IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



cepting birds of prey, the migra- 

 tory aquatic birds, English spar- 

 row, and those which are useful 

 for food and the killing of which 

 at certain seasons of the year is 

 now permitted by law, or in any 

 manner destroy the eggs of such 

 birds as are hereby intended to 

 be protected from destruction, he 

 shall be deemed guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor, and on conviction 

 thereof, shall be fined not less 

 than five nor more than twenty- 

 five dollars. 



But persons killing birds for 

 scientific purposes, or for preser- 

 vation in museums and cabinets, 

 shall be exempt from the penal- 

 ties of this section, upon making 

 satisfactory proof of the purpose 

 for which they have killed any 

 such bird or birds." 



In the above section we notice 

 a number of exceptions, the first 

 of which is birds of prey. This 

 exception is too broad, to my 

 notion, and the exceptions should 

 be specific and on only those 

 species of raptories which the re- 

 searches of our government and 

 ornithologists in general have 

 proven to subsist mostly on poul- 

 try, game, and small birds and 

 not to apply to those species 

 which do immeasurable good in 

 the capture of small rodents and 

 insects, and a clause should be 



embodied giving permission to 

 shoot any and all species of rap- 

 tories, or members of the fam^ily 

 corvidce, which are found in the 

 act of depredating the poultry 

 yard, or game covert, or of des- 

 troying the eggs or young of our 

 native birds. 



"Migratory or acquatic birds," 

 as used in the above section, is 

 one of the many indefinite terms 

 in use among our legislators. If 

 this term is meant to apply to 

 rails, snipe, curlews, etc., it would 

 equally well apply to herons, bit- 

 terns, terns, gulls, etc., and we 

 would find all of these unprotect- 

 ed. 



If, on the other hand, it is 

 meant to apply only to ducks, 

 geese, etc., a very improbable 

 surmise, we find in this case that 

 the shooting of snipe, rail, etc., 

 is at all times illegal and that the 

 law is being constantly broken. 



Our gulls and terns do an im- 

 measurable good in the myriads 

 of insects they destroy and should 

 be rigidly protected, as should be 

 the snipe, curlews, and rails, 

 during the spring and summer 

 months, and these last should be 

 shot only during a regular open 

 season, as are our other game 

 birds. The English Sparrow is 

 the only bird specifically designa- 

 ted as without protection, but to 



