148 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 20, 1884. 



THE PROPOSED MASSACHUSETTS LAW. 



SECTION 1. It, sballbe unlawful to wilfully take or kill any woodcock, 

 _ or any ruffed grouse, commonly called partridge, or any pinnated 

 grouse, commonly called prairie chicken »r heath hen, or any quail, 

 between the 1st of January and the. 13th day of September following. 

 Sec. 2. It shall he unlawful to buy, sell, offer for sale, or have in 

 possession any woodcock, or any ruffed grouse, commonly called 

 partridge, or any pinnated grouse commonly called prairie chicken 

 or heath hen. or any quail between the first day of January and Ihe 

 15th day of September following, whenever or wherever the. birds 

 aforesaid may have been taken or killed. Except that any person, 

 firm or corporation, dealing in game, may buy, sell, or have in pos- 

 session quail and pinnated grouse, also deer, hare or rabbit, in Janu- 

 ary, February. March and April, if not taken or killed, bought or 

 sold contrary to the provisions. and statutes of Massachusetts, or any 

 other of the United States or territories from which said birds or 

 animals are, or may have been received. 



Sec. 3. It shall be unlawful to wilfully take or kill any wood or 

 summer ducK. black duck, or teal, between the first day of April and 

 the 15th day of September following, or within said time to buy, sell, 

 offer for sale or have in possession any of said birds. 



Sec. 4. It shall be unlawful to wilfully take or kill any plover, 

 snipe, sandpiper, rail, or any of the so-called marsh, beach, or shore 

 birds, between the first day of April and the 15th day of July following, 

 or within said time to buy, sell, offer for sale, or have in possession 

 any of said birds. 



Sec. 5. It shall be unlawful to wilfully take or kill any wild pass- 

 senger pigeon, or to take, kill, or have in possession, any crane or 

 heron, bittern, herring gull, tern, sea swallow or mackerel gull, be- 

 tween tne first day of April and the 15th day of September following. 

 Sec. 6. Any person violating Sees. 1,2 and 3 of this chapter shall 

 be punished oy a fine of $30 for every bird or animal taken, killed, 

 bought, sold, had in possession, or offered for sale, in violanon of the 

 provisions of this act, and any person violating Sees. 4 and 5 of this 

 chapter shall be punished by 'a fine of $10 for every such offense. 



Sec. 7. "Whoever takes or kills any undomesticated bird not named 

 in the preceding sections, except birds of prey, crows, crow black- 

 birds, English sparrows, jays, wild geese, and such fresh water and 

 sea fowl as are not named in the preceding sections, or wilfully de- 

 stroys or disturbs, or tukes a nest of eggs of any undomesticated 

 birds, except birds of prey, crows, crow blackbirds. English spar- 

 rows and jays, shall be punished by a fine of §10 for each such of- 

 fense; provided that any person above the age of twenty one years 

 having a certificate from a committee of not less than tbree persons 

 who may be appointed for the purpose of granting such certificates 

 by either the Boston Society of Natural History, the Worcester 

 Lyceum and Natural History Association, the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College, or Williams College, to the effect that said person is 

 engaged in the scientific study of ornithology or collecting in the in- 

 terest of a scientific institution, may take the nests and eggs of, or 

 at any seaBon of the year take or kill, any undomesticated birds, ex- 

 cept woodcock, ruffed grouse (commonly called partridge) or quail 

 in the close season, or their eggs; but in order to obtain such certifi- 

 cate the applicant must give a bond in the sum of S200 to the com- 

 mittee to whom he makes application for said certificate, said bond 

 to be forfeited in the interest of the commonwealth upon conviction 

 of having killed birds, or taken their nests or eggs, for other than 

 scientific ourposes, and shall further present to the committee an in- 

 dorsement from the mayor of the city or the selectmen of the town 

 where sail applicant may reside, to the effect that he, or they, be- 

 lieve him to be a person duly entitled to hold such a certificate. And 

 it is further provided that the said certificate shall not be valid until 

 indorsed by at least two of the Fish and Game Commissioners, and 

 the said Commissioners may, in their own good judgment, exempt 

 and prohibit the shooting of any one or more species of the birds of 

 Massachusetts. 



Sec. 8. Whoever takes or kills a gray squirrel, hare or rabbit, be- 

 tween the first day of March and the 15th day of September folio wing;, 

 shall be punished by a fine of $10 for every such offense. 



