Off. Doc.] Pennsylvania State Board of Agriculture. 1 1 
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by any incorporated society of natural history in the State, through 
such persons or officers as said society may designate, to any properly 
accredited person, permitting the holder thereof to collect birds, their 
nests or eggs, for strictly scientific purposes. In order to obtain such 
permit the applicant for the same must present to the person or per- 
sons having the power to grant said permit, written testimonials from 
two well known scientific men, certifying to the good character and 
fitness of said applicant to be entrusted with such privilege; must 
pay to said persons or officers one dollar to defray the necessary ex- 
penses attending the granting of such permits; and must file with 
said persons or officers a properly executed bond, in the sum of two 
hundred dollars, signed by two responsible citizens of the State as 
sureties. This bond shall be forfeited to the State, and the permit 
become void, upon proof that the holder of such permit has killed 
any bird, or taken the nest or eggs of any bird, for other than the 
purposes named in sections three and four of this act, and shall be 
further subject for each such offense to the penalties provided there- 
for in sections one and two of this act. 
Section 5. The permits authorized by this act shall be in force for 
one year only from the date of their issue, and shall not be trans- 
ferable. 
Section 6 . The English or European house sparrow {passer domes- 
ticus) is not included among the birds protected by this act. 
Section 7. It shall be a misdemeanor under the penalty of not less 
than ten nor more than fifty dollars, or imprisonment for not less than 
five nor more than thirty days, or both, at the discretion of the court : 
{a) to intentionally give food or shelter to the English sparrow, ex- 
cept with a view to its ultimate destruction ; {b) to introduce or aid 
in introducing it into new localities ; (c) to interfere with persons, 
means or appliances engaged in or designed for, its destruction or the 
destruction of its nests, eggs <*r young. 
Section 8. In all actions for the recovery of penalties under this 
act, one half of the recovery shall belong to the plaintiff, and the re- 
mainder shall be paid to the county treasurer of the count}^ where the 
offense was committed. 
Section 0 . There shall be appointed [here state how he shall be 
appointed], a citizen of this state who is an expert naturalist, who 
shall be the State Ornithologist, wdio shall serve for at least two years 
or until his successor can be appointed, who shall receive a salary per 
annum [here state amount, and I should advise at least $2,500 in 
order to secure an efficient and valuable man], who shall give the 
necessary bonds [here state amount of such bond], for all moneys, col- 
lections of natural history and archives entrusted to his care, and wdjo 
shall devote his time exclusively to the interests of economic orni- 
thology within the Commonwealth. 
Section 10. All acts or parts of acts heretofore passed, inconsistent 
with or contrary to the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. 
Section 11. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 
Comments — This act, with the exception of sections seven and nine, 
meets the approval of experts, and was passed by the Stare of New York 
nearly three years ago. The misdemeanor section was passed the 
year following and is practically the same as section seven here proposed. 
The law gives general satisfaction in the State of New York, the only 
complaint worth mentioning being that it is not more rigidly enforced, 
especially that portion dealing with the pugnacious sparrow. Section 
