U. S. Eagles

Everyone knows that the eagle is the "U. S. National Bird" because he appears upon certain coins, flagpoles and in the worst Fourth of July orations. There is, however, no Federal statute making it illegal or traitorous to kill the national bird. The eagle is specifically named for protection in state game laws in Maine, Massachusetts, Indiana, Kansas and Nevada, indirectly in 38 other states. In West Virginia, South Carolina and Georgia there is no closed season on eagles.

In Washington, last week, the House Committee on Agriculture, headed by Gilbert N. Haugen, considered the Norbeck-Andresen Bill making it "unlawful for any person to kill or capture any Bald Eagle within the continental United States, Alaska, Porto Rico or Hawaii," or to meddle with such an eagle's nest. If the bill is passed it will be legal to kill an eagle only when he is caught in the act of killing lambs, fawns or foxes on fox farms. Eagles killing chickens or making off with children will be immune.*

At another time in the history of the U. S., Congress concerned itself with eagles. This was on July 4, 1776, when the Continental Congress resolved that "Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson be a committee to prepare a device for a Seal of the U. S." The figure of the bald eagle dominates that Seal.

*In Somerset, Ky., last September, a bald eagle carried small George Meece 20 feet up in the air and dropped him on his head.

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