Sec. 9. Whoever at any season of the year takes, kills or destroys a 

 game bird, hare or rabbit, by means of a trap, net or spring, or by 

 the use of a ferret; or whoever, for the purpose of taking or killing a 

 game bird, hare or rabbit, constructs or sets any trap, snare, net or 

 spring, or uses a ferret: or whoever shoots at or kills any wildfowl, 

 or any of the so-called shore, marsh or beach birds, with or by the 

 use of battery, swivel or pivot gun, or by the use of a torch, jack or 

 artificial light, shall be punished by a nne of $20 for every such of- 

 fense; provided, the provisions of this act shall not apply to the trap- 

 ping or snaring of ruff ed grouse, commonly called partridge, or hare 

 or rabbit, by owners of land upon their land, between the 15th day of 

 September and the first day of January following. 



Sec. 10. Whoever, with or without a dog. hunts, chases or kills a 

 deer, except his own tame deer kept onhis own grounds, shall be pun- 

 ished by a fine of SlOO for every such offense; and any person may 

 kill a dog found chasing or hunting deer, if the dog is used for that 

 purpose with the know ledge or consent of his owner or keeper. 



Sec. 11. The possession of any deer, or of any of the birds or ani- 

 mals mentioned as protected in sections 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8 of this chapter 

 during the time in which the taking, killing or selling of the same is 

 forbidden, shall be prima facie evidence of the unlawful killing of the 

 same. 



Sec. 12 Whenever the owner of any land shall conspicuously post 

 on tUe same notices that shooting or trapping thereon is prohibited, 

 it shall be unlawful for any person to enter upon such land for the 

 purpose of shooting or trapping without permission of the owner 

 thereof; and the presence of any person not having such permission 

 with the implements of shooting or trapping, shall be taken as prima 

 facie and presumptive evidence of wilful entry within the meaning 

 of i his act. But nothing herein coutainep shall be construed as con- 

 flicting with the provisions of section 11. chapter 91, of the Public- 

 Statutes. 



Sec. 13. Game artificially propagated and maintained upon lauds 

 posted as above shall he the exclusive property of the person pro- 

 pagating and maintaining the same, but such person shall not sell 

 such game for food at seasons when their capture is prohibited by 

 law. 



Sec 14. All payments or compensation for game or birds, sold 

 in violation of law shall be held to have been received without con- 

 sideration, and against law, equity and good conscience. No action 

 of any kind shall be had or maintained in any court for the price of 

 any game of either this or such other State, for the purpose of being 

 brought into this commonwealth to be here kept or sold in violation 

 of such law, under such circumstances that the vendor would have 

 reasonable cause to believe that the purchaser entertained such 

 illegal purpose; and all bills of exchange, promissory notes and other 

 securities for, and evidence of, debt whatsoever, given in whole or in 

 part for the price of game or birds sold in violation of this chapter, 

 shall be void against all persons holding the same with notice of 

 such illegal consideration, either direct or implied by law. 



Sec. 15. Whoever offends against any of the foregoing sections of 

 this act, to which a penalty is not applied, shall be punished by a 

 fine of SiO for each offense. 



Sec. Pi. The Commissioners of Inland Fisheries shall be Game 

 Commissioners also, and their authority, personally or by deputy, 

 shall extend, to the protection and preservation of birds and animals 

 manner as to fishes. 

 Sec. 17. It shall be the duty of every officer qualified to Ferve 

 criminal processes to arrest without warrant any person whom he 

 shall find violating any of the provisions of this act, and bring such 

 offenders before a magistrate. Auy officer neglecting or refusing 

 diligently to enforce the provisions' of this act, upon information and 

 complaint, shall be punished by fine or imprisonment, or both. 



Sec. 18. All fines accruing under this act shall be paid, one-half to 

 the complainant and one-half to the city or town wherein the offense 

 is committed. 



Sec. 19. Chap. 92 of the Public Statutes, chap. 199 of the acts of 

 1882, chaps. 36 and J 69 of the acts of 1883, and ail acts and parts of 

 acts inconsistent herewith are hereby repealed. 

 Sec. 20. This act shall take effect on and after May 1, 1881. 

 The bill reported by the Committee on Agriculture of the 

 Massachusetts Legislature is very satisfactory to those most 

 deeply interested in fish and game protection, and the 

 preservation of song and insect) vorous birds in that Slate. 

 The clause forbidding the buying and selling and having in 

 possession game when unlawfully killed either in Massachu- 

 setts or any of the States or Territories of the United States, 

 is a good one. It is the strongest step yet taken toward 

 helping other States in fish and game protection. The 

 marketmen or others who have objected to this clause, say- 

 ing, "it will kill our trade," have simply convicted them- 

 selves of having been doing, and desiring to continue in an 

 unlawful business, beneficial to themselves only, but detri- 

 mental to the whole country. 



