CHAPTER VI 



THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS 



WILD birds are now generally protected by 

 law. Wander where you will through 

 every province of Canada, and almost 

 every nook and corner of the United States, you will 

 find that the lawmaker has been there before you, 

 and has thrown over the birds the sheltering arm 

 of prohibitory statutes. Legislators are not usually 

 supposed to spend much energy on drafting and en- 

 acting measures unless it is thought that these will 

 result in practical benefit to at least some portion of 

 their constituents. Legislative bodies are not much 

 given to appropriating hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars annually for the enforcement of a law which 

 is purely sentimental in its nature. It is clear, there- 

 fore, that our law makers regard the wild bird life as 

 [ioi] 



