LEGISLATION FOE THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS OTHER 

 THAN GAME BIRDS. 



I. GENERAL DISCUSSION OF PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



Bird protection in its broadest sense appeals to many persons and 

 diverse interests, and its importance is becoming more generally 

 appreciated. The sportsman who values birds chiefly for the pleasure 

 derived from their pursuit as game, the market hunter who hunts 

 them solely for profit, the farmer who regards them in the light of 

 their relation to agriculture, and the many persons of every class who 

 derive enjoyment from their presence, are all interested in the ques- 

 tion of their preservation. The sportsman has long realized the 

 necessity for protective measures, but the farmer has only recently 

 learned to appreciate the full value of birds as insect destroyers. 

 More exact knowledge of their food habits has resulted in a higher 

 estimate of their utility on the farm, and demonstrated more clearly 

 than ever the necessity of active measures to insure their protection. 

 Recent years have also witnessed a greatly increased interest in birds 

 from the aesthetic standpoint, which has resulted in the formation of 

 numerous protective organizations known as Audubon societies. Still 

 bird destruction is going on z-apidly in the United States, and in many 

 regions there is a marked decrease in the abundance of certain species. 

 Cheap guns, lax laws, the mania for collecting and shooting, and more 

 especially the enormous demand for birds for market and for the 

 millinery trade, are responsible for this reduction in bird life. 



The protection of birds is a national, not a local, question. It deals 

 largely with migratory species which breed in one section, winter in 

 another, and traverse several iStates in passing to and from their 

 breeding grounds. Legislation on this subject belongs primarily 

 to the States, but if it is to accomplish its purpose in a country like 

 the United States, which, -exclusive of Alaska, extends through 24° of 

 latitude and 58° of longitude (an extent equal to two-thirds that of the 

 whole Continent of Europe), there must be greater harmony of action 

 between the several States. Absolute uniformity in the protective 

 laws of fifty distinct Commonwealths may be impossible of attainment, 

 but it is highly necessary, and seems to be feasible, to secure a much 

 greater degree of uniformity than at present exists. State laws may 

 be supplemented to some extent by federal legislation, and a bill has 



