304 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March 8, 1913 
McLean Bill Passes. 
On JMarch 3 the House followed the example 
set by the Senate and passed the Weeks-McLean 
bill for Federal protection of migratory birds, 
and on the same day the President signed 
the measure for which the American Game Pro¬ 
tective and Propagation Association secured en¬ 
dorsement by practically every man prominent 
as a naturalist or game protector in the coun¬ 
try, as well as by thousands of citizens from all 
over the United States. The matter has been 
brought before the National and State Granges 
and the State and local game protective associa¬ 
tions with the result that there has been a power¬ 
ful co-operative movement for Federal protec¬ 
tion on foot for more than a year. Its success¬ 
ful culmination is considered the most important 
event in the history of game conservation in the 
United States. 
The Weeks-McLean bill delegates to the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture power to regulate the 
killing of all migratory birds. This will bring 
timely protection to many species of wildfowl 
and shore birds that would otherwise soon join 
the species already extinct, and will also make 
it possible to cut down the annual loss of 
$800,000,000, which is suffered by agricultural in¬ 
terests on account of insect pests, by giving the 
insect-eating birds a chance to increase. 
The first bill for Federal protection of 
migratory birds was introduced in 1904 by Hon. 
George Shiras, 3d, then a member of Congress 
from Pennsylvania. The bill was referred to 
the House Committee on Agriculture, but was 
not reported. In December, igo8, the Hon John 
W. Weeks, of Massachusetts, introduced a meas¬ 
ure, modeled after the Shiras bill, which was re¬ 
ferred to the same committee and met the same 
fate. In May, 1909, Mr. Weeks reintroduced his 
bill with modifications, and while much interest 
in the matter was aroused, there was never 
enough co-operation among those interested to 
secure a hearing. A later modification of the 
Weeks bill was introduced on Jan. 6, 1911. At 
the first session of the Sixty-second Congress, 
three bills on the subject of the protection of 
migratory birds were presented—the Weeks bill 
on April 4, the Anthony bill on April 12 and the 
McLean bill on May 17, 1911. All the bills men¬ 
tioned received the endorsement of sportsmen 
and naturalists, but it was not until the American 
Game Protective and Propagation Association 
secured hearings on March 6 for the last three 
that the favorable sentiment of the whole coun¬ 
try was brought to bear. The Weeks-McLean 
bill as passed is a* combination of all of them, 
but is modeled chiefly on an amended form of 
the Weeks bill. 
The measure passed as an amendment to 
the Agricultural Appropriation bill. When the 
bill—amended—went back to the House, it was 
strenuously objected to by Mr. Mondell, of 
Wyoming, who invariably and consistently op¬ 
poses every measure looking toward the pro¬ 
tection of any living thing whatever by the 
Federal Government. Notwithstanding the fact 
that the Legislature of his own State had passed 
a strong resolution, requesting Congress to act 
favorably on this bill, Mr. Mondell fought the 
measure hard, and declared that he knew his 
people too well to believe that his Legislature 
was advised of the character of what was pro¬ 
posed. 
IMr. Weeks strongly urged the passage of 
the bill, as did Mr. Edwards, of Georgia; Mr. 
Kahn, of California, and Mr. Anthony, of 
Kansas. Other gentlemen spoke against the bill 
taking up the question of its constitutionality, 
and there was a more or less extended debate, 
which fills six pages of the Congressional Record. 
Finally the House disagreed with the Senate 
amendments and the bill was sent to conference. 
On Sunday the conference committee dis¬ 
cussed it at great length, with the result that 
the section was retained, and at 6 o’clock on 
Monday the President signed the measure. 
Speaking of the time and energy required 
to get a bill passed by Congress, a representative 
of the association says; 
“Since we first started work on this, we have 
sent over 20,000 letters requesting people to write 
their Congressmen endorsing the measure and 
send us copies of the replies, so that we should 
know where each member of Congress stood. 
In this way we have had them all put on record, 
either for or against the bill, and have been able 
to concentrate our efforts where they were most 
needed. We have been represented in Washing¬ 
ton nearly all the time during this and the last 
sessions. We collected evidence of favorable 
public opinion from every State in the Union 
in order to show it to Congressmen. At the 
hearings, held March 6 last year, we presented 
favorable evidence from forty-four States. The 
measure was enthusiastically backed in every 
section of the country and the Southern support 
was convincingly strong.” 
