FOREST AKt) STREAM. 
|ULY 7, II 
Definitions of Game Birds. 
From a report on "Legislation for the Protection of Birds Other 
Than Game," prepared by Dr. T. S. Pajmer, Asst. Chief of tlie 
Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, Washington. 
From the standpoint of the sportsman, birds are either 
game birds' or non-game birds, but from the legislative 
standpoint they may be roughly divided into three groups : 
(i) Species which should be protected at all times, as 
thrushes; (2) species which may be killed at certain sea- 
sons for food or sport, as quail; (3) species which are 
injurious and therefore excluded from protection, as the 
English sparrow. The first group is usually called "in- 
sectivorous" or "song" birds, the second "game" and the 
third "injurious" birds; but these groups are necessarily 
arbitrary, and their limits are by no means certain. 
About 1,125 species and subspecies of birds inhabit North 
America north of Mexico, and of these only about 200 
(18 per cent.) can properly be considered game. 
As the wording of modern protective laws turns largely 
on the definition of "game birds," it may be well to note 
some of the different interpretations which have been ap- 
plied to this term. A game bird, according tcy the Century 
Dictionary is "a bird ordinarily pursued for sport or 
• profit, or which is or may be the subject of a game law." 
BouA'ier's Law Dictionary defines game in general as 
"birds and beasts of a wild nature obtained by fowling 
and hunting." In different State laws the term is defined 
in various ways without special regard for uniformity. 
the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) , now al- 
most exterminated; the band-tailed pigeon {Columba 
fasciata), found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific 
coast, and the common, mourning, turtle, or Carolina dove 
{Zenaidura macroura) , distributed more or less generally 
throughout .the United States. The wild pigeon is now . 
rarely seen except in two or three of the States about the 
Great Lakes, where it is rigidly protected. Although it 
was formerty one of the most important game birds of the 
country, its numbers have been so diminished during the 
last thirty or forty years that it can no longer be con- 
sidered as belonging in the game list. The band-tailed 
pigeon is an important game bird in only half a dozen 
States, and Colorado seems to be the only one which pro- 
vides an open season (July 15 to Sept. 30). The common 
dove is protected in some States throughout the year, in 
others only during the breeding season, while in still 
others it is not mentioned in the laws, and hence may 
be killed at any season. Where it is abundant, as in 
southern California and some parts of the Southwest, it is 
perhaps in no immediate danger of extermination if the 
slaughter is kept within reasonable bounds. There is, 
however, a wide diversity in the open seasons in different 
States. 
Doves feed largely on seeds, and an examination of a 
considerable number of stomachs has shown that these 
include seeds of noxious weeds, such as pokeweed and 
several species of the genera Litltospermum, Oxalis^ and 
Euphorbia. In certain parts of California the habit of 
each autuniti to feed on the seeds of wild rice before taking 
their departure for the rice fields of the South and their 
winter haunts in South America have given rise to the 
sport of reedbird shooting, a sport scarcely known in 
other sections of the country. The bobolink, which is 
rigidly protected during its stay on its breeding grounds 
in the Northern States, receives the name of reedbird as 
soon as it enters the Middle States in autumn dress, and 
is considered legitimate game. Open seasons are legalized 
in the Middle States as follows : Delaware, Sept. i to 
Feb. I ; District of Columbia, Aug. 21 to Feb. i (Tuesdays, 
Thursdays and Saturdays only) ; Maryland, Sept. i to 
Nov. I ; New Jersey, Aug. 25 to Jan. i ; Pennsylvania, 
Sept. I to Nov. 30. For a few weeks it is killed in 
enormous numbers for market, and when it reaches the 
Carolinas, further south, where it is known as the rice- 
bird, the slaughter is increased, not for sport, but as pro- 
tection against its ravages in the rice fields. Here it be- 
comes a veritable pest, and may be killed lawfully at any 
season. To many persons it is a decilious morsel, although 
its diminutive body furnishes little more than a taste of 
meat. There would be no objection to utilizing the bird 
for food were it not for the abuse to which this custom 
of killing it for market has given rise. Not only are 
other birds killed for reedbirds, but in States in which 
reedbirds do not occur marketmen try to make up the de- 
ficiency by furnishing various small birds under that 
name. In the markets of San Francisco horned larks 
(Otocoris), red- winged blackbirds (Agelaius) , Brewer's 
PHOTOGRAPHS OF WILD DEER. 
