FOREST AND STREAM. 



41 



green OI latitude, and whose periods of coming and going 

 are as regular and well known as the rotation of the plan- 

 ets, special mid peculiar legislation is required. Never- 

 theless, the general principle, as indicated can be easily 

 applied. Under these provisions there would be no need 

 of local or neighborhood laws, tor Hie game being thor- 

 oughly protected throughout the whole State, the depleted 

 and barren districts of that State would in time be replen- 

 ished and restocked. Different laws for contiguous States 

 are irrational, and as at present constituted, they are actu 

 ally aiding to drive Out and exterminate the game instead 

 of preserving it. If September is a close .season in one 

 State, and October in the next adjoining, no end of trouble 

 must result, ; witness tills case of the Governor of Missouri, 

 who, when shooting near the border, happened to cross the 

 line into Kansas, and was vcrv properlv arrested for an 

 infringement of the law of the latter. There should be no 

 difference between the laws of Kansas and Missouri, lor 

 their climate and latitude and game are essentially the 

 same. 



We have now MauO the facts and the necessities of the 

 ease. We propose a practical application of the remedy, 

 premising (and taking the highest English authority as 

 judges of the question) that r ' it is a known fact that all 

 the best measures for the protection of game, the most ju- 

 dicious, not only for the sportsmen, but for those who gain 

 llieir subsistence by shooting and fishing, must always ema- 

 nate from those who shoot and fish for their pleasure/' 

 Ordinarily, those who legislate, those who make the laws, 

 are not practical sportsmen, or so well informed on the 

 subject as to serve advantageously as scientific economists 

 It is proper, therefore, that' the drafts of any bill or bills 

 to be submitted to future legislative bodies should emanate 

 from the sportsmen, naturalists, and fish sullurists of the 

 country, who make our game aoimals, their habits, their 

 protection, their pursuit, and their propagation a constant 

 and intelligent study. The remedy, then, and its applica- 

 tion, lies i'u the cooperation of all the scientific and accli- 

 mating societies and sportsmen's clubs in the Union, and 

 we are herewith encouraged by the Game Protective So- 

 cie'y of JSTe* York, and the American Fish Culturists 1 As 

 sociation of the United States (to both of which the scheme 

 has been presented) to lay before all these clubs aud associ- 

 tions the importance of calliug at an early day a conven- 

 tion of sportsmen, naturalists, and culturists "to select a 

 board of arbitration or reference, which shall prepare a 

 suitable draft of a law to be pressed for passage upon the 

 legislatures of the respective States, this reference to be 

 final, the legislature to sit as a committee of the whole, and 

 the bill to be either rejected or accepted unconditionally. 

 Legislators who have the interests of the country , -if heart 

 would not be jealous of their prerogatives in such cases ; 

 indeed, they should be gratified to be relieved of the ardu- 

 ous labor and responsibility of so important a measure. 

 'We have received a great number of letters urging this 

 movement for a general convention, details of winch will 

 .soon be published, and we have no doubt that all clubs will 

 readily fall in with it. 



On April lSKh we supplemented this article by the fol- 

 lowing brief remarks concerning special legislation for 

 separate localities in the same Stale : 



" They only confuse the conscientious Sportsman w bo is 



anxious 'to conform to statutes, and at the same • operate 



directly to defeat all general and sumptuary statues, by 

 giving evil disposed persons a dozen loop-holes of escape from 

 their penalties. Any one can very reasonably plead ignorance 

 of the law, when there is a petty enactment Mr every sepa- 

 rate lake, pond, and stream in" the Stale, and when even 

 the freeholder cann >t tell what particular law governs his 

 own private preserve. We trust to see some means soon 

 adopted that will sweep this local legislation out of sight, 

 and that a wholesome law for each State, aud a plan of co- 

 operative laws for all the States will be framed, adopted, 

 observed, and universally extolled. If special restrictions 

 are required to extend close time or secure tolal prohibi- 

 tion as to certain waters or districts, the duty should not 

 be imposed upon the legislatures, but be assumed by those 

 persons most immediately interested in the preservation and 

 propagation desired, either through associations or indi- 

 viduals." 



On May Tth we printed an extended legal opinion, pre- 

 pared expressly for the Fokkst and Stubam by one of out- 

 most eminent jurists, defining the operations ol game laws 

 as governing trespass, and the rights of sportsmen aud 

 property owners. This opinion covered one full page of 

 this journal, aud is too long for republication here. If is 

 sufficient for our purpose to state that it gives a legal guar- 

 anty of the integrity and correct construction of our co- 

 operative scheme in all its parts. 