The following clubs have aided in putting 
the measure through by sending representatives 
to Washington: Camp Fire Club of America, 
National Association of Audubon Societies, 
Boone and Crockett Club, New York Associa¬ 
tion for the Protection of Game, New York State 
Fish, Game and Forest League, Long Island 
Game Protective Association, Maryland State 
Game and Fish Protective Association, Clark 
County, Ohio, Fish and Game Protective Asso¬ 
ciation, Game Protective A'ssociation of Vir¬ 
ginia, Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective 
Association, Massaclmsetts Gunners’ Association, 
Georgia Game Protective Association, Vermont 
Fish and Game League, West Virginia Fish and 
Game Protective Association and Rhode Island 
League of Improvement Societies. 
All the State game commissioners have en¬ 
dorsed the movement. Those who came to 
Washington to advocate it in person were: John 
D. Moore, State Game Commissioner, and 
Llewellyn Legge, Chief Game Protector, of New 
York; John W. Titcomb, of Vermont; Dr. 
George W. Field, of Massachusetts; J. F. Ran¬ 
kin, State Game Commissioner, and John C. 
Speaks, Chief Game Warden, of Ohio; Dr. 
Frank H. Davis, and E. Hart Geer, of Con¬ 
necticut; Edward G. Bradford, Jr., of Dela¬ 
ware; and John H. Wallace, Jr., of Alabama. 
Many other men of prominence visited 
Washington to urge the passage of the bill at 
the hearings. Among them are: Charles Shel¬ 
don, M. D. Hart, of Richmond, Va.; Charles J. 
Campbell, John Burroughs, Ernest Thompson 
Seton, Marshall McLean, Ottoman H. Van 
Norden, L. T. Christian, Talbott Denmead, Wil¬ 
liam C. Adams, John C. O'Conor, Salem D. 
Charles, T. Gilbert Pearson, Louis E. Bauer and 
George A. Lawyer. 
Most valuable service was rendered by 
Charles S. Davidson, Dr. William T. Horn- 
aday, Henry F. Osborn, Madison Grant, 
Frederic C. Walcott, Archibald Henderson, 
W. B. Mershon, George Shiras, 3d, Col. W. G. 
Sterrett, William Brewster, E. T. Grether, Sid¬ 
ney G. Fisher, Matt C. Hoover, C. H. Wilson, 
Nathan Hanford, John C. Phillips, Dr. Joseph 
Kalbfus, Ernest Napier, F. M. Newbert and C. 
K. Cranston. 
Connecticut Nature Notes. 
Packer, Conn., Feb. 21.-— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The ground is nearly bare of snow 
again, and conditions very favorable for our 
quail. They have suffered none through snow 
or cold thus far, and seem as happy and vigor¬ 
ous as in the good old summer time. Skunk 
and fox hunters report seeing bevies almost full 
size, and I have seen a bevy cross my lawn a 
full'dozen strong and the tracks of larger bevies 
nearby. They ought to go through without 
trouble now, and they are surely more abund¬ 
ant than at this season for many years. 
One of my friends had an odd experience 
during the hunting season. He was hunting 
partridges (ruffed grouse) and heard some ani¬ 
mal squealing in a stone wall. He investigated 
and found a rabbit with a weasel in death grip, 
.sucking his blood. He pulled the rabbit out, 
the weasel not releasing his hold, so he killed 
both. 
The following items appeared in a local 
daily of the i8th instant: 
With full streams and a mild winter the 
trout season ought to be good from the very 
start this spring. 
Solving the Cost of Living. —On Saturday 
112 good sized eels were speared by Henry Eb 
Davis at the drawbridge and on Thursday he 
secured ten pickerel and two perch at a Taft- 
ville pond. When Mr. Davis wants a few 
bushels of clams or oysters he goes to Water¬ 
ford cove and gets a supply. He claims that 
with a little work and nature study a man can 
keep himself supplied with game and fish. 
E. P. Robinson. 
