7 



United States Department of the Interior, Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, Albert M. Day, Director 



Wildlife Leaflet 327 



Washington 25. D. Co May 1950 



BIRDS PROTECTED BY FEDERAL LAW 



By Frederick C. Lincoln, Biologist l/ 

 Office of the Director 



THE CONVENTIONS 



The Convention between the United States and Great Britain 

 for the protection of migratory birds in the United States and Canada 

 was signed at Washington, D. C. , on August 16, 1916. The plenipoten- 

 tiaries signing this document were American Secretary of State Robert 

 Lansing, and British Ambassador Cecil Spring Rice, Ratifications of 

 the two countries were exchanged on December 7, and the Convention was 

 proclaimed by President Wilson on December 8, 1916. 



To give effect to this Convention, Congress passed the Migratory 

 Bird Treaty Act which was approved on July 3, 1918. The constitutionality 

 of the Treaty and of this Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in a deci- 

 sion rendered on April 19, 1920 „ An Act of the Canadian Parliament approved 

 August 29, 1917 gave full effect to the Convention in Canada and this was 

 upheld by the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island at the Michaelmas term 

 in 1920. 



l/ As a member of the Committee on Classification and Nomenclature 

 of the American Ornithologists' Union, the author has had access to the 

 material collected by that agency. Also in an effort to assure the 

 greatest possible accuracy, the list has been examined by Dr. Clarence 

 Cottam, Assistant Director, and by Dr. John W. Aldrich, Chief, Section 

 of Distribution and Migration of Birds. The legal questions involved have 

 been checked by Donald J. Chaney, Chief Counsel. 



XTr 



