*274 With Rod and Gun in New England 



could. Several thousand eighteen months old Atlantic salmon have also 

 been released. Lake trout have been introduced into several of the lakes 

 adapted to their occupancy and in some of these waters, at least, they are 

 doing well. The brown or European trout are to be found in many of our 

 streams and they are certainly here to stay. As to their being a desirable 

 acquisition, there is a division of opinion. They grow more rapidly and to 

 greater size than the native brook trout ; they are not, however, as good a 

 table fish as the other and are generally conceded to be less gamy. 



As before stated, the principal game of the State consists of the par- 

 tridge or ruffed grouse, and the quail. These birds are certainly growing less 

 in number as the years go by. The partridge succumbs to the brush fence 

 with its snare or trap, to the stealthy approach of the red fox, the mink, 

 skunk and weazel, and the ravages of fire during the brooding season. 

 The quail that has survived all the other perils of flood and field, is obliged 

 to yield to an ice storm, either through imprisonment and suffocation, or 

 from starvation. 



The law that allows any snaring, trapping, or netting of either of these 

 birds is a poor one, and should be superseded by an entire prohibition 

 under penalty, for the taking by snare or trap, of any kind, such birds. 



I should be glad to see the complete prohibition by law of the sale of 

 game in every State in the Union. This I probably shall not see, but the 

 day may come when a man's shooting and fishing will be as much his 

 private property as is now his potato patch or lawn. The Fish and Game 

 Commissioners of this State are called upon for " the enforcement of all laws 

 relating to fish and game," as well as " the introduction and distribution of 

 such food fish and game as are adapted to the waters or lands of this State." 



These requirements are to be found in the public Acts of 1805, but 

 neither then nor since has there been an appropriation providing for the 

 enforcement of the laws or for the introduction of game. 



The Commissioners endeavor to prosecute all violations of the laws 

 relating to fish and game of which they have knowledge, but they have not 

 the funds necessary for the vigorous enforcement that these laws should 

 have. When for the pot-hunter and sporting man shall be substituted the 

 sportsman, we may hope that the land-owners and hunters will make com- 

 mon cause, and by their joint effort secure the protection and propagation 

 of our fish and game. If, however, the two nuisances are not abated, these 

 rugged hills will not long know the thunder of the partridge's drum, nor 

 the swift, clear waters of our mountain streams contain that queen of fishes, 

 the leaping trout. With each decade, the birds and fish have become less 

 and less in the haunts where once they were numerous. Connecticut is 

 naturally a good State for both fish and game, and its resources might be 

 made valuable in this respect by proper and persistent effort. 