Having thus fortified ourselves that the scheme was 

 sound, practicable, sufficiently comprehensive to meet the 

 requirements of the. case, we sought to obtain its endorse- 

 ment by the New York City Society for the Protection of 

 Game, a body which has beeu most efficient and remarka- 

 bly successful in prosecuting offenders against the game 

 laws — both those who killed and those who sold out of 

 season. The scheme was submitted and endorsed, and 

 resolutions seconding the call of the Fish Culfurist's Asso- 

 ciation were referred to a proper committee, which reported 

 as follows: 



•'The committee to which had been referred the resolutions 

 offered by Mr. Charles Hallock in reference to a uniformity 

 of the game laws, submitted the following report: that oil 

 the examination of this subject they note the varying law:, 

 that govern the protection of game,' and that the variations 

 in the legal times of killing game do not depend upon 

 the periods when the animals have ceased breeding, or 

 upon the different climates which advance or retard incu- 

 bation, as much as they do upon the accidental selection 

 by the legislatures of the law of some other State or Ter- 

 ritory as a model, in some instances the breeding season 

 of some fish has been made the open season. In other cir- 

 cumstances open seasons have been created for soug birds, 

 which should never be allowed to be killed, as tor instance 

 the brown thrush, iu section 10 of the law of our own Stale. 

 But particularly we note the objection that adjoining 

 States in the same latitude, and affected by the same 

 climate, aud stocked by the same kinds of game, have dif- 

 ferent, seasons in which they may be taken. The injury 

 done by this is manifest It not only imperils the existence 

 of the bird iu the State where it is "adequately protected, 



but, it renders nugatory, to a large degree, tne proper law 

 in the adjacent Stale, because most of these laws are en- 

 forced by prosecuting the venders of thegame, andif game 

 killed according to law in one State is sold in another State 

 where it is illegal, the vender can plead that, the game was 

 killed in an adjoining State where the killing was lawful, 

 and thus not only escape himself, but, render convictions 

 under the law so uncertain that few will undertake the 

 risks of prosecuting. It oftentimes occurs that the breeding 

 place of some game be in one State, while the game in the 

 auluinn moves to other grounds, as in the case of wood- 

 cock, and a great temptation is thrown in the way of those 

 who live near the breeding place, and know that iu a few 

 days the birds will move off where they will be killed, and 

 they not allowed to participate, in the chase. 



the reasons seem even stronger when applied to fish in 

 rivers which run through several States, as, for instance, 

 the Connecticut, which is liable to be fished by the citizens 

 of four different States, any one of which could prevent, 

 by their action the enjoyment of the fisheries by any of the 

 others. 



There are certain zones of climate -where the birth and 

 maturity of game are so nearly simultaneous that the same 

 law could govern in all. Take, lor instance, the quail iu 

 Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, 

 Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, "Iowa, 

 Wisconsin, and Minnesota. These birds are a staple game 

 bird of great market value and field pleasure. 



Their incubating season niey van, between Central -New 

 York and Maryland about two weeks, and in cither place 

 will be advanced or retarded that much of time by the 

 character of the season. In none of these places, however, 

 do any laws propose to open the season at, the precise day 

 when the birds are grown. .V reasonable margin of time i's 

 made, extending from October 1st to February 1st. In our 

 own Slate the open season is from October 20th to January 

 1st. These Stales, on this subject, had their laws been uni- 

 form as to times, would be perpetually aiding each other; 

 now I hey arc the cause of stumbling and' uncertainty. 

 Another matter which is essential to a, complete system of 

 game laws is to have as many kinds of game as possible 

 condenser] into thfl same close season. Bach State has not 

 only varying limes to commence shooting the same game, 

 but' also varying times to commence shooting the different, 

 varieties of game. Thus in our own State the shooliug 

 season for woodcock begins July yd; for quail, the 30fh of 

 October; for partridge, the 1st of'September.; for starlings, 

 the 1st of August. Country people do not carry these 

 dales in their minds, and are led into error; and those seek- 

 ing to enforce cannot tell whether a sportsman iu the earlier 

 moulbs is pursuing legal or illegal -.-one, and there is a total 

 absence of a fixed, definite lime in the public mind when 

 field sports begin. 



The same irregularity iu our laws exists in those of the 

 other States. No greater step in advance in these matters 

 could be made than by having a fixed, permanent day when 

 all shooting might begin. 



