62 The Environmental Debate
Sect. 2.—Any person who shall, within
the state of ____________, take or needlessly
destroy the nest or the eggs of any wild bird,
shall be subject for each offense to a fine of five
dollars, or imprisonment for ten days, or both,
at the discretion of the court.
Sect. 3.—Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall
not apply to any person holding a certificate giv-
ing the right to take birds, and their nests and
eggs, for scientific purposes, as provided for in
Section 4 of this act.
Source: American Ornithologists’ Union, Committee on
Protection of Birds, “An Act for the Protection of Birds
and Their Nests and Eggs,” Bulletin of the Committee
on Protection of Birds, reprinted in Science 7, no. 160
(February 26, 1886): 204.DOCUMENT 55: American Ornithologists’ Union’s Model Law (1886)
In 1883, a group of professional and amateur ornithologists chartered the American Ornithologists’ Union
(AOU) to further the study of bird biology and economics. However, not long after the founding of the AOU,
George Bird Grinnell and other members of the group decided to form the Committee on the Protection of
North American Birds to effect social action in contrast to scientific study. The committee’s most significant
contribution was the writing of the “Model Law,” which was widely distributed and used as a prototype for
many state bird protection laws.Section 1.—Any person who shall, within the
state of ____, kill any wild bird other
than a game-bird, or purchase, offer, or expose
for sale any such wild bird, after it has been killed,
shall for each offense be subject to a fine of five
dollars, or imprisonment for ten days, or both, at
the discretion of the court. For the purposes of this
act the following only shall be considered game-
birds. The Anatidae, commonly known as swans,
geese, brant, and river and sea ducks; the Rallidae,
commonly known as rails, coots, mud-hens, and
gallinules; the Limicolae, commonly known as
shore-birds, plovers, surf-birds, snipe, woodcock,
sandpipers, tatlers and curlews; the Gallinae, com-
monly known as wild turkeys, grouse, prairie-
chickens, pheasants, partridges, and quails.
DOCUMENT 56: George Bird Grinnell and Celia Thaxter on the
Audubon Society Cause (1886)Continuing to use Forest and Stream to promote his conservation agenda [see Document 54B], Grinnell
suggested the formation of an association for the protection of birds that would further the work he had started
with the AOU [see Document 55]. Grinnell’s idea was wildly successful, and within three years he had 39,000
members pledged to protect birds. However, the group, named the Audubon Society after the ornithologist
John Audubon [see Document 33], on whose subdivided estate Grinnell had grown up and whose widow
had provided his education, was disbanded after two years because Grinnell could not manage the fledgling
society along with his weekly journal and publishing business. Nevertheless, within eight years, state Audubon
societies had been chartered in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, and by the turn of the century many others
had been formed. Championing the cause of the Audubon Society were a large number of women, including
the writer and gardener Celia Thaxter, whose family owned a resort on the Isle of Shoals, off the coast of New
Hampshire, that was popular with nature lovers.A. George Bird Grinnell’s Proposal
for the Formation of the Audubon
Society, February 11, 1886
Very slowly the public are awakening to see
that the fashion of wearing the feathers and
skins of birds is abominable. There is, we think,
no doubt that when the facts about this fashion
are known, it will be frowned down and will
cease to exist. Legislation of itself can do little
against this barbarous practice, but if public
sentiment can be aroused against it, it will die a
speedy death.