54 GAME COMMISSIONS AND WAKDENS. 



The Illinois law does not vest the wardens with power to search, but 

 provides that when they believe any person or corporation has any 

 game in his or its possession, contrary to law, it shall be their duty to 

 go before any justice of the peace in the county and make affidavit to 

 that fact. Whereupon the justice shall issue a search warrant directed 

 to an} r constable of the county commanding him to search at once for 

 said game and, upon finding it, to seize and hold it until further order 

 of the justice. A form of warrant is contained in the law, as follows: 



State of Illinois, -i 



County, j ss ' 



To any constable of said county, greeting: 



You are hereby commanded to search (here describe place), seize, and take pos- 

 session of and hold any game, deer, wild fowl, or bird found there. And you (here 

 name owner or corporation in wmose possession game is found) are hereby notified 

 to appear before me at my office in (here locate office) on (here state time of trial) 

 and show cause w T hy the game, deer, wild fowl, or birds should not be sold and the 

 proceeds thereof distributed as required by law. 



(Signature of justice.) 



Justice of the Peace. 

 (Date of warrant. ) 



In Maryland also the warrant is directed to a constable on affidavit 

 of a warden. 



The right to search for game illegally held is perhaps one of the 

 most important functions of a warden and is necessarj T for efficient 

 protection, for in no other wa}^ can illicit traffic in game be eradi- 

 cated. This authorit}^ has led to the discover}^ of large numbers of 

 birds and quantities of game in some of the cities of the United 

 States and the suppression of a traffic only suspected before. It has 

 been only by means of this process that illegal interstate commerce in 

 game has been stopped. So hard have the market hunters in the 

 Mississippi Valley been pushed that in order to get their illegal ship- 

 ments to the city markets they have packed the game in butter tubs 

 or egg cases, labeling the shipment 'butter' or 'eggs.' Other devices 

 also for evading the game laws have been adopted. But the climax was 

 reached when certain shippers packed their game in a coffin box and 

 shipped it as a corpse, accompanied by a false health certificate. Some- 

 what more troublesome, if not so gruesome, was the resort to bales of 

 hay, the game being placed in the center of a car with the bales of 

 hay piled about it. 



SEARCH WITHOUT WARRANT. 



Seventeen States and the District of Columbia specifically provide that 

 wardens or other officers may search certain designated places without a 

 warrant. (See PI. V.) While the statutes vary widely in language, 

 the substance is the same, and the officers are clothed with power to 

 accomplish the same results. It is interesting to note that most of the 

 States granting this power are 'Western or Central; of the Southern 