We cannot pass iu silence one general omission existing 

 in the laws of all the Stales. No provision exists protect- 

 ing the migratory birds that visit us in the spring of the 

 ye.ii. English snipe, plover, dowitches, aud the many 

 varieties of birds that enliven our beaches, are wholly un- 

 protected by law, and are killed and sold in the nfarkets in 

 April and May iu large quantities. When the spring is 

 late, and the birds are delayed in their passage, they are 

 found full of eggs, and sometimes are forced to nest w"ithiu 

 the State. 



These birds should be protected in every State, no mat- 

 ter where I hey are dying to, for they are the children of 

 our common country, and arc- gladdening every part of it 

 in their migrations. No rule is so good as the rule that no 

 gun is lo be fired at birds or animals in spring or summer. 

 Every reason of health to the eater, of abundance or sup- 

 ply (if the article eaten, of justice to the animal when 

 breeding or preparing to breed, pleads for the fullest and 

 most comprehensive ami uniform laws in these malters, 

 and therefore we submit the following plan and resolu- 

 tions: — 



Whereas, The gene 

 favor of the creation a 

 tern which will secure : 

 greater uniformity, ant 

 the laws tot the protect 

 inasmuch as a phut for 

 operative legislation of 



sentiment of the country is in 

 immediate adoption of some sys- 

 the different Slates and in Canada 

 nnseqtieiitiy greater efficiency in 

 n and preservation of game, and 

 curing these objects through co- 

 ll the States was submitted to the 



American Fish Culturists' Association," and unanimously 

 endorsed by it last February, and since then by other simi- 

 lar bodies in various parts of the country. 



RtMl'Wd, That it is expedient and necessary to call a na- 

 tional convention al the earliest date consistent with a care- 

 ful and general scrutiny,) the scheme; and inasmuch as 

 this body, the New Yor.i Society for the Protection of 

 (lame, has already discussed it in session and submitted it, 

 to legal gentlemen of experience for examination and se- 

 cmi'itiis approval, we do hereby recommend and advise 

 that a circular letter be addressed to each and all the sports- 

 men's clubs, acclimating societies, natural history societies, 

 and fish culturists' associations throughout the country, 

 Wherever available, inviting an endorsement of the same, 

 and requesting that a written notification oi such endorse- 

 ment, signed by their respective Presidents anil Secretaries, 

 be scut i.i the Secretary of this society, to be filed, and that 

 the said loiters shall express the choice of location aud date 

 of year at which the national convention shall be held, and 

 if it shall be found upon examination at the cud of six 

 months that the favorable responses are sufficiently numer- 

 ous aud widespread to be regarded as representing the wish 

 of the country, then a call shall emanate from this New 

 York Society for the Protection of Game, designating such 

 time aud place for the meeting of the Convention as shall 

 appear to be the wish of the majority of the societies re- 

 sponding. All of which is respectfully submitted. 



William C. Barrett, Chas. E. Whitehead, Chas. Hallock, 

 Committee. 



May Wth, 1874. 



The report was adopted, arid ordered to be primed. 



In issuing this call, the New York Oily Society had no 

 intention or desire to usurp any prerogative, but in the ab- 

 sence of any other movement, or any indication of one, 

 was ready to take the initiative. It will be observed that 

 the selection of time and place to hold the Convention, was 

 to be left to the choice of the clubs responding to the call. 

 In this Way the sense of tho country tould readily be taken, 

 an, I s.'rtieieio. time, ho allowed iu Uje interval to permit a 



careful examination of the general subject of game protec- 

 tion, and of the proposed plan iu detail. Just at this junc- 

 ture, it was very properly and in the most friendly way, 

 suggested by John B. Sage, Esq., one of the officers of tho 

 New York State Association, that in view of the approach- 

 ing State Convention at Oswego, the call might with greater 

 propriety emanate from that body, and thereby doubt- 

 less have the greater weight. The concession was made with 

 alacrity; the resolutions, committee's report, and formal 

 circular, were forwarded by mail to the President and Sec- 

 retary of the State Association, and a delegate was sent to 

 Oswego to submit the Scheme (as adopted by the Fish 

 Culturists and endorsed by the City Society) to the con- 

 sideration of the State Association, in order that, the antic- 

 ipated call might be projected upon its basis. Through in- 

 advertence, and some informality in his credentials, the 

 delegate was not admitted to the floor; the Scheme was not 

 presented; and a call for a National Convention, (iitannUnrj 

 from an. altogether different source, ims instituted by ptirtie* 

 cognizant of the earlier movement, and unanimously adopt&l 

 by u Convention, nineteen-twentieth* of whose member* mere 

 wholly ignorant of any such movement. Indeed, the officers 

 themselves expressed their regret that no opportunity had 

 been afforded to examine a Scheme w-hich had been pre- 

 pared under the auspices of so eminent a scientific hotly as 

 the Fish Culturists' Association. 