That provision of the bill which requires those who would 

 take birds and eggs under the name of scientific research to 

 bonds in the sum of §200, is admirably designed to put 

 the power to destroy song and insectivorous birds out of the 

 reach of irresponsible persons. The clause also further pro- 

 vides tliat although permission may have been granted by 



an institution of learning to take birds and eggs, yet it shall 

 not be valid till indorsed by the Fish and Game Commis- 

 sioners. These Commissioners may also exempt altogether 

 the killing of any of the birds of the State. The clause 

 compelling officers to arrest without warrant persons found 

 violating the game laws, is what the Massachusetts Fish and 

 Game Protective Association has long struggled for. Its 

 members have always found great difficulty in procuring 

 warrants in districts remote enough to be the home of game 

 birds. Section 12 of the proposed law empowers the owner 

 of lands to protect the game on such land at all times by 

 properly posting. This provision is believed to be equitable. 

 It was asked for by the farmer, and not opposed by the 

 friends of game protection. 



Altogether the proposed law is a powerful one. It is 

 believed to be very likely to become a part of the statutes 

 of the commonwealth. ' Special. 



Hard Weather for the Birds. — We have just had a 

 storm that will no doubt kill the grouse that escaped being 

 shot or snared. A rainstorm which lasted several hours and 

 froze as fast as it came, left trees and bushes encased in ice 

 three-fourths of an inch thick. No grouse, unless they had 

 a bill manufactured to order, could pierce this mass of ice. 

 Their food might as well be locked up and the combination 

 forgotteu. It is now an impossibility for these birds to get 

 buds or leaves. It has cleared away cold, and the prospect 

 is fair that the trees will be robed in ice for a day longer at 

 least. What can these birds live on? The snow covers the 

 ground, and now their only hope is completely destroyed. 

 It certainly seems strange that our finest game bird has so 

 many enemies. Owls, hawks, skunks, foxes, weasels, 

 squirrels, ticks, and last, but not least, man with his deadly 

 snare. _ Now% with all their other troubles, their food in a 

 condition that is as impossible to get as it would be to get 

 nourishment from a barbed wire fence. No wonder grouse 

 are scarce; are there any birds that fly that have more 

 enemies? If there are, they should have our sympathy with- 

 out delay. We shall at no distant day use clay grouse, un- 

 less something is done to protect this noble bird from being 

 snared. The law now allows a man to snare on his own 

 land, and privilege to snare is rented to the highest bidder. 

 We have the greatest respect for the farmer, arid certainly 

 do not think this law is just as it works now. The usual 

 howl is, the "kid gloves" want all the birds. I do not 

 believe that the average has been one grouse a day for any 

 sportsman in this city during the last season. One "man who 

 owns a farm sublet the privilege to snare on his land, and 

 received one pair of grouse each morning. Cannot some of 

 your readers let us know how this ice storm left the grouse 

 (dead or alive) in their section. Pine grosbeaks, bluebirds, 

 snow buntings, song sparrows, tuee sparrows, purple finches, 

 ruby -crowned kinglets, robins, were here before this storm. 

 It must be hard for cedar birds, purple finches and pine 



grosbeaks to get then f«od now. — Flick Flick (Hartford, 

 bnn., March 8). 



Game in Mississippi.— Editor Forest a nd Stream: Asithas 

 been quite awhile since you heard from "Davy Crockett," I 

 will let your army of readers know how hunting is down 

 here. During the severe winter, which we hope has just 

 passed, game, such as ducks, quail and rabbits, have been 

 very plentiful, with now and then a wildcat or a wolf pitched 

 in for a counter. A party of half a dozen went out a mile or 

 two from here during one of the late snows, and bagged over 

 300 rabbits. In a large yard in the heart of the town — not 

 more than one hundred yards from the court house — some 

 boys killed seven rabbits in the snow; the yard has a large 

 number of forest trees in it, besides many small evergreens 

 and rose bushes. I talked with a gentleman from South 

 Lake, twelve miles southwest of here, last week. He told 

 me he did not shoot ducks by number, but by the acre, hav- 

 ing killed all he could back the day before, at three shots. A 

 gentleman living about three miles from town has killed 

 three large wildcats this winter, and says he is just waiting 

 for me to join him to catch the "boss cat" of the brake. He 

 has some splendid dogs, and when they start a cat, all you 

 have to do is wait until it makes a circle, and go near where 

 it has once passed, sit down and be quiet and you can have a 

 wildcat come sneaking along within ten feet of you. Three 

 large wolves were seen crossing a public road not a mile 

 from town, in the broad light of day, not more than three 

 weeks ago. The small boys are shooting robins in the 

 meadows around town now", especially after the birds have 

 become iutoxicated on china berries, as is the case when 

 they eat too many. — Davy (Sardis, Miss., March 8). 



