99 



Federal Law for the Protection of Migratory Birds 



[37 Stat.. 847.] 



(Extract from an act making appropriations for the Department of Agriculture for the 

 fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fourteen.] 



Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 

 United States of America in Congress assembled, All wild geese, 

 wild swans, brant, wild ducks, snipe, plover, woodcock, rail, 

 wild pigeons, and all other migratory game and insectivorous 

 birds which in their northern and southern migrations pass 

 through or do not remain permanently the entire year within 

 the borders of any State or Territory, shall hereafter be deemed 

 to be within the custody and protection of the Government of 

 the United States, and shall not be destroyed or taken contrary 

 to regulations hereinafter provided therefor. 



The Department of Agriculture is hereby authorized and 

 directed to adopt suitable regulations to give effect to the 

 previous paragraph by prescribing and fixing closed seasons, 

 having due regard to the zones of temperature, breeding 

 habits, and times and line of migratory flight, thereby enabling 

 the department to select and designate suitable districts for 

 different portions of the country, and it shall be unlawful to 

 shoot or by any device kill or seize and capture migratory birds 

 within the protection of this law during said closed seasons, 

 and any person who shall violate any of the provisions or regu- 

 lations of this law for the protection of migratory birds shall 

 be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than 

 $100 or imprisoned not more than ninety days, or both, in the 

 discretion of the court. 



The Department of Agriculture, after the preparation of 

 said regulations, shall cause the same to be made public, and 

 shall allow a period of three months in which said regulations 

 may be examined and considered before final adoption, per- 

 mitting, when deemed proper, public hearings thereon, and 

 after final adoption shall cause the same to be engrossed and 

 submitted to the President of the United States for approval : 

 Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be 

 deemed to affect or interfere with the local laws of the States 

 and Territories for the protection of nonmigratory game or 



