THE BIRD STUDY BOOK 



This new federal statute did not in itself change 

 any of the existing game laws, but it gave authority 

 to certain functionaries to make such regulations 

 as they deemed wise, necessary, and proper to extend 

 better protection to all migratory game and insect- 

 eating birds in the United States. The Secretary of 

 Agriculture, to whose department this unusual 

 duty was assigned, read the law thoughtfully, con- 

 cluded that the task did not come within the bounds 

 of his personal capabilities, and very wisely turned 

 the whole matter over to a committee of three ex- 

 perts chosen from one of the department bureaus 

 and known as the Biological Survey. 



The IVork of the Committee. — ^This committee at 

 once began the preparation of a series of regulations 

 to give effect to the new statute. Drawing exten- 

 sively from the records stored in the Survey offices, 

 and seasoning these with their own good judgment 

 and knowledge of existing conditions, they brought 

 out in a period of three months and nine days, or to 

 be more precise, on June 23, 191 3, a set of ten regula- 

 [180] 



