DEFINITIONS OF GAME BIEDS. 13 



It will be noticed that in one respect there is a wide difference between 

 English and American laws. Under the former all birds are treated 

 alike and are protected only during five months that cover the breeding 

 season, whereas in the United States it is customary to divide birds 

 into two or more categories and protect game birds only during the 

 breeding season, and the other protected species at all times. As will 

 be explained later (see p. 45), only a few States, notably Georgia, 

 North Carolina, and Tennessee, treat all birds alike, but these States 

 really protect few species besides game birds. The English law has 

 the advantage of being more comprehensive than most of our statutes, 

 but the principle of establishing protection only during the breeding 

 season would be open to serious objection in many States on account of 

 the tendency to class a number of insectivorous birds as game. Under 

 that plan such birds would be killed for market in large numbers 

 during the winter months. 



DEFINITIONS OF GAME BIRDS. 



From the standpoint of the sportsman, birds are either game birds 

 or non-game birds, but from the legislative standpoint they may be 

 roughly divided into three groups: (1) Species which should be pro- 

 tected at all times, as thrushes; (2) species which may be killed at cer- 

 tain seasons for food or sport, as quail; (3) species which are injurious 

 and therefore excluded from protection, as the English sparrow. The 

 first group is usually called ' insectivorous ' or ' song ' birds, the sec- 

 ond 'game,' and the third 'injurious' birds; but these groups are 

 necessarily arbitrary, and their limits are by no means certain. About 

 1,125 species and subspecies of birds inhabit North America north 

 of Mexico, and of these only about 200 (18 percent) can properly be 

 considered game. (See p. 25.) 



As the wording of modern protective laws turns largely on the 

 definition of ' game birds,' it may be well to note some of the differ- 

 ent interpretations which have been applied to this term. A game 

 bird, according to the Century Dictionary is " a bird ordinarily pur- 

 sued for sport or profit, or which is or may be the subject of a game 

 law." Bouvier's Law Dictionary defines game in general as " birds 

 and beasts of a wild nature obtained by fowling and hunting." In 

 different State laws the term is defined in various ways without special 

 regard for uniformity. Thus Maine * fixes an annual close season for 

 ' game birds,' and enumerates under this head the wood duck, dusky 

 duck (commonly called black duck), teal, gray duck, ruffed grouse 

 (commonly called partridge), woodcock, quail, plover, snipe, and sand- 

 pipers. In the Michigan law 2 the term 'game bird' is construed 



1 Eev. Stat, chap. 30, sec. 11. 



2 Public Acts, 1897, p. 202, sec. 21. 



