408 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [P. D. No. 4. 



The Sanctuary. 



Where all other measures promise only failure there is still one 

 resource left, and that is the setting aside of tracts or reservations 

 of woodland, lake, river or shore within the limits of which all killing 

 of birds by man may be prohibited, under heavy penalties. In such 

 tracts or reservations the resident game and birds may breed un- 

 molested, and thus replenish the surrounding country. Here migrants 

 can find safety to stop and rest from their long journeys. 



A chain of such sanctuaries established along the Atlantic coast of 

 North America would probably preserve our stock of wild fowl and 

 shore birds indefinitely. The sanctuary has succeeded in Europe, 

 and it is no new idea here. Already in Massachusetts we have been 

 experimenting with it in a small way. One modification of the plan 

 is to forbid the taking or killing of all wild animals or all birds within 

 certain limits, after the plan adopted on Cape Ann in 1897 and in the 

 town of Essex in 1899. In these cases a time limit of five years was 

 set; but such an act might be made perpetual. Park commissioners 

 are given police powers, and can prevent shooting within the limits 

 of their reservations, as the Metropolitan Park Commission and many 

 city park commissioners now do. In 1899 3,000 acres of land were 

 set aside on Wachusett Mountain as a State reservation, and the com- 

 missioners in charge were given police powers; this should ensure a 

 permanent game sanctuary for Worcester County. The enactment 

 in 1907, by which the Commissioners on Fisheries and Game were 

 empowered to take 1,000 acres of land on Martha's Vineyard as a 

 reservation for the protection of the heath hen and other birds, is 

 an example of direct legislation for this purpose, more of which will, 

 sooner or later, become necessary. 



While efforts should not be relaxed to secure beneficent protective 

 legislation, the most important work that can be done by the bird 

 protectionist is to strive to influence public sentiment regarding 

 the necessity for such enactments, for laws can never be fully enforced 

 until they are respected by the people. 



