BIRD-PROTECTIVE LAWS 



Government Explanations. — " More than fifty sep- 

 arate seasons for migratory birds were provided 

 under statutes in force in 1912. This multiplicity 

 of regulations of zones to suit special localities has 

 apparently had anything but a beneficial effect on 

 the abundance of game. The effort to provide 

 special seasons for each kind of game in each locality 

 merely makes a chain of open seasons for migratory 

 birds and allows the continued destruction of such 

 birds from the beginning of the first season to the 

 close of the last. It is believed that better results 

 will follow the adoption of the fewest possible 

 number of zones and so regulating the seasons in 

 each as to include the time when such species is in 

 the best condition or at the maximum of abundance 

 during the autumn. For this reason the country 

 has been divided into two zones, as nearly equal as 

 possible, one to include the states in which migratory 

 game birds breed, or would breed if given reasonable 

 protection, the other the states in which compara- 

 tively few species breed, but in which many winter. 

 [ 185 ] 