By Mr, Geo. Dan. Seib. From "Woodcraft Magazine. 
Thus Maine fixes an annual close season for game 
birds," and enumerates under this head the wood duck, 
dusky duck (commonly called black duck), teal, gray 
duck, ruffed grouse (commonly called partridge), wood- 
cock, quail, plover, snipe and sandpiper. In the Michi- 
gan law the term "game bird" is construed to mean all 
birds named or referred to except certain insectivorous 
species. According to the Code of Mississippi, the term 
'game' includes all kinds of animals and birds found in 
the state of nature, and commonly so called. Nova 
Scotia declares: "'Game' shall mean and include 
* * * Canada and ruffed grouse (commonly called 
partridge); pheasants, blackcock, capercailzie, ptarmigan, 
sharp-tailed grouse, woodcock, snipe, bluewinged ducks, 
teal and wood ducks." British Columbia decrees that a 
game bird "shall mean a bird protected by the provisions 
of this act," and New Brunswick "any bird mentioned m 
this act, or of a species or class similar thereto. 
The plan of enumerating each species, as m some ot 
these laws, is not clear or concise. It also lacks uni- 
formity because of the confusion existing m the common 
names' of certain game birds and the presence of species 
in one State which do not occur in another. 
In order to overcome this difficulty, the Committee on 
Protection of Birds of the American Ornithologists' Union 
has suggested using the larger groups called orders and 
families, into which birds are commonly divided, instead 
of species, which gives at once a simple and concise 
definition. "The following only shall be considered game 
birds- The Anatida-, commonly known as swans, geese, 
brant river and sea ducks ; the Rallidcs, commonly known 
as rails, coots, mudhens and gallinules; the Lmiico Ice 
commonly known as shore birds, plovers, surf birds, snipe, 
woodcock, sandpipers, tatlers and curlews ; the Galium, 
commonly known as wild turkeys, grouse, prairie chickens, 
pheasants, partridges and quail." These four groups the 
Anatidce, Rallida, Limicolce and Gallmce, include all the 
species which are comrnonly hunted for sport or for food • 
in the United States, with the exception of cranes wild 
pio-eons, doves, flickers, meadowlarks, reedbirds, black- 
birds and robins. Cranes, pigeons and doves are ordi- 
nariiv considered legitimate game, but are noAV so rare m 
most". States that it has become necessary to remove them 
from the game list. Flickers, meadowlarks, blackbirds, 
reedbirds and robins being insectivorous are more valu- 
able for other purposes than for food, and merit special 
attention. , ^ , , 
Pigeons and Doves. — The order CohimbcB, comnnsmg 
wild pigeons and doves, is reoresented in the United 
States by fifteen species and subspecies. Of these, only 
tljree have any practical importance as game birds, viz, 
feeding on the seeds of turkey mullein (Eremocarpus 
setigerus) is so well known that a botanist, on inquiring 
how he could collect some seeds of this plant, was ad- 
vised to shoot a few doves and open their crops. Under 
some circumstances enormous quantities of weed seeds are 
devoured, as shown by the crop of a dove killed in a rye 
field at Warner, Tenn., which contained no less than 7,500 
seeds of Oxalis stricta. As a weed destroyer, the dove 
more than compensates for the grain which it occasionally 
consumes, and the value of its services is certainly greater 
than the few cents which its body brings in market. 
