12 GAME COMMISSIONS AND WARDENS. 



approval and was extended. In 1853, a } T ear later, the office of town 

 moose warden was established, and each town in the State was author- 

 ized to elect one of these officers charged with the protection of its big 

 game. 



In 1858 the example of Maine was followed in New Hampshire by 

 the passage of a law authorizing the selectmen or municipal authori- 

 ties to appoint fish wardens. The compensation of these officers con- 

 sisted of one-half of the fines resulting from prosecutions instituted 

 by them, an incentive to vigilance still employed in many States. 

 The growth of fishery interests, particularly in the New England. 

 States, soon demanded effective organization, and the 'fish commis- 

 sion ' came into existence in 1865 in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 

 and in 1867 in Connecticut and Vermont. That of New Hampshire is 

 of special interest in this connection, since it was subsequently reor- 

 ganized as the first fish and game commission of the country. 



In 1868 New York followed the example set by the New England 

 States and created a fish commission, and three years later, in 1871, 

 adopted the Maine plan of placing the protection of game in the hands 

 of a special officer. Boards of county supervisors were authorized to 

 hold elections in each town for a ' game constable ' to serve a year and 

 receive as compensation half the fines recovered in prosecutions under 

 the game laws and in addition such fees as were allowed constables. 

 In the next two years provision was made for special officers in two 

 other States, but modified to suit local conditions: In 1872 Maryland 

 established a 'board of ducking police' to enforce the ducking laws on 

 the Susquehanna Flats, at the head of Chesapeake Bay, and in 1873 New 

 Jersey, under a statute authorizing the incorporation of a game pro- 

 tective association, granted certain police powers to members of such 

 associations, with authority to enforce the game laws in certain counties. 



Meanwhile the laws of Maine had been extended to include game 

 birds as well as big game, and in 1878 the duties of the warden were sim- 

 ilarly extended under the new title of ' county moose and game warden.' 

 In the same year occurred the reorganization of the New Hampshire 

 fish commission as a board of fish and game commissioners. Finally, 

 in 1887 Minnesota established the office of State game warden, and in 

 1888 New York that of chief game and fish protector. Thus within 

 fifty years after the appointment of fish wardens in Maine the benefits 

 of warden service had been recognized in half a dozen States by the 

 successive creation of the moose warden in Maine, the game constable 

 in New York, the ducking police in Maryland, the association member 

 with the authority of a constable in New Jersey, the fish and game 

 commissioner in New Hampshire, and the State game warden in Min- 

 nesota. 



It is beyond the scope of this bulletin to trace the course of evolu- 

 tion of the game wardenship in each State; but it will be of interest to 

 note the changes occurring in Connecticut, which may be taken as a 



