CHARGE TO THE JURY. 83 



the work periodically, usually to the governor, but in a few instances 

 to the legislature, and in Michigan and Texas to the secretary of state. 

 These reports ordinarily cover a biennial period, sometimes an annual 

 period, but in Alabama the commissioner is required to report only 

 quadrennially, while in Montana he must submit a report semian- 

 nually. It is through these reports that the executive and legislative 

 branches of the government, and more especially the general public, 

 are informed as to what the game departments are accomplishing. 

 Formerly such reports were brief, containing little more than a finan- 

 cial statement, but of late years their scope has been greatly enlarged, 

 and statistics of huntiug licenses, prosecutions, and seizures are very 

 generally included. General articles on game protection and economic 

 ornithology by recognized authorities and illustrated by colored plates 

 are sometimes included, so that the volumes are valuable alike to the 

 specialist and the general public. The reports of Indiana, Massachu- 

 setts, Montana, and New York are examples of this evolution. A feature 

 which has lately begun to receive attention and may be made of great 

 value both in framing legislation and for future reference is a state- 

 ment of the condition of the game of the State in more or less detail. 

 Reports containing such statistics are repositories of interesting and 

 valuable information. Annual reports are required in Wisconsin and 

 Illinois, but they are not published in separate form, although reports 

 on certain phases of warden work in Illinois appear regularly in one 

 of the leading sportsmen's journals. Provision by specific appro- 

 priation is made in several States for publication of game warden 

 reports, and Colorado and Wyoming appropriate $200 for the purpose; 

 Vermont fixes the number of copies at 2,000, and Indiana, by special act 

 in 1907, ordered 10,000 extra copies of the last biennial report of the 

 State game and fish commissioner. 



CHARGE TO THE JURY. 



For a long time in the history of this country it has been customary 

 for the legislature to incorporate in certain criminal statutes a section 

 or clause directing the judges of courts having jurisdiction of the 

 matter to give the statute in special charge to the grand jury or to 

 call its attention to the law. The object is, of course, to insure 

 enforcement. Four States — Alabama, Georgia, Montana, and Ten- 

 nessee — have included this provision in their laws, the language of 

 the Tennessee section in the nongame bird law of 1903 being as follows: 



9. That the grand juries of the circuit and criminal courts of the State shall have 

 inquisitorial authority over all violations of any of the provisions this act, and 

 upon probable cause, shall make presentment without prosecutor; and that the judges 

 having criminal jurisdiction in the various counties in Tennessee shall give this Act 

 specially in charge to the grand juries at every term of the courts. (Acts of 1903, ch. 

 118.) 



4358— No. 28—07 7 



