m'2 



SOME liOUXTY RECORDS. 



The tabnliited bouuty records which appear on suc- 

 ceeding pages were paid under the act of June 2;i, 

 1885, and the amended act of 1889 which repealed that 

 portion of the act of '85 that allowed bounties for 

 HawlvS, Owls and Weasels. These laws caused an 

 enormous expenditure of money. It is believed to be 

 a conservative estimate to state that fully $150,000 

 M'ere paid out in bounties, and considerably more than 

 half of this amount was expended for birds of prey or 

 other kinds of feathered animals w^hich were believed 

 to be Hawks and Owls. It has been absolutely im- 

 possible toi secure fromi a number of .counties any 

 records which would show the number of each species 

 of bird or mammal on which premiums were paid. In 

 the majority of cases this is due to the fact that county 

 officers did not preserve the bounty cer-tificates after 

 their accounts were audited at the end of each yeiir. 

 Tlie writer has expended a great deal of time, consider- 

 able money and experienced a lot of trouble to obtain 

 all the facts possible in connection with recent scalp 

 acts, and as a result the records which follow are un- 

 doubtedly the most complete that have ever been pub- 

 lislied in connection with the scalp act of June 23, 1885. 



THE BOUNTY ACT OF 18S5. 



The sc^lp act of June 23, 1885, under which so many 

 birds, etc., were slain reads as follows: 



"An act for the destruction of Wolves, Wildcats, Foxes, Minks. 

 Hawks, Weasels and Owls in this Commonwealth 



"Section 1. That" for the benefit of agriculture and for tht- 

 protection of game within this Commonwealth, there is hereby 

 established the following premiums for the destruction of cer- 

 tain noxious animals and birds, to be paid by the respective 



