48 LEGISLATION FOB THE PROTECTION OF BIROS. 



ACT PROPOSED BY THE AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 1 



An Act for the protection of birds and their nests and eggs. 



Section 1. No person shall, within the State of , kill or catch or have in his 



or her possession, living or dead, any wild bird other than a game bird, nor shall 

 purchase, offer, or expose for dale any such wild bird after it has been killed or 

 caught. No part of the plumage, skin, or body of any bird protected by this section 

 shall be sold or had in possession for sale. For the purposes of this act the follow- 

 ing only shall be considered game birds: The Anatidse, commonly known as swans, 

 geese, brant, and river and sea ducks; the Eallidae, commonly known as rails, coots, 

 mud-hens, and gallinules; the Limicolse, commonly known as shore birds, plovers, 

 surf birds, snipe, woodcock, sandpipers, tatlers, and curlews; the Gallinse, commonly 

 known as wild turkeys, grouse, prairie chickens, pheasants, partridges, and quails. 



Sec 2. No person shall, within the State of ■ , take or needlessly destroy the 



nest or the eggs of any wild bird nor shall have such nest or eggs in his or her 

 possession. 



Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be guilty of 

 a misdemeanor, and shall be liable to a fine of five dollars for each offense, and an 

 additional fine of five dollars for each bird, living or dead, or part of bird, or nest 

 and eggs possessed in violation of this act, or to imprisonment for ten days, or both, 

 at the discretion of the court. 



Sec 4. Sections 1, 2, and 3 of this act shall not apply to any person holding a certifi- 

 cate giving the right to take birds and their nests and eggs for scientific purposes, as 

 provided for in section 5 of this act. 



•Sec 5. Certificates may be granted by [here follow the names of the persons, if 

 any, duly authorized by this act to grant such certificates], or by any incorporated 

 society of natural history in the State, through such persons or officers as said society 

 may designate, to any properly accredited person of the age of fifteen years or 

 upward, permitting the holder thereof to collect birds, their nests or eggs, for strictly 

 scientific purposes only. In order to obtain such certificate the applicant for the 

 sanje must present to the person or persons having the power to grant said certificate 

 written testimonials from two well-known scientific men, certifying to the good char- 

 acter and fitness of said applicant to be intrusted with such privilege; must pay to 

 said persons or officers one dollar to defray the necessary expenses attending the 

 granting of such certificates; and must file with said persons or officers a properly 

 executed bond, in the sum of two hundred dollars, signed by two responsible citi 

 zens of the State as sureties. This bond shall be forfeited to the State, and the cer- 

 tificate become void, upon proof that the holder of such a certificate has killed any 

 bird, or taken the nest or eggs of any bird, for other than the purposes named in 

 sections 4 and 5 of this act, and shall be further subject for each such offense to the 

 penalties provided therefor in section 3 of this act. 



Sec 6. The certificates authorized by this act shall be in force for one year only 

 from the date of their issue, and shall not be transferable. 



Sec 7. The English or European house sparrow {Passer domesticus) is not included 

 among the birds protected by this act. 



Sec 8. All acts or parts of acts, heretofore passed, inconsistent with or contrary 

 to the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. 



Sec 9. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 



x The original wording of the sections 1 and 2 has been modified in accordance 

 with suggestions made by Mr. William Dutcher, and approved by Mr. Witmer Stone, 

 chairman of the committee on protection of North American birds. These sections 

 have been recast and somewhat elaborated, the penalties combined as section 3 but 

 the other sections have been merely renumbered. 



