File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17974020700).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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THE AMJ'JIUCAN ORMTIloLOdlSTS' LMON 481 The Ixfluexce of the a. o. u. ox Biiii) l*i;o- Ti'crioN _N'ui less im- portant than the scioiitilic and eco- nomic work wliich was taken over bv the Department of A^irienlture is that relating to tlie )iroteetion of birds. AI the Secoml ('oni>-re.ss in 1881. a committee on bird protection was appointed and at once entered upon an active cam- paign. Wholesale bird slanghter was then at its height due to the enor- mous demand for plumage by the mil- linery trade and the traffic in birds' eggs and skins which was fostered by dealei's and taxidermists. A compre- hensive law for the protection of birds, now known as the "Model Law," was prepared by the committee and was adopted by N'ew York in 1886, and later in modified form by nearly three fourths of the states. This law differed from similar statutes then in force by dividing all birds into three groups, protecting at all seasons nf)ngame birds, for example, thrushes; allowing a sea- son for hunting game birds, such as the (piail : ami withdrawing protection from such iiijiii-ious species as the English sparrow. Ample provision was made for scientific work under a s^'stem of permits. .Simultaneously M-ith the new law, the first Audubon movcmont was launched in 1886, but aftm- a lew ycai's began to languish. Ten years later it was again started on a different and more permanent basis and soon devel- oped to large proportions.
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Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey was the first and for two years the only woman member of the American Ornithologists' Union, which now num- bers 140 women on its rolls. Among her publi- cations on ornithology are: Birds Through an Opera Glass, Handbook of the Birds of the Wester7i United .Stati-s, and many pajiors on western bird life 111 the decade Irom 18!)6 to l\U)n rapid progress in hird ))rotcctioii \\a> made uiidci' the enthusiastic Icadcrslii)) of Mr. William Diitchci'. In 18!Mi commer- cial destruction of sea turds' eggs on tlie Farallon Isl- amls in California was stopped. In 1!)()() the first practical work of guarding breeding colonies of sea birds along the Atlantic Coast was made possible by means of the Thayer Fund, the first steps were taken in the or- ganization of the National Commit- tee of x4.udubon Societies, and the first Federal game law, the Lacey Act, was passed by Congress. The year 1903 was marked by the establishment of the first Federal bird refuge on Pelican Island, Florida, and an agreement with the millinery trade to check the traffic in plumage of native birds. In 1905 the Xational Association of Audubon So- cieties was incorporated, and the narra- tion of subsequent events belongs more properly to the history of that organiza- tion. Reference, however, may be made to several matters in order to complete this sketcli of American bird protection. In 1906 the National Association of Audulion Societies received an endow- ment ami this fund, gradually increas- ing. pro\i(les a pennanont and assured income I'ny cai-i-yiiig on its work of pi'actical hi I'd >tudy and protection. It may he noted incidentally that the of- ficers of the National Association are all iiieiiihers of tlie T^iiion. In )())?>

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