No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 537 



given the right to search suspected persons. Until such a 

 measure is enacted, the game laws can never be enforced as 

 they should be. 



Those birds which, like the wood duck, are disappearing, 

 should be protected at all times by law. All spring and 

 summer shooting of wild-fowl and shore birds should be, 

 and eventually must be, prohibited by law. 



If it shall be found that these measures do not give suf- 

 ficient protection, then the sale of all birds from Massachu- 

 setts sources must be prohibited. All persons and all 

 associations interested in bird protection should unite to 

 hold up the hands of those who are now working to secure 

 the protection of birds in the south during the winter and 

 spring. 



The extirpation of a species usually takes a long time, 

 and only those species which are the objects of special and 

 unremitting persecution throughout their range are likely 

 ever to be eradicated from the country. For this reason, 

 our "song and insectivorous birds," which are here pro- 

 tected by law, will be comparatively safe when the law is 

 fully enforced. But it is not so difficult practically to exter- 

 minate or to drive out of a State a migrant or a resident 

 game bird ; therefore, the game birds, the shore birds and 

 all others that are readily accessible and are killed for food 

 or sport must now be protected by the most stringent laws, 

 most rigidly enforced, or eventually they will be swept from 

 the territory of this Commonwealth. 



APPENDIX. 



Massachusetts Correspondents who furnished Information for 



this Report. 



Berkshire County. 



Bidwell, Wm. S., Monterey. 



Bradley, Alonzo, ...... Lee. 



Came, Mrs. Thos Forest Park, Adams. 



Cross, W. J Becket. 



Dewey, Harvey H., New Lenox. 



Northup, L. J., Cheshire. 



O'Neill, Francis, Adams. 



Ruberg, L. E., Florida. 



