Federal Protection of Migratory Birds. 5 



The number of States making efforts to prohibit spring 

 shooting fluctuated from year to year, and some States fre- 

 quently changed columns. Furthermore, the progress was 

 slow and uncertain, and the laws were not always well en- 

 forced. In this progress, our shorebirds have been among 

 the most sadly neglected. Many of the smaller species have 

 not been protected in spring. It thus appears that while 

 birds are adequately protected by the laws of some States, 

 their migratory instincts and seasonal movements are such 

 that the open seasons under State laws added together per- 

 mit birds to be killed over parts of their entire range during 

 every month of the year. 



Unreasonably long open seasons for wild fowl prevail in 

 13 States, varying in length from five to seven and one-half 

 months. No species can long withstand the drain of inces- 

 sant shooting during such long open seasons; and the de- 

 struction of the breeding grounds of the birds, the increased 

 number of hunters, modern firearms, and improved methods 

 of transportation to regions hitherto remote have made prac- 

 tically certain the utter extermination of our migratory 

 birds if they receive only such protection as the States alone 

 are able to afford. 



FEDERAL MIGRATORY-BIRD LAW OF 1913 AND ITS REPEAL. 



The long and futile efforts of the States finally convinced ^ 

 State game commissioners, sportsmen, conservationists, and 

 others that the uniform and adequate preservation of mi- 

 gratory birds and an equalization of hunting opportunities 

 depended upon the exercise of a supervisory jurisdiction on 

 the part of the Federal Government. To this end a bill 

 was introduced in Congress in 1904, but it was so novel in 

 its objects and legal character that it failed of passage, y 

 From the time of its introduction, however, the subject was 

 kept before Congress in one form or another almost con- 

 tinuously until the enactment of the migratory-bird law 

 of 1913. 



This Federal statute merely conferred on the United States / 

 Department of Agriculture the power to fix closed seasons 

 during which it would be unlawful to capture or kill migra- 

 tory birds. For this reason, it proved very imperfect and 