Snaking on Long Island. — I think Wm. N. Lane's article 

 in your issue of March 6 is about the "last straw." If State 

 Protector Whittaker takes no notice of such violations of 

 the law, whom have we to apply to for the protection of 

 game? I hope this article will so arouse the sportsmen and 

 others who desire the law respected, as to compel the per- 

 formance of his duties by our game protector. If he refuses, 

 what is the proper remedy? The writer of this hopes to see 

 some one having authority to enforce the Lrws give Manor 

 and adjoining stations his special attention. I am credibly 

 informed that over two thousand partridges were sent from 

 the above station alone in about ten weeks, and all of them 

 snared. Would like, if the bill now before the Legislature, 

 making the open season for partridges the same as for quail, 

 so far as regards Suffolk county, meets your approbation, to 

 have you lend it your powerful support, and oblige all whom 

 I have conversed with. — C. (Manorville, Suffolk county, 

 March 10). [Our correspondent must remember that the 

 game protectors' salaries are very small, and that they are 

 allowed little or nothing for expenses. We should like to 

 see this subject thoroughly agitated.] 



The Deadly Mink.— Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., March 

 15. — One night this week a mink killed my entire flock of 

 wood-ducks, fourteen in all, and carried them off. The 

 next morning we found ten of them in a pile of refuse wood 

 under the fish hatchery, with their necks torn, and in three 

 cases the heads off. Two terriers started the mink from Hie 

 pile, but it escaped in the loose stone foundation, but was 

 captured alive in a trap at night, when the dogs shook 

 some satisfaction out of it, in the absence of Mr! Bergh. 

 The birds had paired and a fine flock was antici paled. 1 

 had written to all the sportsmen and market gunners, whose 

 address I could get, for green-winged teal and other beauti- 

 ful wildfowl for domestication, and have promise of some, 

 which fortunately had not arrived. A pair of Chinese man 

 darin ducks ordered from France would undoubtedly have 

 gone also, as I have no doubt that the beast would have 

 killed a hundred ducks had they been in the little 6x12 

 house. Of course I have "covered the well since the calf 

 was drowned," and am sadly in want of more birds to breed 

 from. — Fred Mather. 



Washington Notes, — Washington, D. C, March 15. — A 

 dispatch from the local gunners at Havre de Grace to the 

 Philadelphia owners of ducking outfits last Thursday, that 

 a flight of canvas-backs and redheads had come on, started 

 many of the sportsmen of the Quaker City to the flats. But 

 the rain which visited the country interfered greatly with 

 the comfort of shooting, although fowl were plentiful. I 

 have learned while here at Washington that similar flights 

 of ducks have come to the different grounds in this section. 

 This will be doubtless the last arrival of ducks previous to 

 the general spring migration, and we will no doubt have 

 more open and springlike weather hereafter. Snipe have 

 begun to show themselves in the meadows below "Washing- 

 ton, and bunches of five and six together were seen to-day. 

 but the birds were wild and uncertain in their actions,— 

 Homo. 



They Stopped It.— The Kent County Sportsmen's Club, 

 of Grand Rapids, Mich., secured the arrest of F. J. Detten- 

 thaler on the 26th of February, 1884, for selling and expos- 

 ing for sale wild game out of season. His defense was that 

 the birds were not killed in Michigan. They were, bought 

 in St. Louis and killed in Tennessee. But we gained 

 our case and stopped the sale. Our law, as now worded, 

 proved too much for the pettifogging efforts of both bar 

 and bench. This shows again the importance of having 

 all laws so worded that they cannot be misconstrued. 

 If language is capable of misconstruction, it will always 

 get it in court. All laws are too wordy and ambig- 

 uous, and this is especially true of game laws. Bills for 

 legislative action are too often drafted or amended by 

 lawyers for the express purpose of leaving loopholes for the 

 defense and to encourage litigation. This can and should 

 be avoided by wording them so that they can have but one 

 construction.— Oikoi (Grand Bapids, Mich,, March 8). 



