10 DEPARTMENT OP GAME AND FISHERIES No. 9 (1943) 



during the fall and spring migration periods. As in the case of wild ducks the regula- 

 tions which are authorized for the hunting and protection of wild geese are provided 

 under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. 



WOODCOCK: — As a general rule these birds are not very plentiful, and in most sections 

 from which they are reported their numbers are quite limited. The only possible excep- 

 tions to this general rule are a few counties along the north shore of Lake Erie and 

 immediately to the north thereof, as well as in some of the counties in the southeastern 

 end of the Province. The Migratory Birds Convention Act governs, and in 1941 the open 

 season extended over a period of only one month, in the northern division from Sep- 

 tember 20th to October 20th, and in the southern division from October 1st to 

 October 31st. The bag limit was eight (8) per day and not more than one hundred (100) 

 for the season. 



SXIPE: — There are but few sections in Ontario in which these birds are found in suffi- 

 cient number to warrant any extensive hunting of the same, and it is quite probable 

 that not many hunters make any particular effort to take them. This is another species 

 protected by the Migratory Birds Convention Act and Regulations. 



PLOVER: — Conditions with respect to these birds are varied, and while unfavourable 

 reports predominate and indicate that a not too satisfactory state generally prevails, 

 there are some sections from which some improvement has been reported. Under the 

 Migratory Birds Convention Act and Regulations plover are provided the protection 

 of an entire closed season. 



PUR-BEARING ANIMALS 



The following is a summary of conditions which apply to fur-bearing animals 

 throughout the Province, and which information has been prepared from reports sub- 

 mitted by officers of the Field Service Staff: — 



BEAVER: — The reports which have been received regarding beaver would indicate 

 that these animals exist in fairly satisfactory numbers throughout Ontario, except in 

 some of the counties situated in the southwestern and southeastern portions of the 

 Province, though a slight increase in their numbers is reported from some of these 

 counties. While the necessity for the present regulations for the protection of this 

 species is apparent, existing conditions did warrant the provision of a short open 

 season with a restricted limit of catch, and the open season provided covered the 

 period from December 1st to December 21st, 1941, and was in effect in that portion of 

 the Province lying north and w^est of the French and Mattawa Rivers and Lake 

 Nipissing (except the area lying west of the line of the Canadian National Railway from 

 Fort Willam to Superior Junction and south of the main transcontinental line of the 

 Canadian National Railway from Superior Junction to the Manitoba Boundary), in the 

 districts of Manitoulin, Parry Sound and Muskoka, and that part of the district of Nipis- 

 sing lying south of the Mattawa River (excluding Algonquin Park), and in the counties of 

 Victoria, Haliburton, Peterborough, Hastings, Lennox and Addington, Frontenac and 

 Renfrew. Under the regulations which governed all persons who trapped beaver during 

 this open season, including farmers trapping on their own lands, were required to 

 secure trapping licenses, and each trapper was authorized to take not more than ten 

 (10) beaver during this open season. Returns received in the Department show that 

 some 25,197 pelts were taken during this period of open season, and it has been es- 

 timated that the value of these pelts to the trappers concerned was in excess of 

 $530,000.00. 



FISHER: — The annual catch of these animals is indeed very small. Conditions with 

 reference to this species are not good in any part of Ontario. It is practically extinct 

 in that part of the Province lying south of the French and Mattawa Rivers and Lake 

 Nipissing. 



