THB OOLOaiST 



133 



New Bird Laws. 



Be it said to the credit of the Amer- 

 ican Congress that recently there 

 went into effect a law which may be 

 found on page 37 of the Statutes at 

 large of the United States, page 847, 

 whereby all migratory birds are plac- 

 ed under the protection of the Federal 

 law, and hereafter state legislatures 

 will not be permitted to sacrifice them 

 at the will of local politicians. 



The penalty for violation is a $100 

 fine or imprisonment not more than 

 ninety days, or both, in the discretion 

 of the court, for each violation. The 

 Federal law also now prohibits the im- 

 portation of egret plumes, also the so- 

 called Osprey plumes, and all plumage 

 of wild foreign birds. But the law re- 

 lating to the possession of feathers of 

 birds or parts of such birds, does not 

 apply to the feathers of game birds 

 and domestic birds. 



Under the law as ado]:)ted, the Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture is to fix regula- 

 tions for the protection of such birds. 

 These regulations are now promulgat- 

 ed and may be had upon application to 

 the Secretary of the Treasury and are 

 known as Bureau of Biological Sur- 

 vey, Circular No. 92. 



Among the many good things which 

 these regulations provide are the fol- 

 lowing: 



Five year closed season from Sep- 

 tember 1, 1913 on Band-tailed Pigeons, 

 Little Brown, Sand Hill and Whooping 

 Cranes, all swans, curlew and all 

 shore birds except the Black Breasted 

 and Golden Plover, Wilson's Snipe, 

 AVoodcock and Greater and Lesser 

 Yellow Legs, and all Wood duck and 

 Woodcock in Minn., N. H., Vt., Mass., 

 R. I., Conn., N. Y., N. J., Pa., O., Ind., 

 Me., W. Va., and Wis., and on Rails in 

 California and Vermont. 



The closed season is between Janu- 

 ary 1, and October 31 of each year on 

 all migratory birds, on the waters of 



the Mississippi River between New 

 Orleans and Minneapolis, and on the 

 Ohio between its mouth and Pittsburg, 

 and on the Missouri between its mouth 

 and Bismarck, N. D. 



All night shooting is prohibited and 

 from sunrise to sunset is the day dur- 

 ing which hunting may be done. 



Then follows the division of the 

 country into two zones, that part of 

 the country lying North of Lat. 40, 

 and that part of the country lying 

 South of Lat. 40, and certain special 

 regulations are adopted for each of 

 these zones and many of the states in- 

 cluded therein. 



All Spring shooting is prohibited 

 and insectiverous birds are protected 

 for all time. 



The adoption of these bills is a long 

 stretch toward protecting our feather- 

 ed friends, and we trust that every 

 reader of THE OOLOGIST will ap- 

 point himself a committee of one to 

 see that these laws and regulations 

 are enforced strictly to the letter in 

 his individual territory. Permits for 

 the collection of specimens may be 

 procured from the authorities in the 

 usual manner but unless the law as a 

 whole is enforced according to the 

 spirit thereof, it will be of little avail, 

 and if it is, it will be greatly benefi- 

 cial. 



List of Eggs Collected in Black Hawk 



Co., Iowa, 1875. 



By George D. Peck. 



Readers of THE OOLOGIST: Just 



to show you how the old time Oolo- 



gists fared we publish the followihg: 



Date. Name No. of Eggs. 



March 



20. — Great Horned Owl 2 



20. — Great Horned Owl 1 



22. — Barred Owl 2 



26.— Barred Owl 3 



26. — Barred Owl 3 



April 