We have thought, it best to print this historical skelcii, iu 

 order to bring the Scheme freshly before our readers and 

 the delegates at Niagara Falls, and to inform the public as 

 to wdiat, actual progress has been made toward securing a 

 consummation of the great economic necessity of the period. 

 It may be that other better plans will be presented. No 

 doubt the one in question will bear amendment or revision. 

 It is certainly rudimentary, and needs perfecting. It is the 

 duty of the Convention to devise the best means for securing 

 the Protection of Game, and a more effective legislation to 

 govern close times and open seasons; and if this should 

 command their favorable attention, the efforts of those u ho 

 have worked it out and brought it to its present form will 

 not have been in vain. 



Thk Shooting Tournament at Niaoaiia.— No dtmh'l 

 the roar of the great cataract at Niagara will drown i he 

 popping of the pigeon-shooters' guus next. September Otb, 

 so that the noise thereof will not disturb the deliberations 

 of the Convention that meets to secure the protection of 

 game. We hope it may. We trust also that the. session 

 of the delegates will in no way annoy the pigeon-shooters 

 or distract their nerves. We look for good scores this day 

 fortnight, when the air is cool, and all the conditions of 

 season, climate and locality are favorable thereto. I5:nl 

 marksmanship brings no satisfactory return. In pigeon 

 practice, the death of each bird ought to bring some com- 

 pensating benefit to the contestants, either iu rewards of 

 merit, the pleasure of honorable emulation, or in improved 

 accuracy. We never could bring ourselves to believe lhat 

 pigeons were created for the express purpose of being sho' 

 from the trap, although they seem in this way to sene 

 men best. They are of very little account iu a pot-pie ; 

 while, living, they break down forests and defile the face of 

 nature in the vicinity of their roosts. So long as it is more 

 important that our citizens should become expert in the 

 use of arms than that the lives of thousands of pigeons 

 should be saved, so long shall we defend the practice of 

 trap-shooting. It secures quickness of trigger, .accuracy of 

 aim, confidence in the field, readiness for emergeucy, and 

 renders our people the worthy descendants of ancestors 

 whose training amid wilderness experiences and hand to 

 hand encounters with wild beasts enabled them to conquer 

 a country and win an independence. It was in such a 

 school as this lhat our forefathers were tried ; in this they 

 learned the art of arms. Pigeon shooting we regard as 

 essential to the defence of our couutry through the educa- 

 tion of our citizens to be marksmen, and until some con- 

 trivance shall be invented or discovered which shall serve 

 equally well in the manual of instruction, we must be con- 

 tent to permit and endure trap-shooting, repugnant as it 

 may be lo our tliier natures. 



Through numerous letters front members of the Niagara 

 Shooting Club, we learn that the preparations for enter- 

 taining their guests on a grand scale are progressing most 

 satisfactorily, and we doubt not that the tournament will 

 be one of the most "recherche" (is the word proper?) of any 

 similar festival yet held in this country. The Club is one 

 of the oldest we have, and one of the most influential. 

 Possibly all its members are thoroughbred sportsmen anil 

 earnest conservators of game, who rejoice at the prospeel 

 that some good may accrue from the deliberations of those 

 who meet to improve the game laws, and will in every way 

 aid and abet their action ; nevertheless, as we have already 

 said, we should prefer that the Tournament had been called 

 on some other day than that selected by the Convention. 



Deleoateb.— Hon. A, L. Brinsmade aud H. H. Brown, 

 of Cleveland; 0. O. Biigham, of Toledo; and Hon. T. A. 

 Logan and Col. L. A. Harris, of Cincinnati ; have been 

 appointed delegates from Ohio to the National Convention 

 al Niagara Falls. 



Dr. W. H. Hudson, of Hartford ; Hon. O. H. Plait, of 

 West Merideu ; R. O. Cheney, of Manchester; Or. L. S. 

 Luddingtou, of New Britain ; and Judge L. E. Mnnson, ..f 

 New Haven ; have beeu appointed from Connecticut. 



The New Y'ork City Soc : ety for the Protection id' Game, 

 Royal Phelps, President, has appointed Hon. Robert B. 

 Roosevelt, Hon. Carson L. Brevoort, President of the Long 

 Island Historical Society, and Charles Hallock, Editor of 

 Fokeht and Stkeanc, with power to riamethe remainder 

 of the delegation. 



