eCEt eee ©) NEB ULI EE RN 13 
Game-Law Violators Get 
Heavy Penalties 
Gees recent convictions for violations of the migratory-bird 
treaty act have resulted in substantial fines and jail sentences 
that should serve as deterrents against such violations, at least 
in localities in which imposed, according to the Biological Survey of 
the United States Department of Agriculture, which administers this 
law. 
Charged with killing wild ducks from a motor boat on the St. Francis 
River in Missouri on November 22 and 26, 1926, two residents of that 
State were recently found guilty in Federal court at Cape Girardeau, 
Missouri. Judge Faris imposed against each a fine of $500, the maxi- 
mum amount prescribed for a violation of the Federal game law, in 
addition to costs of $63.26. 
Two other cases were terminated in the Police Court of the District 
of Columbia early in April, Judge Mattingly presiding. Both the de- 
fendants, one a fish and game dealer and the other a produce dealer 
in a local market, were charged with selling a number of wild ducks. 
The accused entered pleas of guilty and paid fines of $300 each, together 
with costs. 
Four persons from the Reelfoot Lake section of Tennessee, charged 
with selling wild ducks, were arraigned before Judge Anderson in Fed- 
eral court at Jackson, Tennessee, late in March. One offender was 
fined $25, two $75 each, and the fourth received a sentence of forty 
days in jail. At about the same time another duck seller from the same 
district was likewise fined $75. In these cases the judge issued a warn- 
ing that future violations of a like character in his district would result 
in jail sentences. 
Bird Houses Should Be Built in Fall 
ECAUSE our native song birds have an extremely acute sense of 
smell and will refuse to nest in any house that has not had time 
to weather, bird houses should be built in the fall. If the houses are put 
out in the spring before the birds arrive from the South, they will be 
driven away by fresh paint or even the lingering odor of human hands. 
If the houses have had an opportunity to weather throughout the 
winter, the songsters will be attracted to them. 
Birds around the garden or grounds of a home add materially in 
keeping down insect pests. A number of bird houses properly seasoned 
and constructed to attract the songsters will make the grounds a bird 
Sanctuary. 
