194 DuTCHER, Report of Cominittee on Bird Protection. l_ja"i. 



the wild birds and animals found within its borders there is no 

 doubt, and consequently has full police powers over them, and can 

 say through the legislature when they can be killed and by whom, 

 or can say that they shall not be killed at all, as has just been pro- 

 vided in the case of the non-game birds. (See the opinion of 

 Judge Treiber, under Arkansas, antea, p. iii.) 



Warden system. — No wardens were employed by the Thayer 

 Fund, owing to the fact that the new law did not go into effect 

 until after the breeding season was finished. In 1904 it is pro- 

 posed to carefully guard any and all of the colonies of coast birds 

 that are large enough to warrant the expenditure. 



Audubon work. — There is one local society in the State ; how- 

 ever, there is a great and growing interest in bird protection which 

 must eventually result in the formation of a strong society. The 

 limits of the State are so large that it seems desirable that at least 

 four societies should be organized. The women's and farmers' 

 clubs are doing effective work in the study and protection of birds. 

 In this connection mention must again be made of the great ser- 

 vices rendered to the State of Texas by Prof. H. P. Attwater, a 

 member of the A. O. U., whose efforts were untiring to pass the 

 new game law, and to bring to the knowledge of the agricultural 

 folk of the State the true relation of birds to crops. Three thou- 

 sand warning notices were furnished by the Thayer Fund and sent 

 to Prof. Attwater, who has had them distributed throughout the 

 State. The officials of the Southern Pacific and the San Antonio 

 and Aransas Pass Railway Co., voluntarily offered to distribute 

 and display in all of their stations in Texas copies of the warning 

 notice. By this means a very wide distribution was given to the 

 provisions of the new game law. This important and public spirited 

 action should be followed by the officers of other railroad corpora- 

 tions, not only in Texas but throughout the United States. 



Under the Federal Law, known as the Lacey Act, transportation 

 companies are liable for carrying illegally killed game and birds, 

 and therefore they should, as has been done by the above men- 

 tioned companies, make the game laws as widely known as possible, 

 especially those laws that seek to prevent market shooting and pot- 

 hunting for cold storage houses. 



It is stated that the Mexican Boll Weevil destroyed 940,000 



