The initial bounty law, enacted 

 by the Territorial Legislature in 

 1917, provided a payment of 50 

 cents for each pair of eagle feet. 

 In that year and in subsequent 

 years, payments were made on the 

 following numbers of eagles : 1917, 

 2,048 ; 1918, 3,181 ; 1919, 2,641 ; 1920, 

 2,377; 1921, 2,121; 1922, 3,318; or a 

 total of 15,745 in the 5-year period. 

 In 1923, the bounty was increased 

 to $1 and from then until 1940 avail- 

 able records show that an additional 

 79,746 eagles were killed. In this 

 computation, however, there appear 

 to be some discrepancies, and, no 

 doubt, many eagles were killed and 

 not retrieved or were crippled only 

 to die later. 



Although the bounty remained in 

 force in subsequent years, no money 

 was appropriated by the Terri- 

 torial Legislature for biennial peri- 

 ods either in 1941 or 1943. In 1945, 

 the law was repealed only to be re- 

 enacted in 1949 with the bounty in- 

 creased to $2 for each pair of eagles' 

 feet. To February 11, 1951, pay- 

 ments were made on 7,455 eagles 

 under the revised statute. 



On July 1, 1952, a regulation 

 adopted under the provisions of the 

 Alaska Game Law, provided that- — • 



these birds may be killed only when 

 committing damage to fishes, other wild- 

 life, domestic birds and animals. No 

 carcass or any part thereof including 

 feathers of birds so taken may be pos- 

 sessed or transported for any purpose. 



Eight months later, March 2, 1953, 

 the territorial eagle bounty law was 

 repealed. Consequently, ,the bald 

 eagle no longer has a bounty on its 

 head in Alaska and may be killed 

 only when causing damage. 



That the bounty law reduced the 

 number of eagles in the coastal re- 

 gion of Alaska is attested by a num- 

 ber of reliable observers. George 

 Willett, able ornithologist and field 

 observer of many years of experi- 

 ence in Southeastern Alaska, had 

 the following to say regarding the 

 number of eagles in Alaska at about 

 the time the bounty law was en- 

 acted (Pearson 1928) : 



Bird lovers in the States, to whom the 

 sight of an eagle is an event, can hardly 

 conceive of the great numbers of the birds 

 to be seen along the Alaskan Coast. In 

 this region the eagle probably outnum- 

 bers all other raptorial birds a thousand 

 to one. 



After several years' absence from 

 Alaska, Willett again spent a sum- 

 mer along the southeastern coast. 

 The following comment (in corre- 

 spondence) made at a time when 

 the bounty had been in effect for 

 19 years, gives his impression of 

 the reduction in eagle numbers : 



I spent the summer of 1936 in south- 

 eastern Alaska and found that the eagles 

 had decreased to such an extent that 

 destruction by them must be small. This 

 was admitted by many Alaskans with 

 whom I talked. * * * Unfortunately, the 

 question has stopped being one of con- 

 servation and has become economic, in 

 that many Indians and some whites * * * 

 have come to consider the eagle bounty 

 as part of their income. 



Even after the bounty had been in 

 effect for only a short period, those 

 who were in close touch with the 

 problem became aware of the reduc- 

 tion in eagle numbers. C. D. Gar- 

 field, Secretary of tlie Alaska Fish 

 and Game Club, wrote apprehen- 

 sively in 1920 : 



Since December 6, 1918, bounty has 

 been paid on 3,256 eagles or a total of 



20 



