520 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



RELATION OF MIGRATORY BIRDS TO FORESTS, THE 



STATE AND THE NATION 



" The necessity of the preservation of bird life to the continuance of the 

 life of our national forests, and of the preservation of our agricultural 

 resources or, in other words, the dependence of forest and plant life upon 

 bird life, is thus demonstrated." 



Louis Marshall. 



Brief to Supreme Court of the United States, 

 October Term, 1919, No. 609, p. 41. 



" On December 8, 1916, a treaty between the United States and Great 

 Britain was proclaimed by the President. It recited that many species of 

 birds in their annual migrations traversed many parts of the United States 

 and of Canada, that they were of great value as a source of food and in 

 destroying insects injurious to vegetation, but were in danger of extermina- 

 tion through lack of adequate protection. * * * Wild birds are not in 

 the possession of anyone; and possession is the beginning of ownership. 

 The whole foundation of the State's rights is the presence within their 

 jurisdiction of birds that yesterday had not arrived, tomorrow may be in 

 another State, and in a week a thousand miles away. 



" Here a national interest of very nearly the first magnitude is involved. 

 It can be protected only by national action in concert with that of another 

 power. The subject matter is only transitorily within the State and has no 

 permanent habitat therein. But for the treaty and the statute there soon 

 might be no birds for any powers to deal with. We see nothing in the 

 Constitution that compels the Government to sit by while a food supply is 

 cut off and the protectors of our forests and our crops are destroyed. It 

 is not sufficient to rely upon the States. * * * We are of opinion that 

 the treaty and statute must be upheld." 



Justice Holmes. 



Decree, Supreme Court of the United States, 

 October Term, No. 609, 1919. 



