PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 25. 



25 



Automobile. Automobiles and fast power boats render imperative 

 ?ome speedy method of transportation for deputies, both upon land and 

 water. A man on foot is under too severe a handicap to catch gunners in 

 a modern high-power touring car, which rapidly carries violators from one 

 section to another, and in the same manner a man in a dory is powerless 

 to overhaul a speedy motor boat. Undoubtedly much of the illegal work 

 now conducted from automobiles and power boats would cease if these 

 violators realized that the deputies were in a position to overtake them. 



Registration of Hunters. Chapter 614 of the Acts of 1911, as amended 

 by chapter 397 of the Acts of 1912, provided for the licensing and registra- 

 tion of hunters. This act required that every hunter should secure a 

 license from a town or city clerk at the cost of $1. There are f out- 

 classes of registered hunters: (1) the nonresident, with a charge of $10; 

 (2) the nonresident owner of real estate assessed for at least $500 in the 

 Commonwealth, with a charge of $1; (3) the alien, at $15; and (4) the 

 resident, at $1. The following table gives the income statistics for 1912, 

 1913 and 1914: 



relating to Non-sale of Game. In October, 1912, Chief Clerk W. 

 R. Collins and I visited New York to investigate the method used in that 

 State for tagging imported game. The New York Conservation Com- 

 mission courteously afforded every opportunity for study of their plan of 

 work and furnished many helpful suggestions and much valuable informa- 

 tion. The birds imported under chapter 567, Acts of 1912, which went 

 into effect Jan. 1, 1913, were pheasants, black plover, grouse, red-legged 

 partridge and certain other game. Considerable overtime work was en- 

 tailed for the deputies near Boston, as large numbers of birds on hand at 

 the various markets had to be tagged before they could legally be sold for 

 food. Twenty-four thousand tags were placed on birds and animals, 

 without hiring additional labor. 



Migratory Birds. Our department has been working in conjunction 

 with the Federal authorities in enforcing the Federal migratory bird act. 

 This law has already resulted in a remarkable increase in the number of 

 game and other birds living in this State, and the bag on ducks and geese 

 in 1914 certainly has been 50 per cent, larger than in 1913, while the 

 number of game birds stopping here to nest is estimated to jj 

 creased about 500 per cent. Game can scarcely be said to 

 as rapidly, but there is considerable redistribution. Birds are 



