The CpDp SropiAUH.D Naturalist 



MONTREAL, NOVEMBER 15th, i'881. 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 

 We are anxious to have oar accounts squared 

 up by the end of the year, therefore, gentle- 

 men who have nol paid for the magazine 

 would confer a favor by remitting One dollar 

 to us before the 1st of December. 



THE VENISON SEASON. 

 There must be some alteration in the time 

 to hunt deer, and the necessity for the change 

 is obvious from the late long continued fine 

 weather, which, we may say, lasted through- 

 out the months of September and October. 

 At present the law says that all species of deer 

 may be hunted from the 1st of September to 

 the 1 st of February, in the Province of Quebec, 

 so that actually two months of the present 

 legal season is of no value to the sportsman, 

 and we may risk making no mistake in saying 

 that for years to come but few deer will 

 be obtained in the month of September at 

 least, either in the accessible woodlands of 

 Ontario or Quebec. The animals can certain- 

 ly be obtained by going far back, but what can 

 be done with venison after it is carried a great 

 distance in such a temperature? It would be 

 simply unlit for human food. We must, there- 

 fore, frame our Game Laws to suit the climate 

 and rutting season, and it would be greatly to 

 the advantage ol sportsmen and the deer to 

 Commence the open season on the 1st of 

 October, and close on the 15th of February. 

 We throw out these remarks that gentlemen 

 who arc interested in the sport may study the 

 subject and give us their opinions. We are 

 not anxious to do things rashly, but it is e\ 1- 

 ilent that as the woodlands are annually opened, 

 that the climate during the two months men- 

 tioned, will continue to increase in mildness, 

 keeping the animals far back, and, therefore, 

 not so accessible as in former seasons. — C. 



EXPOSE THEM. 

 A few Americans hate leased th< Swanton 

 Marshes on Lake Cham plain, and nave called 

 themselves " The Maldon Game Clal 

 Mass." We have been informed thai men 

 of this Cluli have latelv set numbers ol mask- 

 rat traps on the sand-bars in order to catch 

 the Black duck going there to rest. The dis- 

 covery was made by a party who watched the 

 gents searching for the traps which 

 hidden beneath the sand washed by the wa 

 We are also told that membere ol the al 

 Club go into the marshes wtth doge to procure 

 young ducks before they are able to fly. The 

 sporting men of Vermont-^those who love tair 

 play to game animals — should watch 

 gentry and make an expose of a few of them. 

 If such tricks- were played in a civilized Cana- 

 dian community, the guilty parties would 

 certainly be arrested and sent 10 jail to convert 

 stones into pebbles. — C. 



CANADIAN MUSEUMS. 



THE LAVAL UNIVERSITY, QUEBJ 



This well-known educational institution has, 

 without doubt, better facilities for exhibiting 

 the fauna and flora of North America than 

 any similar one in the Dominion. The room 

 devoted to the zoological collections is I; 

 and well-lighted from the west side ol the 

 building, and the cases containing the Orni- 

 thological collection arc erected alter modern 

 patterns, spacious, standing transversely on 

 the floor, each case having two windows to 

 lighl its contents. We may safely say that the 

 Museum o\' the Laval University of Quebec, 

 in course ol time will equal that ol the Academy 

 of Natural Science of Philadelphia. 



Some years ago the Council voted a sum ol 

 money to procure preserved skins of the birds 

 ol Southern and Western America, and the 



