16 DIGEST OF GAME LAWS EOR ]901. 



residents to obtain licenses, and Oregon now licenses nonresident 

 market hunters. All the Northern States from the Alleghenies to 

 the Pacific with three exceptions now require nonresident hunters to 

 secure licenses at a cost of §10 to §10. (See pp. 10-49.) 



Perhaps the most hopeful sign of the times is the general recogni- 

 tion of the principle that game preservation is a national rather than 

 a local question. The progress made in man^^ States is the outcome 

 of well-directed efforts toward the attainment of a common definite 

 object, rather than the passage of purely local measures. Organized 

 effort has accomplished more this year than ever before. The Amer- 

 ican Ornithologists' Union, interested especialh^ in the preservation of 

 nonganre birds, has secured the enactment of a practically uniform 

 law in eight States and the District of Columbia, and incidentally the 

 adoption of a uniform definition of game birds. The League of 

 American Sportsmen has given attention especiallv to securing better 

 protection for big game and wild turkeys, and its efforts have contrib- 

 uted to the passage of bills providing a close season of three to ten 

 years for antelope in six States, for elk in five States, and for moun- 

 tain sheep and wild turkeys in two States. It has supported the prin- 

 ciple advocated bv several leading sportsmen's journals that protection 

 can best be secured by restricting the sale of game and limiting the 

 amount of a day's or season's bag. The influence thus exerted, com- 

 bined with the aid of A^arious other game organizations, was largely 

 instrumental in securing the pat^sage of numerous laws embodying 

 these features. The sale of all kinds of game has been prohibited 

 by three States, and that of certain species by seven others. As a 

 result of efforts in this direction, three kinds of game — antelope, elk, 

 and prairie chickens — have been practically removed from the markets, 

 except in States where their killing is still permitted. (See pp. 3S, 51.) 



Among the novel features of legislation may be mertioned a unique 

 statute enacted in Maine to prevent criminal carelessness in hunting, 

 with a A^iew to decreasing the deplorable accidents which have occurred 

 Avith such unnecessary frequency in the past few years. This law pro- 

 vides that "Whoever while on a hunting trip, or in pursuit of wild 

 game or game birds, negligently or carelessly shoots and wounds or 

 kills any human being shall be punished Ija' imprisonment not exceeding 

 ten years or by fine not exceeding §1,000."^ Other new feacures 

 include thf^ requirement of Nevada that the game laws shall be read in 

 the public schools at least twice during each year: various measures rel- 

 ative to game introduction: and provisions for establishing game pre- 

 serves. Maine has adopted the precaution of requiring persons who 

 wish to import live animals or ))irds to first secure a permit from the 

 State authorities, in order that undesirable species may be prevented 



1 Public Laws 1901, chap. 263. 



