INTERSTATE COMMERCE IN GAME AND BIRDS 



IN VIOLATION OF STATE LAW; LET US 



SAVE THE BIRDS x 



This bill is one that has attracted a good deal of inter- 

 est in various sections of the country. Horticulturists, 

 agriculturists, and lovers of birds everywhere, and also 

 the League of American Sportsmen, and others inter- 

 ested in game and the protection of game all over the 

 United States have been strongly enlisted in its support. 



Briefly, the bill provides for a few purposes only. 

 First it authorizes the secretary of agriculture to utilize 

 his department for the reintroduction of birds that have 

 become locally extinct or are becoming so in some parts 

 of the United States. There are some kinds of insect- 

 ivorous birds and some kinds of game birds, that here- 

 tofore were abundant in many localities, which have be- 

 come very scarce indeed, and in some localities entirely 

 exterminated. The wild pigeon, formerly in this country 

 in flocks of millions, has entirely disappeared from the 

 face of the earth. Some hopeful enthusiasts have claimed 

 that the pigeon would again be heard from in South Am- 

 erica, but there seems to be no well-grounded basis for 

 this hope. In some localities certain kinds of grouse 

 have almost entirely disappeared. This bill gives the 

 secretary of of agriculture power to aid in the reintroduc- 

 tion, which, I think, will prove a useful adjunct to the ac- 

 tion of the states which have undertaken the preserva- 

 tion of the native wild birds. 



1 Speech of Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, in the House of Representa- 

 tives, April 30, 1900. 



