170 



Bird - Lore 



Quail on the 'song-bird list' and this is the 

 attitude it has always held. As historic evi- 

 dence of the fact that we regard this bird as 

 strictly a game-bird I may mention that in 

 the old 'Model Law' prepared by the American 

 Ornithologists' Union, and which, as a result 

 of campaigns instituted by workers of this 

 Association, was adopted in forty-one states, 

 including Pennsylvania, the group of birds 

 to which the Quail belongs is specially de- 

 clared to be game-birds. In most states this 

 bill was known as the Audubon Bill and in 

 many places today is known as the Audubon 

 Law. 



If the ordinary safeguards thrown around 

 a game-bird, such as bag-limit, limited shoot- 

 ing-season, non-sale, and other usual pre- 

 cautions do not prove sufficient in prevent- 

 ing the numbers of the species from becom- 

 ing unduly depleted, then it should be pro- 

 tected by a closed season of a few years' 

 duration in order to allow the bird to re- 

 cuperate in numbers. 



A law placing the Quail on the song-bird 

 list, or in other words giving it perpetual 

 closed season, is likely to have a tendency to 

 defeat the very object for which the bill was 

 enacted. The class of people that has taken 

 most interest in this bird in the United States 

 is the organized sportsmen. In many states 

 these bodies, representing thousands of good, 

 worth-while citizens, in order to perpetuate 

 their opportunities to go afield with gun and 

 dog, have expended much time and large 

 sums of money in feeding Quail during peri- 

 ods of heavy snows and have also been re- 

 sponsible for the introduction of tens of 

 thousands of Quail for the purpose of restock- 

 ng depleted coveys. Many of these organi- 

 zations are also active in apprehending and 

 reporting those who kill the Quail by illegal 

 methods or at unseasonable times. 



It is my opinion that, especially in many of 

 the northern and central states, the Quail 

 today would be almost as rare as the Passen- 



ger Pigeon if it had not been for the efforts 

 of the game-protective organizations of 

 sportsmen who have long been the chief 

 active force in securing and encouraging the 

 enforcement of laws for its preservation. If 

 in attempting to protect Quail the bird is 

 removed for all time from the list of birds 

 that may ever be hunted, you virtually take 

 from it the solicitous protective influences 

 of the one large class of our citizens which has 

 done most for its protection in the past. 



This Association has many fights with 

 sportsmen's organizations on the subject of 

 whether the Bobolink, Meadowlark, and 

 some other birds should be regarded as game- 

 birds. However, the wise directors of an 

 organization working for reform do not allow 

 their zeal to carry them beyond the bound- 

 aries of their true functions and objects. 



My experience has been that in most in- 

 stances the fortunes of the Quail may with a 

 fair degree of safety be left in the hands of 

 the game-protective associations which have 

 an intense personal interest in the preserva- 

 tion of the species. 



If it comes to a fight for recognition of 

 proprietorship of the bird between the land- 

 owners on one side and the people who desire 

 to hunt them on the other, and in which, 

 therefore, the fortunes of the Quail occupy a 

 secondary consideration, the matter assumes 

 a little different aspect, and yet the well- 

 being of the bird is still at stake. 



You may always count upon the support 

 of this organization to fight to the limit of its 

 powers to any factors which threaten the 

 continued existence of all desirable species 

 and if the status of the Quail in your state 

 demands a closed season for a term of years 

 to insure its protection we shall be glad to 

 lend our support to a bill to attain this end. 



Regretting that I do not feel at liberty to 

 accept your invitation, permit me to remain, 

 Very truly yours, 

 T. Gilbert Pearson, President. 



THE WYOMING ELK SITUATION 



The officials of the Government Bureau of 

 Biological Survey state that a good increase 

 from the survivors of the southern Yellow- 

 stone elk herd is looked for this year, in view 

 of the unusually favorable winter just past. 

 Last year's rains, it is said, produced a plenti- 

 ful growth of feed on the ranges, and as a 

 result the elk are reported to be in excel- 

 lent condition, with the prospect of only 

 a normal death-rate, instead of a repeti- 

 tion of the heavy mortality of the winter 

 of 1919-20, due to lack of forage and a 

 severe winter. 



Reports from representatives of the de- 

 partment engaged in the work of seeing to the 

 welfare of the elk say that in the district 

 tributary to Jackson Hole, including the 

 Gros Ventre and Buffalo Fork valleys, the 

 elk now remaining of the southern herd num- 

 ber about 9,000, having been reduced to this 

 number from almost 20,000 in 1919. There 

 was such a shortage of feed in the winter of 

 1919-20, resulting from the severe drought of 

 the previous summer, that in addition to hay 

 purchased and fed by the state it was also 

 necessary for the Federal Government to 



