55 



most of them by magistrates or commissioners who either had 

 no zoological knowledge or were influenced by other considera- 

 tions than that of saving money for the Commonwealth: calf, 

 dog, jack rabbit, cat, squirrel, herring gull, turkey, vulture, 

 osprey, ruffed grouse, sharp-tailed grouse, horned grebe, whip- 

 poorwill, night hawk, shrike. Such heads or other remains 

 were presented, accepted and paid for with the understanding 

 that they were those of wolves, foxes, wild cats, minks, weasels, 

 hawks or owls. Bounties were paid not only on one head of 

 some of these species but on many. The heads of grouse pre- 

 sented for bounty probably were trimmed from birds dressed 

 in the market. 



On February 25, 1916, Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, secretary of the 

 Game Commission of Pennsylvania, gave at the More Game 

 Convention of the Michigan Wild Life Conservation Associa- 

 tion at Saginaw, Michigan, some experience with the Pennsyl- 

 vania commissioners in regard to bounty frauds. He said he 

 would not have believed there were so many men in Penn- 

 sylvania who would commit perjury for a dollar. One man 

 claimed to have killed 102 goshawks in four days in July. The 

 goshawk is a bird that is not found in Pennsylvania except 

 in autumn, winter or early spring. He also claimed to have 

 killed 347 weasels in two months. The man was convicted of 

 perjury and sent to jail. In one of the northern counties of 

 Pennsylvania tens of thousands of weasel skins were brought 

 in, some of them brought from Pennsylvania, some from Can- 

 ada, New York, Indiana, Ohio, etc., bought at 6 or 8 cents 

 apiece, and sold to the State of Pennsylvania for $2 each. 

 One boy was convicted for conspiring with a justice of the 

 peace to make out claims for $74. The boy did not bring in a 

 feather or a hair, but he got his money. Such frauds were 

 common. Many affidavits were made out in the names of 

 men who knew nothing of the matter. Certificates were raised 

 in amount from $2 to $22. These were raised by the claimants 

 or by some one in the offices of the county officials. Justices 

 of the peace simply assumed that men had killed certain ani- 

 mals, filled out papers, signed claimant's bogus names and drew 

 the money. Frauds such as these have been perpetrated on 

 the State of Pennsylvania within the past two years. 



