PROTECTION. ( .> 
Protective laws intended to shorten the open seasons, to prohibit 
spring shooting, eliminate destructive methods of hunting, and to 
stop sale and export have often provoked opposition from those who 
maintain that it i^ futile to attempt the protection of migratory birds 
in the. North if they are not equally well protected on their winter 
feeding grounds in the South. 
Recent experience, however, shows that under certain circumstances 
the results of local protection are immediate and very striking. In 
the San Luis Valley, Colorado, protection afforded ducks within an 
inclosure about an artificial pond. \\^\ by an artesiai well, has caused 
the birds to resort to the pond in increasing numbers each winter. 
At Palm Beach, Fla.. where no hunting is allowed within a mile of the 
town, ducks have become so tame that they will come within a few 
feet for food, while outside the mile limit the same birds are so wild 
that it is difficult to approach them within gunshot. In Jefferson 
County, N. V., the enactment of a local law prohibiting spring shoot- 
ing has resulted in several species remaining to breed which formerly 
went much farther north to lay their eggs, when continually harassed 
by constant hunting in the spring. The enactment of a State law in New 
York prohibiting the shooting and sale of ducks and geese in spring 
has not only had a marked effect on local birds, but has resulted also 
in extending protection to waterfowl in North Carolina by restricting 
in the latter State their slaughter for the markets of New York City. 
These and other illustrations which might readily be cited show- 
that, if protected, man}' species that formerly reared their young in 
the United States, and were driven away by persecution, would 
return and occupy old breeding grounds. They prove also that very 
effective work for the protection and increase of waterfowl can be 
done in many sections of the country without waiting for general leg- 
islation or for concerted action on the part of the Southern States. 
Cooperative legislation on the part of the Southern States is greatly 
to be desired and may be expected to follow a> the causes that have 
led to the diminution in the numbers of waterfowl are better under- 
stood there and as the purpose and effects of protective Legislation in 
Northern States are fully comprehended. 
With reference to practical legislation in behalf of wild fowl, ques- 
tions often arise as to the time when various species may be expected 
at certain points in the autumn, when they leave for their breeding 
groundsin the spring, how late in t ho season shooting can be con- 
tinued without interfering with pairing, what progress in legislation 
has been made in different parts of the United States, and what have 
been tin 4 practical results of such legislation. 
In order to enable the Department to answer such inquiries, a com- 
prehensive investigation of the general facts relating to our wild fowl 
has been undertaken. In the present report are presented such data 
