The Environmental Debate, Third Edition

Politicians, Naturalists, and Artists in the New Nation, 1776–1839 33

snipes, larks and robins, at any time from the

first day of March to the fourth day of July in

each year; and if any person shall take or kill,

or shall sell, buy or have in his possession after

being killed, or taken, any of the birds aforesaid,

within the times limited as aforesaid respectively,

he shall forfeit and pay for each and every par-

tridge, quail or woodcock, so taken, killed or

in his possession, two dollars; and for each and

every snipe, lark or robin, so killed, taken, or in

his posession, one dollar.

Source: Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

Vol.7, chap. 103 (Boston: 1818), in Robert McHenry

and Charles Van Doren, eds., A Documentary History

of Conservation in America (New York: Praeger, 1972),

pp. 272-73.

Whereas there are within the Common-
wealth, many birds which are useful and prof-
itable to the citizens, either as articles of food,
or as instruments in the hands of Providence to
destroy various noxious insects, grubs and cat-
erpillars, which are prejudicial or destructive to
vegetation, fruits and grain; and it is desirable to
promote the increase and preservation of birds
of the above description, and to prevent the wan-
ton destruction of them at improper seasons:

... hereafter it shall not be lawful for any
person to take, kill or destroy, any of the birds
called partridges and quails, at any time from
the first day of March, to the first day of Septem-
ber in every year; and no person shall take, kill
or destroy, any of the birds called woodcocks,

DOCUMENT 30: James Fenimore Cooper Laments the Disappearance

of Unregulated Wilderness (1823)

The woodsman Natty Bumppo (also called Leatherstocking), the main character in the James Fenimore Cooper

Leatherstocking series, here laments the loss of open land in New York State. He holds that wild game should

belong to whoever kills it, while the judge claims that it belongs to the owner of the property on which it

was killed. The difference in viewpoints, as Madison pointed out [see Document 21B], was produced by the

difference in the property holdings of the two claimants.

“The legislature have been passing laws,”
continued [Judge] Marmaduke [Temple], “that
the country much required. Among others, there
is an act, prohibiting the drawing of seines, at
any other than proper seasons, in certain of our
streams and small lakes; and another, to prohibit
the killing of deer in the teeming months. These
are laws that were loudly called for, by judi-
cious men; nor do I despair of getting an act, to
make the unlawful felling of timber a criminal
offence.”

The hunter [Natty Bumppo] listened to this

detail with breathless attention, and when the

Judge had ended, he laughed in open derision for

a moment, before he made this reply:—

“You may make your laws, Judge, but who

will you find to watch the mountains through the

long summer days, or the lakes at night? Game is

game, and he who finds may kill; that has been

the law in these mountains for forty years, to

my sartain knowledge; and I think one old law

is worth two new ones. None but a green-one

Document 29: Act to Protect Useful Birds in Massachusetts (1818)

The earliest law to protect birds in the United States was an act by the Massachusetts legislature designated “An

Act to prevent the destruction of certain useful Birds at unseasonable times of the year.” It was probably the

first law to recognize nature’s services.