1920 J Notes and News. o47 



of nomenclature of the old committee were formally passed upon while 

 several new ones were decided. Altogether very satisfactory progress 

 was made. 



A case involving the constitutionality of the Migratory Bird Treaty 

 Act, in which the law was sustained by the Federal Court for the Western 

 District of Missouri, has been appealed to the Supreme Court of the 

 United States by the State of Missouri and arguments were heard on 

 March 2, 1920. This case, No. 609, is entitled The State of Missouri, 

 appellant, vs. Ray P. Holland, United States Game Warden. 



Two very important efforts toward the establishment and maintenance 

 of bird reservations are now attracting much attention. First the drain- 

 age of Klamath Lake which threatens the destruction of this valuable 

 reservation. According to the report of William L. Finley in the Janu- 

 ary issue of 'California Fish and Game,' the building of a dyke has already 

 converted much of the lake into an alkali desert which the director of 

 the reclamation service himself states is of no use for agriculture. Mr. 

 Finley urges appeals to the Californian representatives in Congress while 

 Mr. Pearson, in 'Bird-Lore,' suggests appeals to the Secretary of the 

 Interior (cf. antea p. 318). 



The other matter is the effort to have part of the Okefinokee swamp on 

 the Georgia-Florida boundary established as a reservation. Timber 

 rights and subleases seem to complicate this effort but much interest has 

 been aroused. There is an excellent account of the enterprise in the 

 Bulletin of the American Game Protective Association for October, 1919, 

 by Dr. J. F. Wilson, Secretary of the Okefinokee Society, while the Bio- 

 logical Survey is also taking an active interest in the matter. 



A modification in the Federal bird regulations has been made, allowing 

 the killing of Grebes, Loons, Gulls, Terns, Mergansers, Bitterns, Great 

 Blue, Little Blue, Green and Black-crowned Night Herons where these 

 birds are injurious to and destructive of fishes at public or private fish 

 hatcheries. The birds may only be killed or trapped by the owners, 

 superindendents or bona fide employes of the hatcheries, and all portions 

 of the birds must be entirely destroyed and not possessed, transported 

 or shipped outside the grounds except that they may be presented to a 

 public museum or educational institution. 



There has been organized at Seattle, Washington, the Pacific North- 

 west Bird and Mammal Club which aims to promote social and fraternal 

 relations among the working ornithologists and mammalogists of Wash- 

 ington, British Columbia, Alaska and northern Oregon. The officers 

 for the current year are: President, F. S. Hall, Director of the State 



