THIRD BIENNIAL STATEMENT 163 



Parks and Game Refuges in various parts of the United 

 States, and the experience of those in our State who owned 

 private game preserves, the Commissioners, some years 

 later, hit upon the idea of establishing in various parts of 

 the State, refuges or sanctuaries into which game of all 

 kinds and song and insectivorous birds could retreat and 

 find safety when harassed by enemies. It was thought that 

 freedom from disturbance, especially during the breeding 

 season, in an area where predatory animals and birds could 

 be exterminated and where a closed season would be main- 

 tained perpetually, would result in a marked increase in 

 the birds and animals in these sanctuaries, if the experi- 

 ence of the Federal Government and private individuals 

 could be taken as a criterion. 



A careful investigation of the subject of game propaga- 

 tion satisfied the Commissioners that efforts to raise in 

 captivity our native game birds, such as wild turkey, ruffed 

 grouse and quail, had not as yet met with material success. 

 Another point that was seriously considered was that just 

 as the introduction of the English sparrow and the German 

 carp had resulted disastrously to the nation, so might the 

 importation of foreign birds and animals result in more 

 injury than good to the State. 



After considering all phases of the question, the idea of 

 a game farm was abandoned and the Commissioners turned 

 with renewed conviction to the sanctuary idea by which 

 our native and useful wild life could multiply without as- 

 sistance from man other than the systematic extermination 

 of vermin and the absolute protection afforded by a per- 

 petual closed season. 



Happily for the purpose of the Commission, the move- 

 ment for the conservation of our forests and water-supply 

 was well under way. Our Pennsylvania Department of 

 Forestry had already acquired large tracts of land, located 

 almost without exception in our mountain counties, at the 

 headwaters of streams, constituting a forest reserve area 

 and recreation ground for our people which, at the present 

 time, aggregates over a million acres distributed over al- 

 most half of the sixty-seven counties of the State. The 

 areas of these forest reserves vary, ranging from 1,176 acres 

 in Wyoming County to 128,085 acres in Clinton County. 



By an Act of Legislature May 11th, 1905, the Game Com- 

 mission was authorized, with the consent of the Commis- 



