 

 it would relieve this Association of an 

 enormous amount of legislative work, as 

 it would not be necessary for us to initiate 

 new legislation in any part of the country 

 except for the few resident birds which 

 are ordinarily well cared for, besides 

 which the continual watching of state 

 legislatures would be done away with. 

 The time and expense now devoted to 

 legislative work could be t.evoted to the 

 more i)leasant and ])rotitabk' work of 

 ediu ation. 



The members of the .\ational .\ssocia- 

 tion and all the readers of Bird-Lore and 

 other people interested in birds arc asked 

 to communicate with their senators and 

 representatives in Congress, urging them 

 to act favorably and speedily ujxm House 

 Bill 22SSS.— W. D. 



