PROTECTION. » 



Protective laws intended to shorten the open seasons, to prohibit 

 spring shooting, eliminate destructive methods of hunting, and to 

 stop sale and export have often provoked opposition from those who 

 maintain that it is futile to attempt the protection of migratory birds 

 in the North if they are not equally well protected on their winter 

 feeding grounds in the South. 



Recent experience, however, shows that under certain circumstances 

 the results of local protection are immediate and very striking. In 

 the San Luis Valley, Colorado, protection afforded ducks within an 

 inclosure about an artificial pond, fed by an artesian well, has caused 

 the birds to resort to the pond in increasing numbers each winter. 

 At Palm Beach, Fla., where no hunting is allowed within a mile of the 

 town, ducks have become so tame that they will come within a few 

 feet for food, while outside the mile limit the same birds are so wild 

 that it is difficult to approach them within gunshot. In Jefferson 

 County, N. Y., the enactment of a local law prohibiting spring shoot- 

 ing has resulted in several species remaining to breed which formerly 

 went much farther north to lay their eggs, when continually harassed 

 by constant hunting in the spring. The enactment of a State law in New 

 York prohibiting the shooting and sale of ducks and geese in spring 

 has not only had a marked effect on local birds, but has resulted also 

 in extending protection to waterfowl in North Carolina by restricting 

 in the latter State their slaughter for the markets of New York City. 



These and other illustrations which might readily be cited show 

 that, if protected, many species that formerly reared their young in 

 the United States, and were driven away by persecution, would 

 return and occupy old breeding grounds. They prove also that very 

 effective work for the protection and increase of waterfowl can be 

 done in many sections of the country without waiting for general leg- 

 islation or for concerted action on the part of the Southern States. 

 Cooperative legislation on the part of the Southern States is greatly 

 to be desired and may be expected to follow as the causes that have 

 led to the diminution in the numbers of waterfowl are better under- 

 stood there and as the purpose and effects of protective legislation in 

 Northern States are fully comprehended. 



With reference to practical legislation in behalf of wild fowl, ques- 

 tions often arise as to the time when various species may be expected 

 at certain points in the autumn, when they leave for their breeding 

 grounds in the spring, how late in the season shooting can be con- 

 tinued without interfering with pairing, what progress in legislation 

 has been made in different parts of the United States, and what have 

 been the practical results of such legislation. 



In order to enable the Department to answer such inquiries, a com- 

 prehensive investigation of the general facts relating to our wild fowl 

 has been undertaken. In the present report are presented such data 



