36 



Bird- Lore 



are engaged in caging valuable insectivorous 

 birds to export for their pecuniary gain. 

 Louisiana has over $140,000,000 invested in 

 agriculture; why should this enormous 

 moneyed interest be jeopardized by a few 

 men whose entire invested capital probably 

 does not amount to $10,000? 



The New Jersey Audubon Society is 

 making a determined effort to prevent the 

 passage of a law permitting the killing of 

 Robins by fruit-growers, and calls for the 

 assistance of all bird-lovers. 



The annual report of the Chairman of the. 

 National Committee is now ready for distri- 

 bution. It gives in detail the status of 

 Audubon work, legislation and warden 

 service in the United States. Ail the Au- 

 dubon Societies are urged to circulate this 

 report liberally, as it cannot fail to do good. 

 It is especially important that every local 

 secretary should have a copy at the earliest 

 possible date, in order that they may know 

 what is being done in other sections of the 

 country. — W. D. 



Bird Protection Abroad — III. New Zealand 



By T. S. Palmer 

 (Concluded from Vol. V., No. 5. p. 174.) 



The amendments to the New Zealand 

 Act of 1880 are nearly all brief. In i88i 

 authority was given the colonial secretary to 

 issue permits to persons to destroy game in- 

 juring crops on their own lands. In 1884 

 rangers were granted the powers of con- 

 stables, with authority to seize guns, nets, 

 or any devices used in capturing game con- 

 trary to law. Under the Amendment Act 

 of 1886 all game is to be considered as im- 

 ported game without requiring proof of the 

 fact of importation. The Amendment Act 

 of 1889 prohibited the use of guns larger 

 than No. 10 bore, required licenses for sale 

 of native game, and a record of all sales of 

 game, fixed an open season for Godwits 

 during February, March and April, and 

 required acclimatization societies to file an- 

 nual statements of their accounts with the 

 colonial treasurer. The Amendment Act 

 of 1895 contained two important provisions: 

 one prohibiting the importation of any ani- 

 mal, bird, reptile, or insect without a per- 



mit from the Minister of Agriculture, and 

 the other authorizing the Governor, on 

 recommendation of the colonial secretary, to 

 prohibit the sale of game or native game in 

 any district when necessary to prevent un- 

 due destruction of the species. In 1900 ex- 

 port of game was prohibited except under 

 permit from the colonial secretary, and 

 every third year, beginning with 1901, was 

 made a close season for the native Pigeon, 

 Pukeko ' and ' Kaka,' or native parrots of 

 the genus Nestor, one species of which, the 

 ' Kea ' of the Maoris, has become well 

 known on account of its remarkable habit 

 of attacking sheep. 



The object of presenting this array of 

 apparently uninteresting details is to furnish 

 not only a resume of New Zealand game 

 legislation, but also to afford an opportunity 

 of comparing the game laws of the colony 

 with those of the United States. It must be 

 admitted that ' The Animals' Protection 

 Act of 1880' was in advance of most of our 

 state laws of the same period, and, with its 

 heavy penalties and provision for rangers, 

 was more likely to be respected. It has 

 stood for twenty-three years with less change 

 than almost any of our state laws during the 

 same time, possibly on account of the broad 

 powers given to the Governor in modifying 

 the game list, shortening or closing the 

 open seasons, and prohibiting the sale of 

 game, which adapt the law to local condi- 

 tions and obviate the necessity for radical 

 amendments. It is interesting to note that 

 New Zealand prohibited the introduction of 

 injurious species twenty years earlier than 

 the United States, and required permits 

 from the Department of Agriculture for all 

 foreign animals and birds five years before 

 Congress adopted similar provisions in the 

 Lacey Act. Finally, in marked contrast 

 with our practice, she has found it advan- 

 tageous, in spite of her varied climatic con- 

 ditions, to have a uniform open season of 

 moderate length for all game instead of sea- 

 sons of varying length extending over eight 

 or nine months for different birds. Spring 

 shooting is thus done away with and more 

 effectual protection given to migratory shore- 

 birds and waterfowl than is possible under 

 our present laws. 



