BIRD PROTECTIVE LAWS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT 331 



metaphorically, on tiptoe and, with hand to 

 ear, scanned the distant horizon. Nor did 

 they have long to wait before critical rum- 

 blings began to be heard in many directions. 

 "Why allow bobolinks to be shot during 

 the months of September and October in 

 Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia 

 and South Carolina, and (k'i)rive the people of 

 our State of this heavcnborn privilege which 

 we have always enjoyed?" shouted a lusty 

 North Carolina hunter. 



"If you are going to place a five-year close 

 season on the shooting of curlew, why not 

 also include the golden plover, which every 

 one knows is equally rare?" a bird protec- 

 tionist wished to know. 



"It may be all right to curtail our spring 

 shooting, but if so, we want to be shown," 

 the Missouri sportsmen observed, in tones 

 that left no doubt as to their earnestness. 



As the committee waited, the sky began 

 rapidly to fill with interrogation points; for 

 it has ever been the case that the dissatisfied 

 ones of the earth are louder in their objections 

 than are the satisfied ones in their commenda- 

 tions. As a matter of fact, the regulations 

 were on the whole remarkable for their clear- 

 ness, directness and fairness. They came 

 nearer being formed for the benefit of the 

 birds, instead of for the pleasure and con- 

 venience of the hunters, than any general, 

 far-reaching, bird-protective statute which 

 had been enacted in this country. 



Let us examine briefly this unusual docu- 

 ment prepared by the Biological Survey. 

 For the purposes of the regulations, migra- 

 tory game birds are defined as ducks, geese 

 and swan, rail and coots, pigeon, crane and 

 shore birds, which include plover, snipe, 

 woodcock, and sandpipers. Migratory in- 

 sectivorous birds are enumerated as thrushes, 

 orioles, larks, swallows, wrens, woodpeckers 

 and all other perching birds that feed en- 

 tirely, or chiefly, on insects. 



Having thus conveniently classified mi- 

 gratory birds into two easily comprehensible 

 and distinguishable groups, the way was open 

 to deal with them separately and distinctively . 

 Therefore, after declaring it to be Ulegal to 

 kill any bird of either class between sunset 

 and sunrise, the regulations go on to state 

 that excepting bobolinks, which may be shot 

 in a few states, no insect-eating bird shall be 

 killed in any place or in any manner, even in 

 the daytime. 



This provision, by one stroke, completed 



the campaign which the Audubon Society 

 had l)een waging for long years on behalf of 

 the robin. In Maryland, North Carolina, 

 Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee, the 

 robin-potpie-loving inhabitants must in future 

 content themselves with such game birds as 

 quail, grouse, wild turkeys, and ducks. The 

 life of Sir Robin has now been declared to be 

 sacred everywhere. He and his note are to 

 dwell beneath the protection of the strong 

 arm of the Ignited States Government. 



Another feature of the Audubon work was 

 also completed by this section of the new 

 regulations: that is, the safeguarding of all 

 song and insect-eating birds in the states of 

 Montana, Idaho, Nevada, Maryland, Utah, 

 Arizona, Nebraska, Kansas, and New Mexico, 

 constituting the group of states whose legis- 

 latures had thus far withstood the impor- 

 tunities of the Audubon workers to extend 

 protection to such birds. 



Having disposed thus of the subject in so 

 far as it applied to non-game birds, attention 

 was turned again to game birds. Taking 

 into consideration the fact that some of the 

 migratory game birds had been killed until 

 they were alarmingly few in numbers, and 

 that if the species were to be saved all shoot- 

 ing of them must for a time be stopped, 

 regulation number four was provided and 

 read as follows: 



"A close season shall continue until 

 September first, nineteen hundred and eigh- 

 teen, on the following migratory game birds: 

 Band-tailed pigeon; little brown, sand-hill 

 and whooping cranes; swans, curlew, and all 

 shore birds except the black-breasted and 

 golden plover, Wilson or Jack snipe, wood- 

 cock, and the greater and lesser yellow- 

 legs." 



Recognizing the fact that the above in- 

 cludes three swans and fifty-four shore birds, 

 we may see that what the paragraph really 

 does is to prohibit for five years the killing 

 of sixty-two varieties of birds which have 

 heretofore been regarded as legitimate game 

 throughout the greater part of North America. 

 This section goes on to provide: "A close 

 season shall also continue until September 

 first, nineteen hundred and eighteen, on wood 

 ducks in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West 

 Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Micliigan, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Cali- 

 fornia, Oregon, and Washington; on rails in 



