B. S. 48 BUREAU OF BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
MIGRATORY-BIRD TREATY ACT. 3 
[Approved July 3, 1918. 40 Stat.. 755.] 
AN ACT To give effect to the convention between the United States and Great Britain for 
the protection of migratory birds concluded at Washington, August .sixteenth, nineteen 
hundred and sixteen, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
states of America in Congress assembled. That this Act shall he known by the 
short title of the "Migratory Bird Treaty Act.'* 
Sec. 2. That unless and except as permitted by regulations made as herein- 
after provided, it shall be unlawful to hunt, take, capture, kill, attempt to take, 
capture or kill, possess, offer for sale, sell, offer to purchase, purchase, deliver 
for shipment, ship, cause to be shipped, deliver for transportation, transport, 
cause to be transported, carry or cause to be carried by any means whatever, 
receive for shipment, transportation or carriage, or export, at any time or in 
any manner, any migratory bird, included in the terms of the convention be- 
tween the Unifed States and Great Britain for the protection of migratory 
birds concluded August sixteen, nineteen hundred and sixteen, or any part, 
nest, or egg of any such bird. 
Sec. 3. That subject to the provisions and in order to carry out the purposes 
of the convention, the Secretary of Agriculture is authorized and directed, from 
time to time, having due regard to the zones of temperature and to the dis- 
tribution, abundance, economic value, breeding habits, and times and lines of 
migratory flight of such birds, to determine when, to what extent, if at all, and 
by w T hat means, it is compatible with the terms of the convention to allow hunt- 
ing, taking, capture, killing, possession, sale, purchase, shipment, transportation, 
carriage, or export of any such bird, or any part, nest, or egg thereof, and to 
adopt suitable regulations permitting and governing the same, in accordance 
with such determinations, which regulations shall become effective when ap- 
proved by the President. 
Sec 4. That it shall be unlawful to ship, transport, or carry, by any means 
whatever, from one State, Territory, or District to or through another State, 
Territory, or District, or to or through a foreign country, any bird, or any part, 
nest, or egg thereof, captured, killed, taken, shipped, transported, or carried 
at any time contrary to the laws of the State, Territory, or District in which 
it was captured, killed, or taken, or from which it was shipped, transported, 
or carried. It shall be unlawful to import any bird, or any part, nest, or egg 
thereof, captured, killed, taken, shipped, transported, or carried contrary to 
the laws of any Province of the Dominion of Canada in which the same was 
captured, killed, or taken, or from which it was shipped, transported, or carried. 
Sec. 5. That any employee of the Department of Agriculture authorized by 
the Secretary of Agriculture to enforce the provisions of this Act shall have 
power, without warrant, to arrest any person committing a violation of this 
Act in his presence or view' and to take such person immediately for examina- 
tion or trial before an officer or court of competent jurisdiction ; shall have 
power to execute any warrant or other process issued by an officer or court 
of competent jurisdiction for the enforcement of the provisions of this Act : and 
shall have authority, with a search warrant, to search any place. The several 
judges of the courts established under the laws of the United States, and 
United States commissioners may. within their respective jurisdictions, upon 
proper oath or affirmation showing probable cause, issue warrants in all such 
cases. All birds, or parts, nests, or eggs thereof, captured, killed, taken, 
3 Constitutionality of act sustained by Supreme Court in docision rendered April 19, 
1920, in case of State of Missouri r. Hay P. Holland (252 U. S. 416). 
874G— 22 2 
