IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



of more than a misdemeanor and 

 should be fined not less than one 

 hundred dollars for the first of- 

 fense and a forfeiture of office 

 and imprisonment for the second. 

 This may seem like harsh meas- 

 ures, but they are needed and 

 would be enforced if an officer 

 was guilty of any other neglect 

 of duty than a neglect to punish 

 offenders against the game laws. 



In Chapter i 56 of the laws of 

 the 17th General Assembly, Sec- 

 tion 2, is provided the open sea- 

 son in which it is lawful to shoot 

 certain birds. 



"It shall be unlawful for any 

 person within this state to shoot 

 or kill any Pinnated Grouse or 

 Prairie Chicken between the first 

 day of December and the first 

 day of September next following; 

 any Woodcock between the first 

 day of January and the tenth day 

 of July; any Ruffed Grouse or 

 Pheasant, Wild Turkey, or Quail, 

 between the first day of January 

 and the first of October; any 

 wild duck, goose, or brant, be- 

 tween the first day of May and 

 the fifteenth day of August, or 

 any wild deer, elk or fawn, be- 

 tween the first day of January 

 and the first day of September. 



To my idea these seasons are 

 not the best adapted to preserve 

 our game. The season on Quail 



should close December ist in- 

 stead of January ist and thus in 

 a great measure protect them 

 from the pot hunter who takes 

 occasion while they are clustered 

 together in the snow to kill a 

 covey at a shot. Wild Turkeys 

 should be protected for a period 

 of at least five years, but even 

 this I fear would not prevent 

 the gradual extermination of this 

 grand bird and also of the Ruffed 

 Grouse from our state, for there 

 is another factor at work in the 

 extermination of these two birds 

 which does more in this way than 

 all the sportsmen and even the 

 pot hunters of our state can do. 

 I refer to the rapid diminution 

 of our forest area. Our state is 

 a prairie state and yet there were 

 formerly along all our water 

 courses forests of no mean size 

 and these were teaming with 

 bird life that is now fast reach- 

 ing extinction as far as our state 

 is concerned. Here in former 

 years the Pileated Woodpecker, 

 the Grouse, Turkey and Pigeons 

 abounded; now one may tramp 

 for miles through the remnant of 

 these grand woods and rarely see 

 any of these once abundant birds. 

 How many times have we, when 

 the first warm days of spring 

 came around, started out for 

 some familiar wooded spot where 



