STATE GAME AND FTSH WARDEN. X5 



Administration. 



(a) That provision be made for the enforcement of the game 

 laws by State officials or commissioners in Arkansas, Florida. 

 Mississippi, Nevada and \^irginia. 



(b) That the term of office of commissioners should be not 

 less than four years in the States of Arizona, ConnecticuL, 

 Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Utah, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode 

 Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wisconsin. No man, 

 however active, can accomplish effective work within two 

 years, one of which is necessarily spent in becoming familiar 

 with the duties of the office. Frequent changes in the head 

 of the department are not conducive either to efficiency or 

 economy of administration. 



(c) That the only" satisfactory enforcement of fish and game 

 laws can be secured through the game warden system. Merit 

 and efficiency only should be considered in the appointment 

 of wardens or their retention in service. 



(d) That the warden service should be divorced as far as 

 possible from politics. In making this recommendation the 

 committee invites attention to the merit system as now ap- 

 plied to the appointment and promotion of regular salaried 

 wardens in the State of Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey 

 and Wisconsin. 



Seasons. 



(a) That shooting in the breeding season in summer, or 

 durmg spring "migration, be universally prohibited, especially 

 in the case of ducks, woodcock and other migratory birds. 



(b) That so far as possible the opening dates of the hunting 

 season in neighboring States be identical. 



(c) That in order to secure uniformity in the legislation 

 of the Northern States and to insure the permanent preserva- 

 tion of migratory birds on their former breeding grounds, spring 

 shooting in the States north of latitude 37 degrees be absolutely 

 prohibited, notably in the States of New Jersey, Delaware, 

 Pennsylvania, ^^laryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan, 

 Ohio. Kentucky, lillinois, Indiana, South Dakota, Missouri, 

 Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. 



(d) Prairie Chickens — That the open season for hunting 

 prairie chickens should not in any case exceed thirty days. 

 These birds have now become so generally reduced in numbers 

 and their range so restricted that hunting should be so limited 