Game in Texas.— Our plover shooting opens soon, and 

 depends largely npon the amount of rain falling between 

 this and May. The pot-hunters here destroy more antelope, 

 deer and turkeys than they are worth, in the teeth of our 

 statute made to protect these animals /tree naturae. Wagons 

 loaded with turkeys killed on their roosts are hawked about 

 the streets here, at the pitiful sum of 25 to 60 cents each. 

 Every kind of duck can be found on the upland lakes here 

 that are found on the prairies of Western Texas and on the 

 Staked Plains. They give our running streams a wide berth 

 because of the alkaline waters. — P. (Colorado, Texas, March 

 10). • 



New York.— Barre Center, March 18.— Weather very 

 cold and stormy. Was out in the woods yesterday and 

 flushed a woodcock. There are a great many partridges 

 left over in the swamps south of here. I have not seen any 

 snipe yet, for which, by the way, we have the best spring 

 shooting in Western New York. We have fine duck shoot- 

 ing in the spring, but none in the fall, as the marshes dry 

 up, We are very much opposed to the passing of any 

 spring law, for we get no fall shooting here. The birds 

 only stay a few days in the spring, and if tbey change the 

 law* we shall have to lay by our guns.— II. 



Monroe County Sportsman's Club. — Rochester, N. Y, 

 March 7. — The following officers were elected for the ensu- 

 ing year by the Monroe County Sportsman's Club, at the an- 

 nual meeting last night: President, M. M. Hollister ; Vice- 

 President, James H. Brown; Secretary and Treasurer, L. A. 

 Pratt. Committees were appointed as follows: Finance — 

 H. B. Hooker, Edmond Redmond; Vigilance — G.W. Crouch, 

 Jr., Homer Jacobs, H. H. Fleischer; Bird— J. H. Brown, H. 

 B. Hooker, Frank Chaffey. Treasurer Pratt's sixteenth an- 

 nual report shows $377.05 on hand and no debts.— Edmond 



Redmond. 



Ducks at Oneida Lake.— Hon. Max B. Richardson and 

 our President, O. S. Osterhout, have just returned from a 

 trip to the wild duck resort at Oneida Lake. They did not 

 forget to take their breechloaders along. They report hav- 

 ing a very pleasant time, although the ducks are not as 

 Slenty as they were a week or ten days ago.— Dan (Oswego, 

 i. Y., March 11). 



Wild Turkeys near Washington.— A prominent sports- 

 man ol the capital, on whom 1 can depend, tells me to-day 

 that wild turkeys are yet quite numerous within ten miles of 

 the city. Few are Killed, however, owing to the difficulties 

 the rocuy and rugged nature of the ground place in the way 

 of successful huntirg.— Homo. 



Wisconsin.— Rosendale, March 5.— Our winter has been 

 a severe one, but the pinnated grouse have come through so 

 far all right; ditto ruffed grouse; but what few quail there 

 were have perished, as it was impossible to care for them in 

 their scattered localities.— S. B. D. 



Colorado. — This is one of the finest game countries I was 

 ever in. Deer, elk and antelope without numbers, many 

 bear, and in spring and fall myriads of geese and ducks. I 

 shall try and send you something very soon about this re- 

 gion.— F. D. G. (Hayden, Routt county). 



Gray Squirrels Protected tn Connecticut.— Only one 

 game act has passed the Connecticut Legislature during the 

 past winter. This was a bill to protect the gray squirrels, 

 and permits them only to be killed between Oct. 1 and Jan. 1. 



Colorado.— Denver, Feb. 20.— Jack rabbit hunting is 

 great sport here now. Geese and ducks have made their ap- 

 pearance to-day. I have seen a large flock of geese flying 

 very low. — I. H. S. 



Mb. Heath.— In speaking last week of Mr. Heath's 

 "burst trims" photograph, we stated that he was "with J. C. 

 Grubb & Co." We should have said he can be addressed in 

 care of that firm. 



To F. M. P., New York.— If this correspondent will 

 write to E. T. Sepe, Nottoway county, Va., he can probably 

 obtain the information he desires. 



Michigan.— Linden, March 1.— Quail seem to have stood 

 the hard winter very well in this section.— W. H. J. 



Birds Moving.— Heard the first flock of geese going north. 

 — C. B. (Davenport, Iowa, March 13). 



Men Have no Eight to expose their families to the risk of being 

 thrown helpless on the world, when they can prevent it at small cost 

 bv taking a policy in the Travelers, of Hartford, Conn.— Adv. 



