APPENDIX II. 



FEDERAL BIRD LAW. 



THE Lacey Act, approved May 25, 1900, is described by 

 its title as " An act to enlarge the powers of the Department 

 of Agriculture, prohibit the transportation by interstate com- 

 merce of game killed in violation of local laws, and for other 

 purposes." It provided that the duties and powers of the 

 Department of Agriculture be enlarged so as to include the 

 preservation, distribution, introduction, and restoration of 

 game birds and other wild birds, the object and purpose of the 

 act being to aid in the restoration of such birds in those parts 

 of the United States adapted thereto where they have become 

 scarce or extinct, and also to regulate the introduction of 

 American or foreign birds- or animals where they had not pre- 

 viously existed. It made unlawful the importation of any 

 foreign wild animal or bird except under special permit from 

 the United States Department of Agriculture. It prohibited 

 the importation of the mongoose, fruit bat, English sparrow, 

 starling, and such other species as might from time to time 

 be declared injurious by the Secretary of Agriculture. 



It made unlawful the transportation from one State to 

 another of any foreign animals or birds the importation of 

 which is prohibited, or of the dead bodies or parts thereof of 

 any wild animals or birds killed in violation of a State law. 

 It specified that all packages containing such dead animals or 

 birds or parts thereof, when shipped by interstate commerce, 

 should be plainly and clearly marked, so that the name and 

 address of the shipper and the nature of the contents might be 

 readily ascertained by inspection of the outside of the pack- 

 ages. Each violation of this act made the shipper liable to pay 

 a fine not exceeding $200. The carrier and the consignee, if 

 they participated knowingly in such a violation, were equally 

 320 



