GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 23 



Both the upland and the duck clubs own a farm, 

 where the club buildings are erected and where the 

 superintendent and his family reside. The superin* 

 tendent has charge of the club buildings and grounds, 

 and, with the aid of watchmen or guards, prevents 

 poaching and all trespassing on the preserve. Where 

 the entire preserve is not owned by the club the privi- 

 lege to shoot over the marshes and farms is usually 

 leased for a term of ten or more years, with a privilege 

 of renewal. It would be well always to have a privi- 

 lege of purchase in the leases at a fixed price, since the 

 ground sometimes becomes valuable in an unexpected 

 way. Oil, for example, has been discovered on a 

 game-preserve. A system of drainage may raise the 

 price of a worthless marsh and at the same time de- 

 stroy the shooting. 



Some of the clubs are for members only ; others 

 permit a member to bring his family to the club-house ; 

 not, however, during the shooting season, and to bring 

 guests for the shooting. At other clubs a member is 

 not permitted to invite a guest. Such is the rule of 

 the Ottawa Club, for example. Here there are fifty 

 members, and when the shooting is good, there are 

 scarcely enough good stands for all, since one-half of 

 the blinds are always undesirable on account of being 

 on the windward points or shores. At many of the 

 clubs, however, the members are allowed to invite a 

 friend for several days* shooting. The member is 

 always required to accompany his guest, and is held 

 responsible for his conduct and for the payment of all 

 club charges. One of the Currituck clubs which I 

 visited recently has a rule allowing a member to bring 



