GAME-LAWS 263 



"were not migratory; they lived their lives in the 

 locality where they were bom, and they rightfully 

 belonged to their home State. But with ducks, 

 shore-birds, pigeons, and snipe the facts were en- 

 tirely different; no one State could call them its 

 own; they might visit a dozen States during the 

 year. 



This chaotic condition of State game-laws was 

 finally recognized by the Federal Government as 

 highly detrimental to the life of the migratory 

 species, and after some hesitation the Government 

 established game-laws of its own. It asserted 

 that all migratory birds which traversed several 

 States during the flying season were its property 

 — that they belonged to the United States as a 

 whole and not to any single individual State. 

 Federal laws were accordingly passed for their 

 protection. 



These laws were presently upheld in the United 

 States Supreme Court and now form the founda- 

 tion of the present system of protection for migra- 

 tory game-birds. The individual States, however, 

 still retain their right to control the non-migratory 

 species, whether native or introduced into their 

 territory. Thus there are to-day two kinds of 

 game-laws in the United States : the State and the 

 Federal. 



Dr. T. S. Palmer of the United States Biolog- 

 ical Survey set forth in "Bird Lore" in 1902 a 



