GAME-LAWS 281 



swans, curlew, and all shore-birds with the excep- 

 tion of six species. The closed season of migra- 

 tory insectivorous birds is made continuous 

 throughout the duration of the treaty, and open 

 seasons of prescribed length are laid down for 

 game-birds. The United States, however, has 

 failed to pass legislation to enforce the treaty, 

 and there remains only the fifty thousand dollars 

 a year under the old Federal Migratory Law to 

 carry out its provisions. 



It could not be expected that this wholly absurd 

 amount would go far toward maintaining the 

 national law, let alone the international treaty. 

 But fortunately the majority of States accepted 

 both law and treaty at their face value, and, far 

 from fighting them, did everything in their power 

 to further their enforcement. One State after 

 another incorporated the provisions of the law 

 into its own code and thus relieved the central 

 government of much responsibility. In 1916 only 

 five States out of the entire Union held that the 

 law was unconstitutional in that it infringed upon 

 state rights. Its constitutionality, however, was 

 upheld in the Federal Supreme Court, and these 

 States immediately afterward followed the exam- 

 ple of the others. 



6 



Effect of Game-Laws upon Birds 

 Men who ought to know declare that the fewer 



