AMERICAN GAME PROTECTION. 19 



ing the birds by discharging firearms within a mile of their roosts. 

 Similar legislation was enacted in Michigan in 1869 and in Pennsyl- 

 vania in 1878. The first close season seems to have been provided 

 in Massachusetts about 1870. Thus it will be seen that the birds 

 were not fully protected even during their breeding season until 

 after the last of their great nesting colonies had been wiped out, 

 and then even these colonies were not protected in New York and 

 Michigan until 10 years before the practical disappearance of the bird 

 as an abundant species. 



It is sometimes said that game legislation will not save a species 

 from destruction, and that this fact is shown by the history of the 

 buffalo and the pigeon. The most casual examination of their 

 history will show that game ^legislation played no part in the fate 

 of these species. A close season during the period of reproduction 

 was denied them until too late, and even then there was little serious 

 attempt to enforce the laws. Such legislation as existed was enacted 

 before the establishment of an effective warden force, and the efforts 

 at enforcement met with scanty support. (See Roney, Am. Field, X, 

 p. 345, Jan. 11, 1879). 