Flickers. — Of the woodpeckers, the flickers or pigeon 
woodpeckers, represented in the East by the yellow- 
shafted flicker (Colaptes auratus) and in the West by the 
red-shafted flicker. (C. cafer), are the only ones which are 
killed to any extent for food.* They are still regarded 
as legitimate game in some sections, but apparently are so 
treated by law only in Nevada, which fixes an open sea- 
son from Sept. 15 to March 15. Like other woodpeckers, 
the flicker is mainly insectivorous. An examination of 230 
stomachs of the yellow-shafted flicker showed the presence 
of 5 per cent, mineral, 39 per cent, vegetable and 56 per 
cent animal matter. The mineral element was mainly 
sand, probably picked up accidentally along with other 
food. The vegetable matter consisted of the seeds of a 
number of weeds and berries of several native^ shrubs, and 
occasionally a small amount of grain, but too little to be of 
much consequence. Flickers are more terrestrial than 
other woodpeckers, and a large part of their animal food 
consists of ants, which constitute nearly half the food of 
the year. Several stomachs contained little else, and at 
least two contained more than 3,000 each of these in- 
sects. Beetles stand next to ants in importance, form- 
ing about 10 per cenf. of the food, and including chiefly 
May beetles, a few snapping beetles and carabids, or pne- 
dacious ground beetles. Grasshoppers also are eaten at 
certain times, as shown by several stomachs (collected in 
Tune, 186=;. in Dixon county, Neb.), which contained from 
fifteen to forty-eight grasshoppers each. A bird with such 
a record is far too valuable to be killed for food, and is 
entitled to all the protection ordinarily accorded insectivo- 
rous species. 
Bobolinks or Reedbirds.— Comparatively few Da=;'=erme 
birds are treated as game. Among these few. bobolinks 
(reedbirds). blackbirds, meadowlarks and robins are the 
most important. The enormous numbers of bobolinks 
{Dolichonyx oryzivorus) which flock to the Atlantic coast 
*In some parts of the South the pileated ■Jvoodpecker {Ceophlaus 
pikatus) is sold as game, and a few specimens can be found occa- 
sionally in the markets of Washington, D. C, 
blackbirds (Scolecophagus) , white-crowned and goWe"- 
. crowned sparrows (Zonolricliia), song sparrows ij^^jf- 
'spisa), savanna sparrows {Ammodrainus), house finches 
{Carpodacus), and even goldfinches \Astragahnus) , have 
all been sold as reedbirds. Such conditions serve only to 
defeat the object of protective laws, and for this reason, if 
for no other, reedbirds should be taken off the game list, 
except in the few States in which they are known to be 
abundant; and even here their sale should be carefully 
regulated to prevent the slaughter of robins, larks and 
other birds, which are almost certain to be killed by 
market-hunters. 
Meadowlarks.— Like the flicker, the meadowlark 
{Sturnella magna) is considered game by many persons, 
mainly, on account of the character of its meat, which in 
some respects resembles that of quail. A few States pro- 
vide an open season for lark shooting, as follows: Mis- 
sissippi, Sept. 15 to March i; Missouri, Aug. i to Jan. i; 
North Carolina, Oct. 15 to April i; British Columbia, 
Sept. I to March i; Georgia apparently allows the bird 
to be killed at any season. Its importance to sportsmen 
is small in comparison with its value to farmers. _ Pro- 
\ fessor Beal in speaking of its food habits says : "It is one 
of the most useful allies to agriculture, standing almost 
without a peer as a destroyer of noxious insects. * * * 
In summing up the record of the meadowlark, two points, 
should be especially noted: (i) The bird is most em- • 
phatically an insect eater, evidently preferring insects, 
above all other food; and (2) in default of its favorite 
food it can subsist on a vegetable diet." 
Professon Beal made an examination of 238 stomachs, 
and reported that the contents comprised about 27 per 
cent, vegetable matter and 73 per cent, animal matter. In 
other words, nearly three-fourths of the food of the 
meadowlark for the year, including the winter months, 
consists of insects. The vegetable food comprises mainly 
seeds of weeds, grasses and a little grain, but the grain, 
chiefly corn, amounted to only 14 per cent. No sprouting 
corn was found in any stomach, and no grain of any kind 
was found in stomachs taken in summer; the largest quan- 
tity was eaten in January, when other food was scarce. 
Among the insects taken at various times during the j^ear. 
grasshoppers, locusts and crickets are by far the most, 
important, since they averaged 29 per cent, of the food. ' 
Of the 238 stomachs examined, 178 contained gras.s- 
hoppers, and 37 of these insects were found in a single 1 
stomach. In August; stomachs they constituted 69 per ' 
cent, of the food'.' Beetles, which stand next in importance 
to grasshoppers, included chiefly May beetles (Scara-^^ 
bceida), snout-beetles or weevils (Rhyncophora) , andl] 
leaf-beetles {Chrysomelida) . Caterpillars formed an ira- 1 
