﻿232 Bird- Lore 



fowl in the state of New York should cease on January i, and their posses- 

 sion should not be permitted a single day thereafter. Until these vital 

 amendments are made the present law is not only farcical, but it is practically 

 unenforcible. 



The history of the fight to prevent the sale of foreign game during the 

 closed season in this state has been too exhaustively recorded in Bird-Lore 

 (VIII, p. 143) to need repeating here. Whether the attempt of the game 

 dealers to secure this privilege will be repeated, the future only can tell ; 

 however, the Audubon forces will again be marshaled against the dealers 

 should they renew the fight. Mention is here made of the important and 

 unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals upholding the constitutionality 

 of Section 141 of the New York Game Law. 



Georgia. — South Carolina. — In both of these states, attempts were made 

 to have laws passed similar to the one in North Carolina making the Audu- 

 bon Society the Game Commission of the state. The experiment in North 

 Carolina has been so very successful and has accomplished such a wonderful 

 work in that commonwealth that it was thought that the legislatures of 

 Georgia and South Carolina might be willing to adopt the same plan. 

 Unfortunately, the system advocated was too radical a change from the old 

 methods for the first attempt to establish it to be successful, and the effort 

 will have to be again made at the coming session of the legislatures. How- 

 ever, the educational work done was not lost, and the movement next time 

 will start from a better vantage point. Politicians are loth to see any state 

 offices slip from their control into the hands of a strictly non-political and 

 economic body. 



Virginia. — In this state it is to be regretted that the Audubon work 

 received a decided set-back. The bill to establish a State Game Commission, 

 to be provided with funds for the employment of wardens to enforce the 

 game and bird laws, was defeated, although it was ably advocated by three 

 of your officers. In order to avoid taxation of the people to supply funds for 

 the Commission to work with, it was proposed to have a small gun license; 

 and this was the rock on which our hopes of success were wrecked. The 

 chairman of the Senate Game Commission said that if he should report 

 such a bill favorably, his constituents would never elect him to the 

 Senate again. This fact appealed to him more strongly than did the best 

 interests of the state and, in consequence, the bill was adversely reported. 



Further, the game laws were amended by removing all protection from, 

 Robin Snipe, Surf-birds, certain Plover and Curlew and making a longer 

 open season on Robins. It is patent that a considerable portion of the 

 income derived from our new endowment can be advantageously used in 

 educational work in Virginia. It certainly is sadly needed there. 



Federal Laws. — Four new federal bird or game laws were passed by- 

 Congress, two of which were largely at the instance of the Audubon Socie- 



