GAME AND ITS PROTECTION. VE 
the provocation, the true sportsman will never for- 
get the chivalric motto, noblesse oblige. 
The close-times of the present statutes are not 
altogether correct ; and in so extensive a locality as 
the United States, where diverse interests are to be 
considered, it is nearly impracticable to make the 
laws perfect. For instance, where quail are abun- 
dant, as in the South, there is no objection to killing 
them during the entire month of January; but, as 
at that period they are often lean and tough, and 
have to contend, in the Northern States, against 
dangers of the elements and rapacious vermin, with 
not too favorable a chance for life—it is undesirable, 
where they are in the least scarce, to continue the 
pursuit after December. 
If it were possible to make a uniform law for the 
entire Union, and to enforce it everywhere, English 
snipe and ducks should not be killed at all during 
the spring. The latter at the time of their flight 
northward are poor and fishy; but if they can be 
slain in New Jersey, it is hardly worth while to 
protect them in New York. For every duck or 
snipe that passes towards the hatching-grounds of 
British America in the early part of the year, four 
or five return in the fall and winter. Could proper 
protection, therefore, be enforced, the sport in the 
latter season would be four times as great as in the 
former. 
As matters stand, however, the seasons for killing 
game birds should be: For woodcock, from July 
fourth to December thirty-first; for ruffed and pin 
