356 



Tlic America)} Aiiclcr. 



The Law Affecting Private Fishing Ciubs. 



AI5Sri\ACT from tin.- lisli and game law of the 

 state of New ^'oI■k provicliug for the protec- 

 tion, preservation and propagation of birds, 

 fish and wild animals, as revised and enacted 

 by the legislature of 1895. 



AKTICLK IX. 



212. Laying out grounds for private parks. — 

 A person owning or having the exclusive right 

 to shoot, hunt or tish on lands, or lands and 

 water, desiring to devote such lands, or lands and 

 water, to the propagation or protection offish, 

 birds or game may [niblish in a paper prmted 

 within the county within which such land or 

 lands and water are situate, a notice substan- 

 tially describing the same and containing a 

 clause declaring that such lands and water will 

 be used as a private park for the purpose of 

 propagating and protecting fish, birds and game. 



213. Notice to be posted in private park. — 

 There shall be posted and maintained upon 

 such private territory notices or signboards, not 

 less than one foot square, warning all persons 

 against trespassing thereon. Such notice or 

 signboards shall be placed not more than forty 

 rods apart, along the entire boundary of such 

 private territory, when the same shall consist 

 entirely of land, or when it shall be placed so 

 there shall be at least one notice or signboard 

 for every hundred acres thereof. When the 

 .private property consists of a lake, pond or 

 stream only such notices shall be placed in at 

 least four conspicuous places on or near the 

 shore of such lake or pond, and one of such 

 notices shall be placed on every half mile of 

 such stream in a conspicuous place on the bank 

 thereof. 



214. Notice when territory is fenced. — When 

 such territory or any part thereof is fenced, 

 notices or signboards shall be placed on or near 

 such fences not more than forty rods apart. 



215. Fish or game so protected not to be 

 interfered with. — Upon compliance with the 

 foregoing provisions for preventing trespassing 

 or for devoting lands to propagation of fish, 

 birds and game, no person shall disturb or 

 interfere in any way with the fish or wild birds 

 or animals while on the premises so protected, 

 e.xcept with the consent of the owner or person 

 having the exclusive right to shoot, hunt or fish 

 thereon. Whoever shall violate or attempt to 

 violate the provisions of this section shall be 

 deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, in 

 addition thereto, be subject to exemplary dam- 

 ages sustained by the owner or lessee. 



216. Signs not to be defaced.— Signs placed 

 pursuant to the foregoing provisions shall not be 

 defaced or removed under penalty of twenty-five 

 dollars. 



243. Arrest of offenders by fish and game pro- 

 tectors and foresters and trial thereof.— Any 

 protector or peace officer may, without warrant, 

 arrest any person committing a misdemeanor 

 under the provisions of this act, in his presence, 

 and take such person immediately before a 

 justice of the peace or police justice, or other 

 magistrate, having jurisdiction, who shall, after 

 gjving defendant reasonable time to prepare for 



trial, proceed without delay to hear, try and 

 determine the matter, and give and enforce 

 judgment according to the allegations and 

 proofs. 



Amphibious Habits of Fish. 



Amphibious habits on the part of certain 

 tropical fish are easy enough to explain by the 

 popular phrase — "adaptation to environment." 

 Ponds are always very likely to dry up, and so 

 the animals that frequent ponds are usually 

 capable ot bearing a very long deprivation of 

 water. Indeed, our evolutionists generally 

 hold that land animals have in every case 

 sprung from pond animals which have grad- 

 ually adapted themselves to do without water 

 altogether. Life, according to this theory, 

 began in the ocean, spread up the estuaries 

 into the greater rivers, thence extended to the 

 brooks and lakes, and finally migrated to the 

 ponds, puddles, swamps and marshes, whence 

 it took at last, by tentative degrees, to the solid 

 shore, the plains and the mountains. 



Certainly the tenacity of life shown by pond 

 animals is very remarkable. Our own English 

 carp bury themselves deeply in the mud in 

 winter, and there remain in a dormant condition 

 many moi.ths entirely without food. During 

 this long hibernating period, they can be pre- 

 served alive for a considerable time out of 

 water, especially if their gills are, from time to 

 time, slightly moistened. They may then be 

 sent to any address by parcel post, packed in 

 wet moss, without serious damage to their 

 constitution; though, according to Dr. Gunther 

 these dissipated products of civilization prefer 

 to have a piece of bread steeped in brandy put 

 into their mouths to sustain them beforehand. 

 In Holland, where the carp are not so sophisti- 

 cated, they are often kept the whole winter 

 through, hung up in a net to keep them from 

 freezing. At first they require to be slightly 

 wetted from time to time, just to acclimatize 

 them gradually to so dry an existence, but after 

 a while they adapt themselves cheerfully to 

 their altered circumstances and feed on an 

 occasional frugal meal of bread and milk with 

 Christian resignation. 



Alex Jessli'. 



An Enthusiastic Fisher. 



We cannot resist printing the annexed private 

 letter from an angler who never before caught a 

 salt-water fish in his long experience, and the 

 first of this "bitter water" kind chanced to be 



