^38 



Bird -Lore 



the country. The game commissioners of 

 practically all the states in the Union, as 

 well as thousands of individual workers, 

 have earnestly worked for the success of 

 the Weeks-McLean Bill. 



Never before in the history of our 

 country has there been such a widespread 

 general interest in a bird-protective meas- 

 ure, and never before has so much pres- 

 sure been brought to bear on Congress 

 from such a wide variety of sources in the 

 interest of a bill which made for the con- 

 servation of our wild life. The writer 

 could name some of the members of this 

 Association who have individually sent 

 out or caused to be sent from one hundred 

 to two hundred letters imploring Congress- 

 men to vote for the bill. One of our mem- 

 bers, Mr. Henry Ford, of Detroit, became 

 so stirred that he instructed one of his 

 most able and resourceful employees, Mr. 

 Glenn Buck, of Chicago, to spare no ex- 

 pense in an effort to arouse the people to 

 the importance of securing the necessary 

 congressional support. Mr. Buck sent 

 out thousands of telegrams and letters 

 and, in fact, for several weeks employed 

 a large force of stenographers in the 

 enterprise. 



The struggle for the passage of this bill 

 will go down in the history of American 

 bird protection as being the most gigantic 

 single campaign ever waged for a bird- 

 protective bill. The full text of this new 

 Federal law is given below: 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House 

 of Representatives of the United States of 

 America in Congress assembled, That all 

 wild geese, wild swans, brant, wild ducks, 

 snipe, plover, woodcocks, rail, wild pigeons 

 and all other migratory game and insec- 

 tivorous birds, which in their northern 

 and southern migrations pass through, or 

 do not remain permanently the entire 

 year within the borders of any State or 

 Territory, shall hereafter be deemed to 

 be within the custody and protection of 

 the Government of the United Stales, 

 and shall not be destroyed or taken con- 

 trary to regulations hereinafter pro- 

 vided therefore. 



Sec. 2. Thai the Department of Agri- 

 culture is hereby authorized to adopt 

 suitable regulations to give effect to the 

 previous section by prescribing and fixing 

 closed seasons, having due regard to the 

 zones of temperature, breeding habits, 

 and times and line of migratory flight, 

 thereby enabling the department to 

 select and designate suitable districts 

 for different portions of the country within 

 which said closed seasons it shall not be 

 lawful to shoot, or by any device kill or 

 seize and capture migratory birds within 

 the protection of this law, and by declar- 

 ing penalties by fine of not more than 

 one hundred dollars or imprisonment for 

 ninety days, or both, for violation of 

 such regulations. 



Sec. 3. That the Department of Agri- 

 culture, after the preparation of said regu- 

 lations, shall cause the same to be made 

 public, and shall allow a period of three 

 months in which said regulations may be 

 examined and considered before final 

 adoption, permitting, when deemed proper, 

 public hearings thereon, and after final 

 adoption to cause same to be engrossed 

 and submitted to the President of the 

 United States for approval; Provided, 

 however, That nothing herein contained 

 shall be deemed to affect or interfere with 

 the local laws of the States and Territories 

 for the protection of non-migratory game 

 or other birds resident and breeding within 

 their borders, nor to prevent the States 

 and Territories from enacting laws and 

 regulations to promote and render efiicient 

 the regulations of the Department of 

 Agriculture provided under this statute. 



Sec. 4. That there is hereby appro- 

 priated, out of any moneys in the Treas- 

 ury not otherwise appropriated, for the 

 purpose of carrj'ing out the provisions 

 of this Act, the sum of ten thousand 

 dollars. T. G. P. 



Niobrara Bird Reservation 



In an effort to assist in further preserv- 

 ing the American bison and elk, this 

 Association has recently cooperated with 

 the Federal Government in the matter 



