13 
There are certain birds which from their size, habits, and general food 
value are regarded as legitimate game. The pursuit of these is invigora- 
ting sport and tends to the healthful welfare of the sportsman, teaching 
woodcraft, hardihood, out-of-door adaptability, and marksmanship. The 
true sportsman has a code of ethics of his own founded upon economic as 
well as humanitarian principles. He shoots nothing without giving it a 
fair chance and little that cannot be used as food. He is also careful not 
to deplete the game upon which his future sport depends. True sportsman- 
ship, however, has not been universal, and its too common absence has 
resulted in a gradual but steady depletion of our game. Restrictive 
measures have been enacted, but have usually followed rather than pre- 
ceded the results that have made them necessary; the regulations that are 
enacted today should have been adopted yesterday and the consequence 
is that, over much of the country, game is a thing of the past. 
This has been especially true in the east; the west is younger and its 
wild-life resources have not yet been so depleted, conservation sentiment 
has developed and it rests with the people whether they will follow in the 
footsteps of an older and more wasteful generation or see that their patri- 
mony is handed to posterity undiminished. Probably no greater single 
act of conservation of wild life was ever inaugurated than when the Migratory 
Birds Convention Act with the United States was ratified in 1916 and the 
various provincial acts in harmony with it were enacted. Under this it was 
recognized that the protection of migratory birds was an international 
question, not a local one, as it is only by international agreement 
under federal auspices that we can be assured that protection equivalent 
to that extended in one country will follow migrant birds to other juris- 
dictions. Under this agreement migrant insectivorous birds, certain sea 
birds, Herons, Cranes, and all the Shore Birds or Waders except a definitely 
named few, are provided with absolute protection throughout the year in 
all parts of Canada and the United States. The shooting season for 
migratory game birds is definitely limited to not more than three and one- 
half months in any given locality and all spring shooting is abolished. 
A secondary effect, but probably of primary importance to the species 
concerned, has been the stopping of the sale of migrant game birds through- 
out the United States and over most of Canada. Under the enforcement 
of the terms of this treaty there has been a very decided increase in the 
number of birds of the species affected and it seems as if its continuation 
will provide for their permanent welfare. 
Besides enforcing these treaty terms, a beginning has been made by 
both federal and provincial action in the establishment of wild-land 
reservations in addition to the National and Provincial parks already 
established. Not only will these areas give sanctuary, protection, and 
suitable living conditions in the midst of cultivation and settlement, but 
will act as reserves from which surplus native stock can overflow into 
adjoining country where agricultural and other development prevents 
its permanent occupation. Today, when swamps and sloughs are being 
drained, forests cleared, and grass lands hayed and pastured, this seems 
the only method by which we can retain much of the life that was originally 
distinctive of the country. 
