Game is now decayed, and almost ut- 
terly destroyed, for that divers Persons 
in divers Parts of this Realm, by rea- 
son of the tracing in Snow, have killed 
and destroyed, and daily to kill and 
destroy the same Hares. . . Shortly 
thereafter, legislation was prepared 
that protected certain of the most no- 
table of the Thames River marshes 
from flooding. In 1533, Henry estab- 
lished the first English waterfowl sea- 
son. Entitled “An act to avoid the 
destroying of Wild-fowl,” the legis- 
lation created a closed season from 
May 1 to August 3 1 , violation of which 
would be penalized by one year’s im- 
prisonment. Waterfowl eggs were like- 
wise protected from March 1 until 
June 30. Six years later, severe pen- 
alties were set forth for anyone who 
violated strict regulations relative to 
the taking or possession of any “Fau- 
con, Goshawke, or Laneret,” or their 
eggs. 
Henry VIII hated crows and ravens. 
During his reign, unusually severe 
anticrow laws were created, specifying 
that all persons in England “shall here- 
after do and cause to be done as much 
as in him . . . reasonably shall be or 
may be, to kill and utterly destroy 
all manner of Crows, Rookes and 
Chouges,” establishing a generous 
bounty, and forming a committee 
whose task it would be to supervise 
the eradication program. 
Edward VI and Elizabeth I devoted 
their energy to the common practice 
of poaching, an activity that had 
plagued landowners for centuries. 
Elizabeth went on to prohibit the use 
of nets in taking pheasants or partridge 
and to establish a closed season on 
these birds, because “the Game of 
Pheasants and Partridges is within 
these few Years in Manner utterly 
decayed and destroyed in all Parts 
of this Realm.” 
During the next 200 years, a steady 
stream of statutes came into being; 
virtually all of them addressed the 
increasingly stinging issue of wildlife 
management, or rather, game man- 
agement. Statutes were created rel- 
ative to falconry (James I); deer 
poaching (Charles II); “preservation 
of game,” including the prohibition 
of sale (Anne); “deer stealers” and 
a new schedule of fines for game-re- 
lated offenses (William and Mary); 
collection of fines levied for game of- 
fenses (George II); closed seasons for 
red grouse, partridge, pheasant, and 
black grouse in Scotland and the pres- 
ervation of pigeons (George III). 
National Portrait Gallery, London 
Elizabeth I 
Roebuck 
75 
