16 LAWS EEaULATING TEANSPOKTATION AND SALE OF GAME. 



Pheasants and other foreign game birds are almost always given 

 a close season of from three to ten years after introduction. They are 

 protected in twenty-eight States, as shown by the accompanying map 

 (See PL II). In Oregon this protection is confined to the region east of 

 the Cascades and some of the counties in the southwestern part of the 

 State, but does not cover the Willamette Yalley, where the period 

 has already expired. Protection without limit is in force in Colorado, 

 Montana, eastern Oregon, Utah, and some of the counties of Virginia. 

 The periods expire in 1901 in New Hampshire, Washington, and 

 Wisconsin; in 1902 in Arizona, Idaho, New Jersey, New Mexico, 

 Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas; in 1903 in South Carolina; in 

 1904 in Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oklahoma; in 1905 in 

 Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North 

 Dakota, and Phode Island; and in 1909 in Maine. 



CLOSE SEASONS. 



No question in game protection is more important than that of the 

 seasons during which birds and animals shall be protected, yet, strange 

 to say, there is none in which State game laws show greater diversity 

 and none in which they are more subject to change. Even the laws 

 of adjoining States show little uniformity in this respect, and in some 

 States changes in game seasons are made at nearly every legislative 

 session. This lack of uniformity often defeats the purpose of pro- 

 visions intended to allow game opportunity to recuperate. It also 

 introduces needless confusion and makes compliance with the pro- 

 visions of the Federal law difficult for shippers and game dealers, who 

 must consider the open seasons in both the State in which their game 

 is killed and in that to which it is shipped. Further confusion results 

 from diversity in defining the seasons. In some laws the open seasons, 

 in others the closed, are stated, and in these statements maybe found 

 all possible varieties of inclusion and exclusion of the dates named. 

 Again, exceptions are often grafted upon exceptions to such a degree 

 as to obscure the intent of the law. 



An attempt is here made to bring together in one table all the close 

 seasons for game prescribed by the various States and by the Prov- 

 inces of Canada. For the sake of simplicity a uniform method is used 

 both in the arrangement of species and statement of seasons. In each 

 case big game is first considered, then follow squirrels and rabbits; 

 then upland game birds, such as quail, grouse, pheasants, turkeys, 

 and doves; then shore birds; and finally water fowl, such as ducks, 

 geese, and swans. In the statement of seasons only close seasons 

 have been given, and in stating these the plan of the Vermont law, to 

 include the first date but not the last, has been followed consistently. 

 The Vermont scheme has the advantage of showing readily both 

 the open and close seasons, since either may be obtained by read- 

 ing the other backward. Thus, when the close season is stated as 



