204 



Bird - Lore 



seas has been so largely reduced? One is 

 constrained to answer this question in the 

 affirmative after reading number three of 

 the "Conditions of the Contest" which the 

 E. I. duPont de Nemours and Company's 

 circular puts forth, and which reads as fol- 

 lows: "To receive credit in the contest, 



Crows must be killed with shot-gun or 

 rifle." In other words, the E. I. duPont 

 de Nemours and Company, while very 

 solicitous to protect the farmers' crops 

 from the ravages of the Crows, will award 

 prizes for dead Crows only if they have 

 been killed by the use of gun-powder ! 



THE EAGLE LAW OF ALASKA 



In response to a letter from this office to 

 Governor Thomas Riggs, Jr., urging the 

 repeal of the law in the territory of Alaska, 

 which provides for a bounty of 50 cents 

 on every American Eagle killed, the follow- 

 ing answer from him has been received: 



"A bill was introduced in the present 

 current- Legislature, the object of which 

 was the repeal of the existing law, but failed 

 of passage, it having been shown that the 

 Eagle is very destructive of the game- and 

 fish-supply of the territory, which I think 

 is quite probable, as Eagles have been, 

 and are still, very plentiful. I believe that 

 the bounty should be extended to other 

 predatory birds, namely, Hawks and 

 Owls, which destroy the food birds. 



"The Alaska Fish and Game Club has 

 given the question a great deal of study, 

 and it is of the opinion that predatory birds 

 do a great damage to the other wild life of 

 the territory. I am in receipt of a letter 

 from one of my correspondents on the sub- 

 ject of game, in which he states that he 

 recently destroyed an Eagle's aerie which 

 contained the bones of a large number of 

 lambs of the wild mountain sheep." 



From another correspondent in Juneau 

 we learn that the number of Eagles killed, 

 for which bounty has been paid by the 

 territory of Alaska, between the dates of 

 April 30, 1917, and April 10, 1919, is 

 5,600. 



Not only did the Territorial Legislature 

 recently refuse to repeal this bounty law, 

 but evidently their stand was approved by 

 the Alaska Fish and Game Club. Our cor- 

 respondent states that at a meeting of the 

 Club, held during the session of the Legis- 

 lature, at which the subject was discussed, 

 "Strong opposition was shown (to the 

 Eagle) and a tendency to include Ducks, 

 Gulls, and other aquatic birds, feeding 

 from fish, under the same bounty law as 

 Eagles." 



Mr. C. D. Garfield, Secretary of the 

 Alaska Fish and Game Club, who is quoted 

 above, states, however, "During the next 

 two years we shall attempt to gain more 

 knowledge regarding the alleged depreda- 

 tions of the Eagle, so as to be more intelli- 

 gently advised in the future." 



GAME-LA^A/^ ENFORCEMENT IN ALABAMA 



The following letter was recently re- 

 ceived from the Hon. John H. Wallace, Jr., 

 Commissioner, Department of Game and 

 Fish of the state of Alabama: 



"It affords me a very great deal of pleas- 

 ure to advise you that twenty-five indi- 

 viduals, indicted in the United States 

 court at Montgomery, Ala., for violation 

 of the migratory bird-treaty act by killing 

 Doves out of season, have just come for- 



ward and entered a plea of guilty. These 

 persons were indicted upon information 

 furnished by me to the United States 

 District Attorney, and their conviction has 

 had a most salutary effect upon the migra- 

 tory bird situation in Alabama. 



"Alabama claims the distinction of 

 having secured more convictions under the 

 migratory bird treaty than all the other 

 states combined." 



