268 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



may neither be captured nor kept in captivity. Other States 

 specify what birds may be caged. Whether birds are caged 

 or not, so long as they are not subject to traffic, is a matter 

 of no importance to birds in general. The few taken from 

 the wild state usually prove good missionaries. People that 

 keep a tame bird a year or two are usually friendly to the 

 race thereafter. 



Although every State and Territory except Alaska has its 

 bird law, there is a great lack of uniformity among the differ- 

 ent States, and many of the laws are very incomplete. Their 

 enforcement is usually left to State or county officials, gener- 

 ally to game wardens or commissioners. Offences that do 

 not come directly to their notice are rarely heard of, for the 

 reason that most persons, even though favorable to bird pro- 

 tection, dislike to report the misdeeds of their neighbors. 

 The utility of birds and the causes and extent of decrease 

 among them are so little understood by the general public 

 that there is no popular interest either in making or enforcing 

 laws for their preservation. So far as law-making is con- 

 cerned, it is easy as compared with the task of preventing 

 law-breaking; but even law-making adequate law-making 

 has proved uphill work. Protection should be uniform, 

 because most of our birds cover vast areas. Federal legisla- 

 tion, excepting that of an indirect character, like the Lacey Act, 

 which will be noticed in the next chapter, would be unconsti- 

 tutional, and is therefore impossible, though it would meet 

 the requirements more quickly and effectively than State laws. 

 To meet the need of uniformity, and at the same time to 

 suggest a safe, intelligent measure, the Committee on Bird 

 Protection of the American Ornithologists' Union have pre- 

 pared an act which has already been adopted in its main 

 features by several States. At this time it appears probable 

 that, through the efforts of the ornithologists and others inter- 

 ested in protecting birds, this proposed act will ultimately be 

 the basis of protective laws throughout the Union. A copy 



