INTRODUCTION IB 



tions, ruffed grouse occurred in the mountainous parts, wild 

 pigeons visited the State every winter in countless numbers, 

 and ducks and geese swarmed in the bays along the coast and 

 in most of the rivers and ponds. With the introduction of 

 cheap breech-loading guns and the resulting large increase in 

 the number of hunters, all kinds of wild game suffered a 

 marked reduction in numbers, and this decrease was greatly 

 hastened by the practice of shipping birds within and out of 

 the State, both dead game for market and live birds for 

 propagation.f 



The ruffed grouse and wild pigeons were the first birds to 

 disappear, the pigeons being now exterminated and the grouse 

 being found only in very limited numbers in some of the more 

 remote mountainous sections. Turkeys, quail, and waterfowl 

 generally have suffered severely, but are still to be found in 

 moderate numbers, and under proper protection may be main- 

 tained as a State asset for many years to come. 



Decimation of the wild life was not confined to the game 

 birds, but extended to the large breeding colonies of gulls and 

 terns found on the outer islands, the eggs of the larger species 

 being taken for food and the terns being shot for millinery 

 purposes. The beautiful least tern was almost exterminated 

 by this traffic, and probably some other species through con- 

 stant persecution were driven away from their accustomed 

 breeding grounds. 



Legislation for the Protection of Birds. 



By the beginning of the present century public sentiment 

 in favor of bird protection had been aroused to the necessity 

 for having adequate protective laws, and in many States such 

 laws were in operation. In "A Review of the Game Legisla- 

 tion in Alabama," Dr. T. S. Palmer, of the Biological Survey, 

 stated as follows: J 



At the opening of the legislature of 1907 a general game bill, 

 prepared by Honorable John H. Wallace, Jr., was introduced. 

 This bill, as indicated by its title, was a comprehensive measure 



tin 1906 J M Kirkpatrick etatcd that dnrine the season of 1906-6 over 500,000 quail 

 had been shipped from Alabama to northern and eastern markete. (Amer. Field, vol. 



*^' 'tin First Bien. Rept., Dept. Game and Fish, State of Alabama, 1908, pp. 69-81. 



