II. ABSTRACTS OF LAWS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SHIPMENT AND SALE.

FEDERAL LAWS.

Federal game laws consist of statutes regulating interstate commerce in game, the importation of game from foreign countries, and provisions for the protection of game on territory under the jurisdiction of the United States. They comprise (1) the Lacey Act, regulating the importation of game and its shipment from one State to another; (2) tariff regulations governing animals and birds imported from abroad; (3) game laws of the District of Columbia, Alaska, and the Indian Territory; (4) provisions for protecting game in the national parks,' forest reserves, and other Government reservations. These acts of Congress are supplemented by regulations issued by the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, Interior, and Agriculture, relating chiefly to the protection of Government reservations and the details of importing foreign animals and birds."

The territory protected by Federal statutes comprises more than 20 percent of the total area of the United States, and, besides the District. of Columbia, the Indian Territory, and Alaska, is made up of reservations and parks ranging in size from a few acres to the great areas covered by the Indian reservations in Montana and South Dakota, which occupy a large part of those States. This vast domain is very unevenly protected. The District of Columbia, with an area of about 70 square miles, has a fairly complete and satisfactory game law, and, with the exception of Alexandria County, Va., is the smallest area in

1The national parks, now 12 in number, have all been established during the last thirty years. They may be grouped as follows: Five parks proper-Yellowstone, Wyo., 1872, 2,142,720 acres; Yosemite, Cal., 1890, 967,680 acres; Sequoia, Cal., 1890, 160,000 acres; General Grant, Cal., 1890, 2,560 acres; Mount Rainier, Wash., 1899, 207,360 acres: five military parks-Chickamauga, Ga., 1890, 6,195 acres; Shiloh, Tenn., 1894, 3,000 acres; Vicksburg, Miss., 1899, 1,233 acres; Gettysburg, Pa., 1895, 877 acres; Antietam, Md., 1890, 43 acres: the Hot Springs Reserve, Ark., 1880, 912 and the Casa Grande Ruins, Ariz., 1892, part of 480 acres. The first five only are of special interest from the standpoint of game protection.

acres,

2

The regulations of the Department of Agriculture may be found in Circular 29 of the Biological Survey, entitled 'Protection and importation of birds under act of Congress approved May 25, 1900,' and Circular 30, entitled 'Wild animals and birds which may be imported without permits.'

the United States protected by a special game statute. The Yellowstone National Park, with an area of 3,578 square miles, has also a comprehensive law, passed in 1894; and, like the Sequoia, Yosemite, and General Grant parks, in California, is guarded by United States troops. The Indian Territory, 31,400 square miles in extent, almost as large as the State of Maine, and one of the best regions in the Southwest for small game, is protected only by a provision prohibiting persons other than Indians from destroying game, except for food, in the Indian country.' The forest reserves, aggregating 46,766,529 acres, or about 73,000 square miles, an area nearly equal to that of New England and New York combined, are subject to regulations of the Secretary of the Interior, who is authorized by Congress to "make provisions for protection against destruction by fire and depredations upon public forests and forest reservations." There is further protection, however, in the provision of Congress that offenses concerning which the Federal laws are silent, when committed on Government reservations, shall receive the same punishment as that prescribed for like offenses by the laws of the State in which such reservations are situated. The great Territory of Alaska, embracing 570,000 square miles (more than twice the total area of Texas) is at present practically without protection, having but the nucleus of a game law in a provision prohibiting the export of eggs of cranes, ducks, and geese.

As a rule Federal laws are less subject to change than State laws. The game law of the District of Columbia passed in 1878, remained in force for twenty-one years; that of the Indian Territory enacted nearly seventy years ago (in 1832) is still on the statute books, and is now the oldest game law in force in the United States. These laws are scattered through the Revised Statutes and the Statutes at Large, often in very obscure places, and are easily overlooked. For example, the prohibition against importing eggs of game birds is contained in the free list of the tariff act of 1897; that conferring authority on the Secretary of the Interior to make regulations for the forest reserves, in the sundry civil bill for 1897, and that providing for the enforcement of State laws by Federal authority on Government reservations, in an act to protect harbor defenses, passed in 1898. In the absence of any complete compilation of the Federal provisions concerning game, it has been deemed advisable to bring them together in the present publication for greater convenience of reference.

