(tee DU BON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
Meiers A Ut BON VSO CLE TY 
ROOSEVELT ROAD AND LAKE SHORE DRIVE, CHICAGO 5, ILL. 
Number 112 December, 1959 
The New Hawk and Owl Protection Law 
By ELTON FAWKS 
THIS YEAR THE General Assembly of Illinois passed into law Senate Bill 
No. 642, which was sponsored by the Department of Conservation. This re- 
vision of the Game Code, among many other things, established complete 
protection for all hawks and owls in Illinois. 
In the September, 1957, issue of the Audubon Bulletin, the writer told 
about the passage that year of a new Hawk and Owl Law sponsored by 
the Illinois Audubon Society and other conservation groups. Credit at that 
time was given to the many who helped me in the passage of House Bill 
No. 1063. Subsequently it was discovered that Section 36 of the Game Code 
had not been amended; this section did not list the Cooper’s Hawk, Sharp- 
shinned Hawk, and Great Horned Owls as birds that had complete pro- 
tection. The Department of Conservation promised me that they would seek 
to amend Section 36 in the 1959 General Assembly to give the protection 
desired. This has been accomplished, and full credit for the final protection 
must go to the Department, and especially to Lewis E. Martin, Assistant 
Director, who steered the bill through the General Assembly. He wrote me 
several letters telling about the progress of the bill. With his excellent help, 
little work was required on my part. 
The Conservation Department also has started an educational program 
showing the value of our hawks and owls. Among other things they had a 
fine exhibit in the State Office Building in Springfield pertaining to pro- 
tection of these birds. They have notified all state personnel about the new 
law. On two radio broadcasts of the 15-minute program, ‘Outdoors in Illi- 
nois,”’ they told about the value of our hawks, owls, and eagles. These pro- 
grams were recorded on tape and the Conservation Department presented 
a copy to me. The narrator. describes how one can tell these birds apart and 
discusses their value. 
The late Lynn Callaway and George Culletin were assigned the task of 
public education of the value of our birds of prey. The tragic death of these 
fine men in an auto accident this fall was a severe loss. Lynn Callaway gave 
me valuable help when we first started work on a model Hawk and Owl 
Law. He was the closest friend that I had in the Department of Conserva- 
tion and helped to get us off on a good start. We will miss him tremendously. 
Now that the Department of Conservation has started the educational 
program, the Illinois Audubon Society must carry on. We must not only 
use every chance to tell about our predatory birds and their place in nature, 
but must also see that the new law is enforced. This is important. The new 
Hawk and Owl Bill does permit the practice of falconry. I understand that 
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