26 LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 



particularly the egrets and terns, have been almost exterminated along 

 the southern and eastern coasts of the United States. 1 



The value of herons, terns, and grebes is not generally appreciated, 

 and even the services of the gulls as scavengers are recognized in com- 

 paratively few places. As a result, birds of plume being neither game, 

 song, nor 'insectivorous,' are not protected by ordinary game laws 

 unless by chance they happen to be mentioned in the list of protected 

 species. Thus, by a curious perversity of circumstances, the species 

 which are killed most mercilessly and in the greatest numbers are the 

 very ones which are accorded the least protection. 



Plume birds as well as insectivorous birds are protected in States 

 which have comprehensive laws prohibiting the killing of all birds 

 except game birds and certain designated species commonly considered 

 injurious. But these States are few in number, and include only 

 Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, 3 New York, 3 Rhode Island, 

 and Vermont and also the Provinces of Manitoba and Ontario. 



The only States that have special legislation for plume birds are 

 Florida and Texas. In her law of 1877, Florida prohibited the destruc- 

 tion of nests, eggs, or young of any sea bird or bird of plume under 

 a fine not exceding $20; two years later she made the killing of any 

 'birds for the purpose of obtaining plumes' by persons who were 

 not citizens of the United States a crime punishable by a fine of not 

 more than $100. Later, in 1891, the killing of cranes, egrets, ibises, 

 curlews, or herons for purposes of sale, or the purchasing or trad- 

 ing in such birds, was made a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not 

 exceeding $300.* The plume-bird law of Texas, enacted April 13, 1891, 

 declares the killing of sea gulls, terns, shearwaters, egrets, herons, 

 and pelicans a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of from $5 to $25. 5 



In addition to these two States, Maine has recently enacted a special 

 law protecting terns; Maryland protects both gulls and terns; New 

 Jersey and Pennsylvania protect these and similar birds under the 

 term 'web-footed wild fowl;' Michigan, under the term 'wild water- 

 fowl;' Minnesota and Wisconsin, under ' aquatic fowl;' while Michigan, 



1 For an account of the slaughter of herons in the South, see Scott, Auk, IV, pp. 

 135, 213, 273, 1887; Chapman, Handbook Birds East. N. Am., p. 134, 1895. On the 

 extermination of terns, see Chapman, ibid., p. 82; Bird Lore, I, pp. 205-206, December, 

 1899. On the destruction of grebes, see Bailey, Bird Lore, II, p. 34, February, 1900. 



2 In Massachusetts exceptions are made in the case of gulls and terns, which are 

 protected only from May to September, inclusive. 



s In New York the protection of gulls and terns is practically reduced to four months 

 by the clause which prohibits the killing of ' web-footed wild fowl ' only between 

 the last day of April and the last day of August; exceptions are also made in the case 

 of grebes and bitterns, which are protected only during the same period. 



* Rev. Stat., 1892, sees. 2755-2756; Appendix, chap. 4050. 



5 Rev. Stat., 1895, Penal Code, p. 100. 



