414 USEFUL BIRDS. 



them with houses will always be their friend. Boys should 

 be taught to exchange the gun for the camera, the sketch 

 book, or the note book. Children should be cautioned not 

 to disturb the nests of birds during the breeding season ; but 

 the nest census, taken after the leaves have fallen, is instruct- 

 ive and harmless. 



An educational propaganda should be carried on in those 

 States in which the birds that breed in Massachusetts or 

 pass through it are killed in their migrations. Every State 

 should have an official economic ornithologist, among whose 

 duties should be investigation of the relations of birds to 

 insect and other pests, and the production of popular leaflets 

 and newspaper articles on birds and their conservation. 

 When public sentiment in favor of bird protection is thor- 

 oughly aroused, then, and not till then, will effective laws 

 be enacted, respected, and enforced. 



Game Protection. 



The conservation of fish and game is a vital preliminary 

 step in bird protection. 



It is plain that, having necessarily destroyed the larger 

 predatory animals, man must hold in check the creatures 

 on which they formerly fed. This is the task of the angler 

 and the sportsman, and it is a legitimate one, in so far as 

 it disposes of only the surplus fish, mammals, and birds ; 

 but the tendency to go farther than this must be sharply 

 curbed, for wherever the larger game mammals and game 

 birds are exterminated, people begin to shoot the smaller 

 species. So long as the supply of game is kept up, just so 

 long are the song birds comparatively safe. 



A mere glance at the history of game legislation in 

 Massachusetts or any other eastern State is enough to make 

 one wonder that any native game now exists. From the 

 settlement of Massachusetts until the year 1817 there was 

 practically no limit to the amount of bird shooting that any 

 one might legally do at any season of the year. Until 

 that year the only legislation enacted regarding birds pro- 

 vided bounties for their destruction. Among other species, 

 the Ruffed Grouse or Partridge was the victim of local 



