146 



Bird -Lore 



houses, although for a lime success seemed 

 unlikely. 



Great credit is due to advanced sports- 

 men, the officers of the State Grange, 

 Patrons of Husbandry, the State Board 

 of Agriculture, and the State Audubon 

 Society for the work done for the bill. 

 Mr. John J. Dunn, Secretary of the State 

 Board of Agriculture, and Representative 

 George Phillips, of Greene, were particu- 

 larly active, and the attitude of the Bird 

 Commissioners of Rh(jde Island had 

 great weight. 



Your agent drew an anti-spring shoot- 

 ing bill, which was introduced and reported 

 favorably, but it was laid over by agree- 

 ment, and, pending the passage of the 

 hunters' registration bill, it was re-com- 

 mitted to the committee and remained 

 unenacted at the close of the session. A 

 bill to establish a closed season of several 

 years on all birds and game was referred 

 to a committee, but not reported. 



Connecticut. — A mass of adverse 

 legislation has been introduced in Con- 

 necticut, but, thus far, no bad bills have 

 passed. 



Five bills to amend the present excellent 

 law for the protection of wild fowl and 

 shore birds were introduced. Four of these 

 have been killed by the Committee on 

 Fisheries and Game, and one has been 

 tabled. It is expected that a strong fight 

 will be made to pass it. 



A bill to prohibit shooting from power 

 boats has passed the Senate, but has not 

 yet passed the House, and its fate is un- 

 certain. 



A bill providing for a closed season of 

 ten years for the Wood Duck has become 

 a law. 



It is impossible, within the limits al- 

 lotted to this letter, to give details of legis- 

 lative work in Maine. These, and the 

 result of matters now pending in Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut, will be given 

 later. — E. H. FoRBUSH. 



Legislation in Other States 



South Carolina. — Bills for amending 

 the game laws and providing protection 



for certain birds now unprotected had 

 favorable consideration on the part of 

 the committees from the House and 

 Senate, and a poll of both houses indicates 

 that these bills will pass without serious 

 opposition. The legislature had so much 

 important work to do at the session just 

 closed that it was unable to reach our bills 

 on the calendar, but they are set among 

 the first for consideration when the legis- 

 lature convenes in January, 1910. 



Missouri. — Four years ago, the Forty- 

 third General Assembly passed a law 

 providing for the protection of game and 

 fish, and establishing a system of game 

 wardens for the enforcement of this law. 

 This wise and beneficient law, one of the 

 best in existence in the United States, 

 was repealed in 1907 through the eflForts 

 of those who were opposed to the law on 

 selfish grounds. 



At the present session of the legislature, 

 a bill, practically identical with the one 

 passed in 1905, known as the Walmsley 

 Law, was introduced, and Governor 

 Herbert S. Hadley considered prompt and 

 favorable action on this bill of such great 

 importance that he issued a special mes- 

 sage to the Forty-fifth General Assembly. 

 Among other statements, the Governor 

 said "that Quail and other game had been 

 slaughtered in large numbers throughout 

 the state, and sold upon the markets of 

 the large cities through game dealers 

 regularly engaged in this business." He 

 also made the following very pertinent and 

 forcible statement: 



"The value of birds to the agriculturist 

 and the horticulturist is no longer a matter 

 of speculation. Without the aid of birds, 

 the production of harvests of grain and 

 yields of fruit would, in a short time, 

 become difficult, if not impossible. The 

 existence of the insects which accomplish 

 these fosses can be largely avoided by the 

 prevention, through a proper game law, 

 of the destruction of the birds which make 

 the existence of these insects in large num- 

 bers impossible." 



Happily, Governor Hadley's strong 

 presentation of the case of the birds had 

 the desircfl ciTcct, and the l)ill became a 



