68 BIRDS OF KANSAS. 



who is willing to assist in forwarding any one of the three objects for which it is 

 established. These objects are to prevent so far as possible (1) the killing of any 

 wild bird not used for food; (2) the destruction of the nests or eggs of any wild 

 bird; and (3) the wearing of feathers as ornaments. The work to be done by the Audu- 

 bon Society is auxiliary to that which is being done by the American Ornithologists' Union 

 Committee, and will consist largely of matters of detail, to which this committee 

 could not attend. The management of the society for the present will be in the 

 hands of a member of this committee. Branches of this association will be estab- 

 lished all over the country. The work of the Forest and Stream is only preliminary. 

 As soon as the society shall have attained a respectable membership, and be on a 

 firm footing, it will be turned over to its members for final organization. In order 

 that this may take place as speedily as possible, it is hoped that all interested in 

 bird protection will send in for membership their own names, as well as those of any 

 others whom they think likely to assist. To all such, free circulars containing in- 

 formation will be sent for distribution. Names should be sent without delay to 

 Forest and Stream, 40 Park Row, New York, N. Y. 



BIRD LAWS. 



Most of the States and Territories have on their statute books laws for the pro- 

 tection of game and fish, regulating the season of hunting and fishing, and providing 

 penalties for the taking of game or fish during certain portions of each year, or, in 

 particular cases, for a series of years. These laws are intended, in most cases, to 

 give protection to " useful " birds, in addition to the game birds, and their nests and 

 eggs, at all seasons. In general, these laws are crude and unsatisfactory so far as 

 they relate to supposed useful birds, and also in relation to many others which are 

 either protected merely during certain months, or not at all, as is the case with 

 many of the marsh and shore-inhabiting species, such as the herons, terns, gulls, etc. 

 Most of the laws exclude from protection all hawks and owls, crows, jays, and black- 

 birds, and, in some cases, robins and other kinds of song birds, woodpeckers, etc. 

 A few of the laws make provision for collecting birds and their eggs for scientific 

 purposes, often in a lax way, but occasionally, as in Maine, with considerable strin- 

 gency; while the new bird law of New Jersey prohibits the destruction of song birds, 

 their nests or eggs, for any purpose whatever. Defective as the present laws 

 now generally are, they would, if thoroughly enforced, prevent the disgraceful 

 slaughter now so general and untrammeled by any legal interference. As already so 

 many times reiterated in this series of papers, the fault is not so much lack of laws, 

 or inadequate legislation, as the absence of nearly all effort to interpose any obsta- 

 cles, legal or otherwise, in the way of free slaughter. So apathetic is the public in 

 all that relates to bird protection, that prosecution under the bird-protection statutes 

 requires, on the part of the prosecutor, a considerable amount of moral courage to 

 face the frown of public opinion, the malignment of motive and the enmities such 

 prosecution is sure to engender. 



None of the bird laws are above improvement, even in so far as they relate to the 

 protection of game birds; but, in respect to the non-game birds, nearly all require 

 more or less change. If possible, it would be well to have uniform laws throughout 

 all the States and Territories, varying only in respect to the time of the close season, 

 and such other points as difference of season, kind of game to be especially pro- 

 tected, etc., according to local conditions. At present certain birds are protected 



