The first action came in 1913 when in the appropriation act for
the United States Department of Agriculture there was embodied
what was commonly known as the Migratory Bird Law of 1913.
This act asserted the authority of the United States Government
over those birds, both game and nongame, that in the course of
their northern and southern migrations passed through any of the
States or that did not remain permanently within the borders of
any State or Territory. Under this legislation the Department of
Agriculture was directed to adopt suitable regulations to give effect
to the act, and when the regulations were approved and proclaimed
by the President on October 1, 1913, they embodied a
closed season on certain species, including the band-tailed pigeon,
until September 1,1918.