KECESSITY FOR FUETHER STATE LEGISLATION. 45 



but the percentage runs up to 67 in Texas, 75 in Connecticut, Indian 

 Territory, and Montana, and to 77 in Florida. Evidently existing 

 State laws are defective or are not properly enforced! 



Some States and Territories, as Idaho, Alaska, Arizona, Indian Terri- 

 tory, and New Mexico, apparently afford no protection at present to 

 birds other than game; and while the necessity for such legislation may 

 be small in unsettled portions of the West, still it will be more and 

 more urgent as the country becomes developed. Other States which 

 have bird laws on their statute books really afford very little pro- 

 tection, because these laws apply to only a small number of species, 

 are limited to only part of the year, or are restricted to only part of the 

 State. Aside from game birds and the young of sea bird^, Florida pro- 

 tects only ibises, herons, egrets, cranes, and curlews; North Carolina 

 only doves, larks, mockingbirds, and robins. Kansas and Virginia name 

 but 10 birds each, and Delaware but 20. Louisiana, while mention- 

 ing 8 (whippoorwill, nighthawk, blackbird, oriole, sparrow, finch, 

 swallow, and bluebird), really has a somewhat more extended list, 

 since each of the terms blackbird, oriole, sparrow, finch, and swallow 

 includes a number of species. Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and 

 Tennessee treat all birds alike in protecting them for only part of the 

 year, and providing open seasons, as in the case of game, when they 

 can be killed.^ In exceptional cases, so ma.nj counties are exempted 

 from the provisions of a law that the act becomes operative in only a 

 small part of the State. Thus, Texas exempts 56 out of 2-14 counties 

 from the operation of the act of 1895, so that a comparatively large 

 part of the State is no better off than if there were no bird law (see 

 fig. 8). Alabama exempts 60 out of 6Q counties from the act of 1899, 

 and thus the law actually applies to only 6 counties. 



Another difficulty lies in the diverse and oftentimes contradictory 

 laws in force in neighboring counties in the same State, as in Mary- 

 land, Virginia, and Tennessee. Special county laws^ have long been 

 popular in Maryland and Virginia, but the Maryland act of 1898 did 

 much to harmonize conflicting- game' regulations. Mississippi gives 

 county boards of supervisors full jurisdiction over such matters, and 

 her bird protection therefore depends mainly on local regulations. 

 Under the constitution of Tennessee ^ game legislation may be enacted 



^The open seasons are as follows: Alabama, November 1 to March 1 (except red- 

 headed woodpecker, catbird, pewee, and vireo, which are protected from August 1 

 to March 1, and mockingbirds which are protected at all seasons) ; Georgia, Novem- 

 ber 1 to. March 15; North Carolina, October 15 to April 1; Tennessee, varying from 

 three to eight months, according to the county. 



^New York has special laws for Long Island, Michigan for the Upper Peninsula, 

 and Washington for that part of the State east of the Cascades, but these regulations 

 apply chiefly to game birds. In Canada, also, there are special regulations in Quebec 

 for the two ' zones ' into which the Province is divided at the river Saguenay. 



»Art. XI, sec. 13. 