'Such tribal laws as exist are not enforced by the United States courts.

THE LACEY ACT.

31 Statutes at Large, pp. 187-189.

CH..P. 553. An Act to enlarge the powers of the Department of Agriculture, prohibit the transportation by interstate commerce of game killed in violation of local laws, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the duties and powers of the Department of Agriculture are hereby enlarged so as to include the preservation, distribution, introduction, and restoration of game birds and other wild birds. The Secretary of Agriculture is hereby authorized to adopt such measures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act and to purchase such game birds and other wild birds as may be required therefor, subject, however, to the laws of the various States and Territories. The object and purpose of this Act is to aid in the restoration of such birds in those parts of the United States adapted thereto where the same have become scarce or extinct, and also to regulate the introduction of American or foreign birds or animals in localities where they have not heretofore existed.

The Secretary of Agriculture shall from time to time collect and publish useful information as to the propagation, uses, and preservation of such birds.

And the Secretary of Agriculture shall make and publish all needful rules and regulations for carrying out the purposes of this Act, and shall expend for said purposes such sums as Congress may appropriate therefor.

SEC. 2. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to import into the United States any foreign wild animal or bird except under special permit from the United States Department of Agriculture: Provided, That nothing in this section shall restrict the importation of natural history specimens for museums or scientific collections, or the importation of certain cage birds, such as domesticated canaries, parrots, or such other species as the Secretary of Agriculture may designate.1

The importation of the mongoose, the so-called "flying foxes" or fruit bats, the English sparrow, the starling, or such other birds or animals as the Secretary of Agriculture may from time to time declare injurious to the interest of agriculture or horticulture is hereby prohibited, and such species upon arrival at any of the ports of the United States shall be destroyed or returned at the expense of the owner. The Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized to make regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this section.2

SEC. 3. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to deliver to any common carrier, or for any common carrier to transport from one State or Territory to another State or Territory, or from the District of Columbia or Alaska to any State or Territory, or from any State or Territory to the District of Columbia or Alaska, any foreign animals or birds the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies or parts thereof of any wild animals or birds, where such animals or birds have been killed in violation of the laws of the State, Territory, or District in which the same were killed: Provided, That nothing herein shall prevent the transportation

1On September 13, 1900, the Secretary of Agriculture (Circular No. 30, Biol. Surv.) extended the list of species which may be imported without permits as follows: Mammals.-Anteaters, armadillos, bears, chimpanzees, elephants, hippopotamuses, hyenas, jaguars, kangaroos, leopards, lions, lynxes, manatees, monkeys, ocelots, orang-utans, panthers, raccoons, rhinoceroses, sea-lions, seals, sloths, tapirs, tigers, or wildcats.

Birds.-Swans, wild doves, or wild pigeons of any kind.

Reptiles.-Alligators, lizards, snakes, tortoises, or other reptiles.

'See Circular No. 101, Division of Customs, issued June 28, 1900; for regulations of the Department of Agriculture see Circular No. 29, Biological Survey, issued July 13, 1900.

of any dead birds or animals killed during the season when the same may be lawfully captured, and the export of which is not prohibited by law in the State, Territory, or District in which the same are killed.

SEC. 4. That all packages containing such dead animals, birds, or parts thereof, when shipped by interstate commerce, as provided in section one of this Act, shall be plainly and clearly marked, so that the name and address of the shipper and the nature of the contents may be readily ascertained on inspection of the outside of such packages. For each evasion or violation of this Act the shipper shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars; and the consignee knowingly receiving such articles so shipped and transported in violation of this Act shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars; and the carrier knowingly carrying or transporting the same shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars.

SEC. 5. That all dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any foreign game animals, or game or song birds, the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any wild game animals, or game or song birds transported into any State or Territory, or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such State or Territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such State or Territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such animals and birds had been produced in such State or Territory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise. This Act shall not prevent the importation, transportation, or sale of birds or bird plumage manufactured from the feathers of barnyard fowl. Approved, May 25, 1900.

