10 LEGISLATION FOE THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 



just been passed by Congress to regulate interstate commerce in game 

 killed in violation of local laws. (See page 52.) 



Similar, and perhaps greater difficulties exist abroad, but several 

 countries of the Old World, including. England, France, Germany, 

 Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, and even Japan, have taken 

 steps to prevent the indiscriminate slaughter of useful birds. While 

 the limits of this bulletin preclude any account of the regulations that 

 have been adopted in Europe, it is interesting to observe that the 

 importance of uniformity of action between neighboring countries is 

 fully appreciated, as shown by the convention entered into by France 

 and Switzerland in 1885. 1 



Protective legislation was originally intended to secure merely the 

 preservation of birds which were killed for food or sport, but as 

 time went on it was extended gradually to other species. It is this 

 later phase of the subject, the protection of birds not strictly game, 

 which will be discussed here; but before proceeding to the considera- 

 tion of the laws now in force or the defects in existing legislation, it 

 may be worth while to review very briefly the development of pro- 

 tective laws in the United States. 



HISTORY OF PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION. 



The necessity of restricting the slaughter of useful birds began to 

 be recognized in the last century, if not before. In 1791 New York 

 enacted a law protecting the heath hen from April 1 to October 5. 

 Some years later, in 1818, Massachusetts passed a law to prevent the 

 wanton destruction at "improper times" of "birds which are useful 

 and profitable to the citizens either as articles of food or instruments 

 in the hands of Providence to destroy many noxious insects, grubs 

 and caterpillars, which are prejudicial or destructive to vegetation, 

 fruits and grain." This law prohibited the killing of quail or par- 

 tridges between March 1 and September 1, and of woodcock, snipe, 

 larks, or robins from March 1 to July 4. Larks and robins were pro- 

 tected merely as game, and it was not until the middle of the century 

 that birds not usually killed for food received the protection which is 

 now generally accorded them. 



In 1850 both Connecticut and New Jersey passed special laws for the 

 protection of insectivorous birds. The New Jersey law, approved 

 March 6, 1850, was entitled "An act to prevent the destruction of 

 small and harmless birds," and is quoted in full, since it is of interest 

 as one of the first of its kind in the United States: 



1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of tlie State of New Jersey, That it 

 shall not be lawful in this State for any person to shoot, or in any other maimer to 

 kill or destroy, except upon his own premises, any of the following description of 



1 The text of the convention of August 6, 1885, and a brief resume of protective 

 legislation in Europe may be found in the report of M. de la Sicotiere, Oongres Inter- 

 national d' Agriculture, 6° section, Protection ties Oiseaux, pp. 1-20, Paris, 1889. 



