104 



extended refuge which is easily defined and can be generally 

 recognized. 



ZONES 



More than 50 separate seasons for migratory birds were 

 provided under statutes in force in 1912. This multiplicity of 

 regulations or zones to suit special localities has apparently 

 had anything but a beneficial effect on the abundance of game. 

 The effort to provide special seasons for each kind of game in 

 each locality merely makes a chain of open seasons for migra- 

 tory birds and allows the continued destruction of such birds 

 from the beginning of the first season to the close of the last. 

 It is believed that better results will follow the adoption of the 

 fewest possible number of zones and so regulating the seasons 

 in each as to include the time when each species is in the best 

 condition or at the maximum of abundance during the autumn. 

 For this reason the country has been divided into two zones, 

 as nearly equal as possible, one to include the States in which 

 migratory game birds breed or would breed if given reasonable 

 protection, the other the States in which comparatively few 

 species breed, but in which many winter. Within these zones 

 the seasons are fixed for the principal natural groups — water- 

 fowl, rail, shore birds, and woodcock. In no case does the 

 zone boundary cross a State line, and except in very rare 

 cases the seasons are uniform throughout the States. De- 

 viation from this rule leads ultimately to the recognition of a 

 multiplicity of local seasons, which has done so much to retard 

 game protection. 



SEASONS IN ZONE NO. I 



Apparently few changes have been made in existing hunting 

 seasons in Zone No. 1, except in the elimination of spring 

 shooting, and about half of the States in this zone now close 

 the season on waterfowl by the middle of December or the 

 first of January. In most States in this zone the hunting sea- 

 son begins on some date in September, and these dates have 

 generally been followed in the regulations. In two or three 

 cases in which States have several different seasons for different 

 counties it has been necessary to effect a compromise, either by 



