392 Biology in America 



companies of little birds, who, in spite of winter and its snow, 

 are busily engaged in reaping the plentiful harvest of the 

 weeds. Flitting from stem to stem, they pick out the seeds 

 from their shells, while others follow in their wake to pick 

 up the gleanings from the snow. The late Dr. Judd of the 

 Survey, in his studies of the food habits of sparrows, exam- 

 ined a piece of ground eighteen inches square in a patch 

 of smartweed where several species of sparrows had been 

 feeding. On this patch he counted "1130 half seeds and 

 only 2 whole seeds. During the ensuing season no smart- 

 weed grew where the sparrows had caused this extensive de- 

 struction. " 2 It has been estimated that in Iowa alone a 

 single species, the tree sparrow, destroys in one year 875 tons 

 of weed seed, and that in the United States as a whole 

 the different species of native sparrows, numbering more 

 than one hundred, save $35,000,000 for the farmers every 

 year. 



Heretofore the protection of our birds has been more or 

 less of a hit or miss undertaking, principally the latter. 

 While the birds might be fairly well protected in one state, 

 they received little or no protection in another. Realizing 

 these inequalities and injustices in our local laws, the Sur- 

 vey, aided by bird lovers throughout the ccnntrv, drew up 

 and put through Congress in 1913 the m'grra:ory bird law, 

 which gives the nation control of all nrgrating birds within 

 its domain. By this act all such are afforded uniform pro- 

 tection throughout the United States, and while the law is 

 imperfect in itself and as yet inadequately enforced, its re- 

 sults even so have been very gratifying. Especially is this 

 true of game birds. Previous to the passage of this law the 

 shooting of game birds during the spring migration, when 

 the birds were en route to their breeding grounds, and in 

 many instances had actually begun to breed, was permitted 

 by some states. With the abolition of the spring shooting has 

 come a notable increase of the birds in the fall, which is the 

 legitimate time for hunting. In 1916 a treaty was drawn up 

 between the United States and Canada, providing for the 

 protection of migrating birds between the two countries. This 

 treaty has recently been made effective through the passage of 

 the necessary legislation by both countries. The Lacey Act, 

 passed in 1900, which controls the shipment of game from 

 one state to another, and has been an efficient check to the 

 pot hunter who ships his game to large cities for market, is 

 another outcome of the Survey's efforts to protect our wild 

 birds and mammals. 



2 Judd, "The Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture/' Biol. Survey, 

 Bull. 15. 



