Most
people interested in birds know that millions of Passenger
Pigeons were killed for sale as food, but few realize that
an enormous variety of other native birds once found their
way to markets and dining tables. Reading his classic Birds
of America, published in the early 1840s, one is quickly
impressed with the number of species with which John James
Audubon had firsthand experience. His numerous comments on
hunting and eating eggs and adults applied not just to game
birds such as ducks, geese, and prairie chickens, but also
to others such as Dunlin (". . my party shot a great number
of them, on account of the fatness and juiciness of their
flesh"), Eskimo Curlew, Belted Kingfisher (". . . the eggs
are fine eating"), American Robin (every gunner brings them
home by bagsful, and the markets are supplied with them at a
very cheap rate"), and Dark-eyed junco (". . flesh is
extremely delicate and juicy"). He reported some forty-eight
thousand Golden Plovers slaughtered by French gunners near
New Orleans in a single day. In Audubon's time attitudes
on wildlife were much like those that prevailed in the days
of the Roman Empire. Until they were shot or trapped, birds
were the property of no one; once killed, they became the
property of the shooter or trapper. The exceptions were
those birds found on private land, which could be taken only
by the owner. Early on in Europe, wildlife became the
property of royalty. Later, ownership was assigned to the
state, but the latter doctrine was slow to emerge on the
frontier continent of North America. Not until the middle of
the last century were state and provincial laws enacted in
attempts to protect birds -- and the first laws were
concerned with the preservation of game species. It was not until the turn of
this century, however, that the U.S. federal government got
into the business of protecting birds. Largely in response
to the fate of the Passenger Pigeon and the excesses of
plume hunters, the Lacey Act was promulgated in 1900, making
illegal the interstate transport of birds killed in
violation of state laws. However, the turning point in bird
conservation came in 1918 when legislation was enacted to
implement the landmark Migratory Bird Treaty, which had been
signed in 1916 between the United States and Great Britain
(on behalf of Canada). The treaty designated three groups of
migratory birds: game birds, insectivorous birds, and other
nongame birds, and provided a season in which the birds of
each group could not be taken "except for scientific or
propagating purposes under permits." With minor exceptions
for hunting by Native Americans, the closed season on the
last two categories was year-round. For migratory game
birds, hunting seasons were not to exceed three and a half
months. The taking of nests and eggs of all migratory birds
was prohibited, except for scientific purposes. Thus ended
the hobby of oology, or egg collecting. Penalties for
breaking the law were six months in prison and $500 in
fines, or both. Similar treaties were signed
with Mexico in 1936, Japan in 1972, and the Soviet Union in
1976. In the Mexican treaty additional groups of birds were
specified, more or less completing the basic legal
protection of North American birds. The U. S. federal
government had already taken steps to safeguard one
prominent nonmigratory species; in 1940 the U.S. Congress
became convinced that the American national symbol was
threatened with extinction, and passed the Bald Eagle
Protection Act. That law has twice been strengthened by
amendments, most recently in 1972 after Wyoming ranchers
were caught poisoning eagles and shooting them from
helicopters. Starting in 1966, Endangered
Species Acts extended the principle embodied in the Bald
Eagle Act to all species that could be demonstrated to be in
jeopardy. As of 1986 thirteen species and eleven subspecies
of North American birds are listed as endangered --
according to the law "in danger of extinction throughout all
or a significant portion of its range" -- and thus have
achieved an especially high level of protection as wards of
the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The endangered species
are the Brown Pelican, Whooping Crane, Wood Stork, Piping
Plover, Eskimo Curlew, Least Tern, California Condor, Bald
Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Red-cockaded Woodpecker,
Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Bachman's Warbler, and Kirtland's
Warbler, and the subspecies include the Everglade Snail
Kite, Attwater's Prairie-Chicken, and the Northern Aplomado
Falcon. In addition, the San Clemente Sage Sparrow,
Amphispiza belli clementeae, is listed as threatened, which
means it is considered likely to become endangered. Some 40
other species and subspecies, such as the Long-billed
Curlew, Golden-cheeked Warbler, and two Florida subspecies
of the Seaside Sparrow (a third, the Dusky, is now extinct)
were candidates for listing. Citizens can petition to have
species and subspecies of birds listed, but clear evidence
that the petition is warranted is required to get the
government to take action. Under special permits,
protected nongame species (but not endangered species) may
be killed if they become serious local pests. This provision
has been used primarily with regard to species of blackbirds
and cowbirds when their gigantic fall and winter roosting
flocks become nuisances, although control programs have not
been without controversy. House Sparrows and starlings, both
normative species, are not protected. No other birds, except
those for which there are designated hunting seasons, can be
legally killed, trapped, harassed, or possessed (including
birds found dead). Even "adoption" of young birds that
appear to have been deserted by their parents is illegal
without a permit. If found, these apparently unattended
young should be left alone, as, more often than not, the
adults are not far away. In the United States or Canada,
anyone molesting protected birds in any way should be
reported to the state or provincial Department of Fish and
Game or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. SEE: Conservation
of the California Condor;
Conservation
of Raptors;
Conservation
of Kirtland's
Warbler;
The
Blue List;
Helping
to Conserve Birds -- National
Level;
Wintering
and Conservation. Copyright
® 1988 by Paul R. Ehrlich, David S. Dobkin, and Darryl
Wheye.