44 LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS. 



Audubon societies, now represented in twenty -three States.' While 

 these different organizations naturally overlap one another in their 

 iields of labor, they work harmoniously for the common cause. The 

 fish and game associations are naturally most active in protecting game 

 birds within their respective States, while the Audubon societies are 

 interested more especially in the protection of birds that are not game. 

 The activities of the latter societies are not necessarily limited by State 

 lines. Efforts are constantlj^ made to extend the work in new fields, and 

 recentl}" the Pennsylvania Audubon Society has done effective work for 

 the protection of insectivorous birds in Delaware. The labors of both 

 game associations and Audubon societies are supplemented b}^ those of 

 the League of American Sportsmen and the committee of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union. The League has a membership of over 2,700, 

 and one of its main objects is the enforcement of game laws; it not only 

 prosecutes violations of State laws, but offers rewards to wardens in any 

 State who secure convictions. The American Ornithologists' Union 

 committee now has a special fund at its disposal which will be devoted 

 this year largely to protecting gulls and terns along the Atlantic coast. 

 • In States where the importance of protection has long been recog- 

 nized and is strongly supported by public sentiment, fish and game 

 protection is in charge of a board of commissioners and regular 

 wardens are employed by the State to enforce the game laws. New 

 Yolk includes forestry in the duties of its l)oard, and has five com- 

 missioners of fisheries, game, and forests. l)ut the majority of the 

 States combine rish and game matters, although a few consider the 

 su])jects of sufKcient importance to require the attention of separate 

 officials. Thus. Illinois has a State game connnission«'r, Pennsylvania 

 has a l)oard of seven game commissioners distinct from its fish com- 

 mission, Rhode Island a board of five conunissioners of l)irds, and 

 North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming liav«' special game wardens. 



NECESSITY FOR FURTHER STATE LEGISLATION. 



Ill a suggestive paper on "The dt'struction of our birds and mam- 

 mals." Mr. William T. Hornaday- has made estimates of the decrease 

 in bird life in the United States during the hist fifteen years, based on 

 reports from observers in thirty different States. 



Such estimates are of course merely matters of opinion, but never- 

 theless are interesting. Naturally there is a wide range in the opinions 

 of the various observers, and the alleged decrease of birds varies from 

 lo to 77 percent, while the average for the thirty States is 4<» percent. 

 Nel)raska shows a decrease of only It) and Massachusetts of 27 percent, 



' For a li.st of these comuiisHions and the more important State asHoeiations, with 

 their M(ti<rr8, see Appendix to the Yearlxxik Dept. Agr., 18tW, pp. 710-717. 

 " Sffond Annual Report New York Zoological Society, p. 95, 1898. 



