A bill in the last Legislature purporting to close the entire State 
to ring-neck pheasants for two years met with hearty approval from 
sportsmen generally, but this bill was caught and lost in the final 
rush of the session. It is regrettable that closing counties here and 
there to these birds has caused some hardships in instances where 
sportsmen innocently killed such birds in closed counties, although 
such ignorance is inexcusable, as same received very liberal pub¬ 
licity. 1 
QUAIL: Indications are that we have more quail in Pennsyb 
vania today than for many years past. The native birds seem to 
have increased in sections where they are still found, while the 
Mexican bob-whites received and stocked in the springtime have 
thrived in almost every section where released. Unfortunately, so 
many land owners refuse to permit even good law-abiding sports¬ 
men to kill any quail on their premises, with the result that sports¬ 
men cannot continue protecting and restocking quail, and in years 
to come the quail will again be back to the point where they were 
five or ten years ago unless this condition can be remedied. Through 
the sportsmen’s organizations it is hoped that these questions may 
be worked out with the land owners so that sportsmen will be per¬ 
mitted to hunt quail within reason in order that the birds may 
furnish sport; that the coveys may be scattered and inter-mixed; 
and that the sportsmen will feel free to continue restocking and 
feeding during the wintertime as has been done in the last six or 
more years. The true sportsmen of Pennsylvania are killing com¬ 
paratively few quail, because they are just as much interested in 
protecting and increasing these birds as the land owners. Last 
winter quail were not compelled to face the rigors of severe winter 
weather, and with favorable weather conditions this past season, 
several broods were reared. We have an authentic report of a 
Mexican bob-white quail that hatched a brood of fourteen (14) young 
birds on the 10th day of September last near Indiana. If weather 
conditions should become severe this winter a special effort will be 
made to have as many birds fed in their native habitat as possible, 
as well as trapped and cared for during the winter months. Birds 
fed without reducing to captivity should be trapped and coveys 
inter-mixed prior to the breeding season to secure the best results. 
HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGES: These birds when first stocked 
apparently disappeared and were thought to be an entire failure. 
In some sections, however, we have recently received reports that 
these birds are appearing, from where no one knows, and are in¬ 
creasing nicely. It is my opinion that when the birds were first 
stocked they were released in too limited numbers in each locality, 
and that in stocking a new species not less than from three to 
eight pairs should be released in close proximity to each other so 
that even though losses do occur there will be mates, for breeding 
purposes. Sportsmen who have hunted these birds report that they 
20 
are a splendid game bird, are more difficult to kill than bob-white, 
and seem to be able to care for themselves under more severe wea¬ 
ther conditions than the bob-white. 
better woodcock shooting than for sometime past. This apparently 
WOODCOCK: Reports indicate that these migratory game birds 
are increasing. Sportsmen in many sections of the State report 
agrees with the information received by the Federal authorities 
from other sections of the country. It is apparent, however, that 
most of the woodcock killed in Pennsylvania were killed during the 
month of November, while hunting for other game, 
WILD WATERFOWL: Last spring more wild waterfowl were re¬ 
ported than for a number of years past, and this fall the sportsmen 
of Pennsylvania enjoyed better shooting than for fifteen or twenty 
years past. Fortunately, our stream conditions were favorable to good 
shooting in the Susquehanna Valley and other sections ol the State, 
and the sportsmen who were at first disposed to protest bitterly 
against the inhibition against spring shooting are now in hearty ac¬ 
cord with our law and the Federal law prohibiting spring shooting. 
In connection with the law prohibiting spring shooting it is grati¬ 
fying to note that the Game Commission of Pennsylvania under date 
of May 24, 1899 passed a resolution condemning spring shooting 
of aquatic fowl within the United States and Canada, and asked the 
concerted support of Game Commissions, Associations and individuals 
in the United States and Canada to assist in securing National and 
Dominion laws that would totally abolish what was termed a nefa¬ 
rious and inhuman practice. I believe in the above resolution the 
Game Commission of Pennsylvania was the first organised body of 
this sort to take action on prohibiting spring shooting. 
TABULATION OP REPORTS FROM HUNTERS FOR 1920 
SEASON. 
As previously reported to you, about eight per cent, of the licensees 
for the 1920 season reported the quantity of game killed as requested 
on the stub attached to their licenses. While this was the first at¬ 
tempt to obtain such data in this manner, and the actual number of 
reports was far below expectations,, the data collected was invalu¬ 
able, and this initial effort demonstrates that in Pennsylvania the 
sportsmen are sufficiently wide awake to the benefit of data of this 
sort that it will probably be unnecessary to pass drastic laws imposing 
heavy penalties upon licensees who may overlook the request to file 
this report, as is the case in a number of other States. The highest 
percentage of licensees reporting in any county was thirty-six per 
cent, in the case of Fulton County. This little county demonstrated 
that her sportsmen are wide awake. The next highest percentage of 
reports came from Bradford County, from which slightly over 28 
per cent, of the sportsmen reported. The next five in their order 
21 
