CHAPTER IX 



BIRD-PROTECTIVE LAWS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT — 

 HOW LAWS ARE MADE 



ES for the protection of wild birds and animals 

 have been enacted in greater numbers in 

 the United States than in any other coun- 

 try in the world. In a Government Bulletin on 

 American Game Protection, Dr. T. S. Palmer states 

 that the earliest game laws were probably the hunt- 

 ing privileges granted in 1629 by the West India 

 Company to persons planting colonies in the New 

 Netherlands, and the provisions granting the right 

 of hunting in the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Ordi- 

 nance of 1647. As soon as the United States Gov- 

 ernment was formed, in 1 776, the various States be- 

 gan to make laws on the subject, and these have 

 increased in numbers with the passing of years. For 

 example, between the years 1901 to 191 o, North 

 [167] 



