Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-04-22
Bird Protection
Laws Are Urued


again be seen in such vast f1ocks as
when the early settlers pushed their
way westward but specialists of the
bureau of biological survey, U. S.
department of agriculture believe
their numbers are now increasing
year by year. Widespread interest
in their preservation, prompted by
American sportsmen who saw the
birds would be exterminated by I'M
checked destruction, is thought well
justified when it is considered that
tho birds food and economic value
amounts to many millions of dol
lars annually. Growth of sentiment
for the conservation of so valuabl
a resource by preventing destruc-
ton, through spring shooting Of game
birds and byother protective meas
ures, has been notable in the last
half century.
Sentiment Growing
In 1900 only nine states had laws
prohibiting all-spring shooting,
while in 1918 there were thirty-one
Only three states now afford no le-
gal protection. Uniform and adequate
preservation was first given atten-
ton by the federal government in
1904, when "a bill was introduced in
The subject, however, was kept be-
fore congress almost continuously
until the enactment of the migratory
bird law in 1913.
This federal statute merely con-
ferred on the U. S. department of
seasons during which it would be
unlawful to capture or kill migra-
tory birds. This law did not pro-
vide for effective enforcement but
it. eXerted a wonderful influence upon
the public mind, and it's passage laid
the real foundation for more ade-
quate protection. Fully 50 per cent
of the sportsmen abided by the reg
ulations established under this law
and refrained from shooting during
the closed seasons.
Laws Good Effect Shown
The result was almost instan-
taneous. Water fowl and other mi
gratory game birds not only showed
at once a marked increase in num-
bers, but, owing to the occasion of
spring shooting, remained unmol-
| ested in ever-increasing numbers to
breed in places from which former
ly they had been driven every spring
by incessant cunning. At the end of
the five years during which this law
was in operation, state game COM
missioners and leading sportsmen
were practically unanimous in their
expression that wild fowl were more
abundant than at any time in the
preceding twenty-five years.
The marked Improvement under
| this law instilled a new spirit into
| the advocates of bird conservation,
and showed the wonderful possibili-
| ties under a federal law broad and
| comprehensive enough not only to
| protect the birds during the mating
and breeding season, but to equal
| ize hunting privilege and opportuni-
| ties by more uniform state laws
The federal laws for the protec-
/ ton of migratory birds are expected
| to go long way toward insuring a
J supply for all time, but the inter-
ests of the states are so inseparably
related to the interests of the ma
| tional government that all efforts to
conserve these birds must be co-or-
| dinated for full success, federal Of
| ficials point out. Much already has
been done along this line. The open
seasons for wild fowl in twenty
five states have been made to con-
form to the federal seasons, and in
many other states game commits
sioners and sportsmen have mani
| tested a spirit of cooperation in
game conservation that indicates a
general sentiment favoring unifor-
nifty in state and federal laws.