GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 27 



upon the register and forthwith report the infringe- 

 ment of the rule to the directors." When there is a 

 rule providing for a bag limit per season as well as 

 per diem, it is of course important that the entries 

 on the register be correct. Birds or fish taken by a 

 guest are charged against the member inviting him. 

 The Castalia Club has another good rule which pro- 

 vides that shooting or fishing during the time when 

 the shooting and fishing are illegal, or prohibited by 

 the rules of the club, shall be deemed sufficient cause 

 for expulsion of the member so offending. 



Most of the clubs have a rule which prohibits all 

 shooting by the punters, guides, or attendants. No 

 rule, I am satisfied, is more often broken ; the punter 

 usually carries a gun, is an excellent shot, and his em- 

 ployer is often ambitious to make a large bag of birds. 

 A member of a Western club, in discussing this ques- 

 tion with me, said the rule was enforced at his club, 

 but at one adjoining the members could not shoot a 

 " little bit," and often took out two punters to do the 

 shooting for them, and, of course, made good scores. 



A half-hour later I was conversing with the presi- 

 dent of the adjoining club referred to, and he said the 

 rule in their club was, of course, strictly observed. 

 " We might as well," he said, '' allow our servants to 

 drink our champagne as to allow the punters to do the 

 shooting which w^e have secured at so great an ex- 

 pense for ourselves. Our neighbors," he added, confid- 

 ingly, " do not observe the rule. They often take out 

 two or three men to do the shooting. They cannot hit 

 a barn-door — most of them, you know," etc. The 

 same day I related these contradictory stories to still 



