ANOTHER STRUGGLE FOR THE MIGRATORY 



BIRD LAW 



ANY new law that confers far-reaching benefits on bird 

 life by interfering with bird slaughter is certain to 

 be attacked, early and often. The attacking parties will 

 be the most selfish and unscrupulous of the men whose priv- 

 ileges are reduced or obliterated. For these reasons, the 

 friends of wild life must exercise eternal vigilance, and no 

 matter how peace-loving they may be by natural inclina- 

 tion, they must always be ready to defend their cause. 



Last spring a most unjustifiable and unnecessary strug- 

 gle was forced upon us for the preservation of the national 

 migratory bird law. It was so totally uncalled for that 

 to the defenders of wild life it was exceedingly exasperat- 

 ing. The object at stake was $50,000 for the enforcement 

 of the law during the year 1914-15. As an instance of what 

 we must always be prepared to meet, any and every year, 

 its history is interesting and valuable. 



The contest referred to originated in Arter's Hall, Kan- 

 sas City, Mo., on February 2, 1914. At that time and place 

 there met about 150 men calling themselves "sportsmen," 

 who one and all were bitterly opposed to the prohibition 

 of the spring shooting of ducks and geese as enacted by the 

 new law. They declared that their constitutional rights 

 had been invaded, because the state law of Missouri had 

 (very wrongly!) always given them the right to shoot 

 waterfowl up to May 1. On the ground that the shooting 

 of wild fowl during their mating season is inimical to the 

 permanent preservation of the wild fowl and shore birds, 

 the first regulations of the federal law stopped, on January 

 1, all shooting of migratory game birds in the states of 

 Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Illinois. 



In Arter's Hall, on February 2, the first steps were taken 



