^Ui^ IT^^STAT E S 



-department" 



OP AGRICULTURE 



ORM AT lO 



WITH UITCL5 mvs uaturalistb; 



- 1 V E D 

 gy^d^. So-ot. 27, 1929. 



ITOT FOR PUBLICATION 



AMOUITCEmiTT ; Every tT7o weeks at this tine our T7ilds Man tells us aoout his 

 visits with Uncle Sam's Nat^alists and what they have to say ahout the wild 

 life in the Big Outdoors. aturally, at this time, when himters are cleaning 

 and oiling up their guns for the fall hunting, our ilds Man has "been tallcing to 

 the specialists in the United States Biological S-uxvey ahout game and the game 

 laws. Now he is going to tell us what he found out. 



•jc 3|C ^ ifc sjt )fc 



Of course, we all know we need gome laws. As for me, I've always thought 

 of gnme laws as necessary to keep the pot hunters from ruing the hunting. I've 

 though of game laws merely in terras of "bag limits and open and closed seasons. 

 But since I talked with Mr. Frank L. Earnshaw, of the Division of Gnmo and Bird 

 Conservation of the U. , Biological Survey, I've come to see there is more to 

 our game laws than I thought. 



For instance, we havo laws not only to protect our ujrds from ovor- 

 zealous gun-men; hut wo havo liws to protect our "birds from other "birds, ^ou 

 all remorahor how the -"^iglish sparrows m-altipliod and spread and made things 

 miserable for some of our native hirds. And you also kno\'; how the Starlings havo 

 "been spreading. But so far as it is known, since the Lacoy Act of 1900, which 

 governs the importation of foreign wild animals and "birds, no injurious foreign . 

 species of "bird or mammal has gained a foot-hold ijji this country. An undesira'ole 

 foreign "bird literally hasn't a "Chinaman's chance to get into the United 

 States, now. 



However, as you know, some of our most desirable birds seem a bit hazy in 

 their ideas of political boundaries — even though they undeniably havo a remarkablc 

 sense of direction. Many of the wild ducks and geese coming over our way here 

 in the fall have thoir s"uramer homes in Canada. 



It is plain in the case of such migratory birds that the more that are 

 killed in Canada the fewer there v/ill be for our hunters to shoot at. And the 

 more wo bring down on this side of the lino, the fewer there will be to get 

 back to Conrtida to keep up the supply. 



For that reason, Great Britain and the United States entered into a treaty 

 restricting the open seasons pr^ game birds that imigrate between this country 

 and Canada to not more than three and a half months in any one yenx. "-'nder the 

 treaty legislation spring shooting has been abolished, the sale of migratory 

 birds prohibited, and the ntunber of birds that can be taken in any day has been 

 limited. So you see, our game laws in effect protect the migratory birds, which 

 we generally think of as "our" birds, far beyond our borders. 



