402 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ports occasionally are received of the appearance of pigeons in some 

 part of the country, and possibly there may be a few left ; but natural- 

 ists are offering large rewards for specimens, and thus far not a single 

 bird has been secured. Probably the birds seen are mourning doves. 

 These doves, like the pigeons, once roamed over a large part of the 

 continent, but never congregated in such large flocks, and, unlike 

 the pigeon, they soon become gun-shy wherever they are hunted, 

 although very tame where protected. They have thus escaped the 

 fate of the pigeons, and a few are still found breeding in Massachusetts, 

 while small flocks may be seen occasionally in the fall. They resemble 

 the wild pigeon, except for their smaller size, and are often mistaken 

 for it. There seems to have been no attempt to protect them until 

 1879, when they were presumably included in chapter 209 among 

 the "other undomesticated birds, except birds of prey," etc., not to 

 be killed at any time. This, however, gave them scarcely any im- 

 munity, as they were mistaken for wild pigeons, and are still shot by 

 some gunners when opportunity offers, notwithstanding the fact that 

 a provision inserted in chapter 414, Acts of 1905, specifically protects 

 them at all times. 



Non-game Birds. 

 The Indians did not kill small birds, nor did the settlers disturb 

 them. So long as deer, turkey, grouse, wild fowl and shore birds were 

 abundant the smaller game birds, the herons and other fish eaters, and 

 the song birds were safe from any considerable molestation by man. 

 But in the first half of the nineteenth century, when the larger game 

 grew rare, gunners and boys began shooting woodcock, snipe, robins 

 and larks, and the act of 1818 was found necessary to protect these 

 birds in the breeding season. From that time complaints appeared 

 periodically in the press regarding the conduct of boys who shot small 

 birds. As the population increases, this evil becomes more serious. 

 Within the past twenty years immigrants from Italy have become 

 very destructive to song birds. Until recent years there has been no 

 provision protecting the eggs of birds. The gunners and eggers had 

 driven away most of the sea birds from their breeding places along 

 the coast, and the business of procuring the eggs of birds for collectors 

 had assumed considerable proportions. Finally, in 1869, the taking 

 or killing of all undomesticated birds not otherwise protected, except 

 snipe, hawks, owls, crows, jays and gulls, and the taking of birds' eggs, 

 except those of the birds above mentioned, was prohibited; but a 

 proviso was inserted allowing the killing of birds or the taking of eggs 

 under permit for scientific purposes. This tended to limit the work 

 of the professional egg collector, but it failed to protect the gulls and 

 terns, the plumage of which was eagerly sought by the milliners. Many 

 thousands of these birds were killed on their breeding grounds and 

 the young left to starve. 



At last, in 1879, when the diminution of these birds had become 



