XXX Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
is this latter view confined to certain classes of our population; very 
few of our county judges see the use of stringent laws prohibiting 
the killing of birds, and convictions or judgments are hard to obtain 
in such courts. Laxity in the enforcement of state laws is the reason 
why federal laws are more highly respected, because violators brought 
before federal judges seldom escape severe punishment. 
Formerly it was thought that everybody had a right to kill any 
wild bird at any time and any place he had a chance to do so. When 
it became apparent that something had to be done to prevent the 
threatened extermination of game, the states claimed ownership of 
all game and wild birds and created laws based on this claim of 
ownership. By closer scrutiny of the question we find that this claim 
cannot be satisfactorily established, since with the exception of few 
species, mainly Quail, Grouse and Turkey, all game birds and nearly 
all non-game birds are migratory and most of them are only transient 
visitors in the United States. Ducks, Geese, Snipes and Plovers have 
their breeding grounds in Canada and spend the winter south of the 
United States. In fact there are very few wild birds which remain 
on the same ground the entire year; most of them spend the summer 
in one state, the winter in another and in traveling to and fro stop 
temporarily in a number of states on both ways. This forces us to 
regard migratory birds as guests, not of a county or state, but of the 
Nation at large. What is true of land birds holds equally good of 
sea birds, which come to our shores to breed, or fly along our coasts 
to feed, or visit them temporarily in their migrations. They are as 
much the guests of the Nation as the inland birds and are entitled 
to the care and protection of the country at large. A few attempts 
to protect them on their breeding grounds have been made by the 
National Association of Audubon Societies, and lately President 
Roosevelt set aside by executive orders fifty-three parcels of ground 
used by bird colonies for nesting purposes, chiefly along our coasts— 
a few in the interior. Valuable as this is, it is not sufficient, for, to 
preserve these beautiful and interesting creatures for future gener- 
ations, we have to protect them all the year round from wanton 
slaughter by the wily plume hunter. This is a very difficult task 
which the all-powerful National Government only can take upon its 
shoulders, but a Nation so charitable and humane as that of the 
United States can ill afford to withhold the largest measure of pro- 
tection to such defenseless creatures as her feathered wards, the 
migratory birds. 
The following were elected to membership: Chas. H. 
Franck, Wm. E. Hoke, C. L. Holman, Geo. H. Kessler, 
Geo. C. Stindé and Frank C. Thompson. 
Marcu 21, 1910. 
President Trelease in the chair; attendance 30. 
Mr. Julius Hurter gave the life history of the Blind 
Salamander of Missouri, showing specimens at various 
stages of development. 
