﻿GAME LAWS FOR 1913. 37 



SHIPMENT OF GAME. 



Shipment is the most important feature of the traffic in game. If 

 permitted without limitation it is a great factor in game destruction. 

 A realization of this fact has induced many of the States to prohibit 

 export of all or certain kinds of game, and in a few instances all 

 transportation even within the State. The subject may be conven- 

 iently considered under the following subheads: " Federal laws," 

 and "State laws prohibiting export." 



FEDERAL LAWS. 



Federal laws affecting the shipment of game comprise the statutes 

 regulating interstate commerce in game and the importation of birds 

 from foreign countries, and those providing for the protection of 

 birds and game on territory under immediate Federal jurisdiction. 



They comprise: (1) Sections 241 to 244 of the Criminal Code (35 

 Stat., 1137), regulating the importation and interstate shipment of 

 game; 1 (2) the tariff act, imposing duties on game, skins, and feathers 

 imported from foreign countries; (3) the act regulating the intro- 

 duction of eggs of game birds; (4) the game law of Alaska; and (5) 

 provisions for protecting birds in the national parks, 2 national forests, 

 and other Government reservations. These laws are more fully dis- 

 cussed in Bulletin No. 16 of the Biological Survey, entitled "Digest 

 of Game Laws for 1901" (pp. 69-79). The full text of the new 

 Alaskan game law of 1908, with the regulations now in force, is 

 published in circulars of the Biological Survey. Sections 241, 242, 

 243, and 244 of the Criminal Code of the United States are as follows: 



Sec. 241. The importation into the United States, or any Territory or District 

 thereof, of the mongoose, the so-called "flying foxes" or fruit bats, the English spar- 

 row, the starling, and such other birds and animals as the Secretary of Agriculture 

 may from time to time declare to be injurious to the interests of agriculture or horti- 

 culture, is hereby prohibited; and all such birds and animals shall, upon arrival at 

 any port of the United States, be destroyed or returned at the expense of the owner. 

 No person shall import into the United States or into any Territory or District thereof, 

 any foreign wild animal or bird, except under special permit from the Secretary of 

 Agriculture: Provided, That nothing in this section shall restrict the importation of 

 natural history specimens for museums or scientific collections, or of certain cage 

 birds, such as domesticated canaries, parrots, or such other birds as the Secretary of 

 Agriculture may designate. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to 

 make regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this section. 



Sec. 242. It shall be unlawful for any person to deliver to any common carrier for 

 transportation, or for any common carrier to transport from any State, Territory, or 

 District of the United States, to any other State, Territory, or District thereof, any 

 foreign animals or birds, the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies or 

 parts thereof of any wild animals or birds, where such animals or birds have been 



1 These sections are sections 2, 3, and 4 of the Lacey Act as amended. 

 ■ 2 The law governing the Yellowstone Park prohibits any person, or any stage, express, or railway com- 

 pany from receiving for transportation animals, birds, or fish taken in the park, under a penalty not exceed- 

 ing $300. (28 Stat., ch. 72, sec. 4.) 