TARIFF ACT OF 1897.

30 Statutes at Large, pp. 151-201.

CHAP. 11. An Act To provide revenue for the Government and to encourage the industries of the United States.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That on and after the passage of this Act, unless otherwise specially provided for in this Act, there shall be levied, collected, and paid upon all articles imported from foreign countries, and mentioned in the schedules herein contained, the rates of duty which are, by the schedules and paragraphs, respectively prescribed, namely:

222. All other live animals [i. e. beside cattle, swine, horses, mules and sheep], not specially provided for in this Act, twenty per centum ad valorem.

Meat products.

275. Meats of all kinds, prepared or preserved, not specially provided for in this Act, twenty-five per centum ad valorem.

FREE LIST.

SEC. 2. That on and after the passage of this Act, unless otherwise specially provided for in this Act, the following articles when imported shall be exempt from duty:

474. *

*

* wild animals intended for exhibition in zoological collections for scientific and educational purposes, and not for sale or profit.

493. Birds, stuffed, not suitable for millinery ornaments.

494. Birds and land and water fowls.

549. Eggs of birds, fish, and insects: Provided, however, That this shall not be held to include the eggs of game birds or eggs of birds not used for food, the importation of which is prohibited except specimens for scientific collections, nor fish roe preserved for food purposes.

561. Furs, undressed.

562. Fur skins of all kinds not dressed in any manner and not specially provided for in this Act.

664. Skins of all kinds, raw (except sheepskins with the wool on), and hides not specially provided for in this Act.

666. Specimens of natural history, botany, and mineralogy, when imported for scientific public collections, and not for sale.

Approved July 24, 1897.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

30 Statutes at Large, pp. 1012-1013 (as amended by 31 Stat. L., 1091). CHAP. 417. An Act For the protection of birds, preservation of game, and for the prevention of its sale during certain closed seasons in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, [Sec. 1 as amended] That no person shall kill, expose for sale, or have in his or her possession, either dead or alive, any partridge, otherwise quail, between the fifteenth day of March and the first day of November, under a penalty of five dollars for each partridge, otherwise quail, killed, exposed for sale, or had in his or her possession, either dead or alive, and in default thereof to be imprisoned in the workhouse for a period not less than thirty days nor more than six months.

That no person shall kill, expose for sale, or have in his or her possession, either dead or alive, any woodcock between the first day of January and the first day of July, under a penalty of five dollars for each woodcock killed, exposed for sale, or had in his or her possession, either dead or alive, and in default thereof to be imprisoned in the workhouse for a period not less than thirty days nor more than six months.

That no person shall expose for sale or have in his or her possession, either dead or alive, any prairie chicken, otherwise pinnated grouse, between the fifteenth day of March and the first day of September, under a penalty of five dollars for each prairie chicken, otherwise pinnated grouse, exposed for sale, or had in his or her possession, either dead or alive, and in default thereof to be imprisoned in the workhouse for a period not less than thirty days nor more than six months.

That no person shall kill, expose for sale, or have in his or her possession, either dead or alive, any wild turkey or ruffed grouse, otherwise known as pheasant, between the twenty-sixth day of December and the first day of November, except the English, ring-neck, or other pheasants of foreign origin hatched and raised in farm poultry inclosures, under a penalty of five dollars for each wild turkey or ruffed grouse, otherwise known as pheasant, killed, exposed for sale, or had in his or her possession, either dead or alive, and in default thereof to be imprisoned in the workhouse for a period not less than thirty days nor more than six months.

That no person shall kill, expose for sale, or have in his or her possession, either dead or alive, any squirrel or rabbit except the species known as the English rabbit, Belgian hare, between the first day of February and the first day of November, under a penalty of two dollars for each squirrel or rabbit killed, exposed for sale, or had in his or her possession, either dead or alive, and in default thereof to be imprisoned in the workhouse for a period not less than fifteen days nor more than three months.