TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 233 



sale. The law was accordingly changed, and the authority to issue licenses 

 was placed in the hands of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission. Since 

 the passage of the act referred to, much care has been taken to determine 

 just who everv applicant is and what his business is, and under this close 

 scrutiny but five licenses were granted during the five months in which the 

 law has been in effect. 



Ti)e 3l)ooting Lav 



The act of April 24, 1903, which prohibits the shooting of wild fowl 

 during the spring of the year, did not have any effect on spring shooting 

 that year, as the bill did not become a law until within six days of the close 

 of the season. But the effect which the law had on the taking of wild fowl 

 during the spring of 1904 has been something marvelous. Not being dis- 

 turbed on Long Island, as they were in former years, until the inland waters 

 were free from ice, the ducks worked north gradually to their breeding 

 grounds. Many pairs dropped out at various points through the State, 

 where large broods of young were hatched, which helped the fall duck 

 shooting materially throughout the interior of the State. So excellent have 

 been the results, and so general is the satisfaction with the new conditions 

 resulting from the working of this law, that too much cannot be said in its 

 favor. 



Chapter 291 of the Laws of 1903, which prohibits the sale of grouse and 

 woodcock taken in this State, has worked wonders in the way of an increase 

 in these birds, as was shown by the great numbers that survived during 

 that fall and winter, and raised large broods during the past spring. Thus 

 far this fall the sportsmen are claiming that they have not seen so many 

 birds in years, and if this law is continued there is no danger of the partridge 

 becoming exterminated. 



Adirondack Deer 



Much was said during the past winter about the mortality among the 

 deer in the Adirondacks, and many people became alarmed at these rumors, 

 although the}- were advised that the deer had fared well, and that the few 

 which had been found dead were found only within a small area on the south- 

 west slope of the Adirondacks, mostly in the Moose river country. In fact, 



