Jan, 9, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
77 
found in all of the adjoining States and 
Provinces. 
This State is spending thousands of dollars 
of the taxpayers’ money each year in enlarg¬ 
ing and protecting the public forests, and in 
addition this State has agricultural interests of 
very great value and it is necessary that every 
wild bird be preserved, but under the present 
wording of the law, it is impossible to protect 
the birds should fashion again demand that they 
be used for millinery ornaments. This amend¬ 
ment should be made at once. 
A change would also have to be made in Sec¬ 
tion 241, the first five lines of which reads as 
follows: 
Whenever in this act the possession of fish, or game, 
or the flesh of any animal, bird or fish, is prohibited, 
reference is had equally to such fish, game or flesh 
coming from without the State as to that taken within 
the State, 
I suggest that the following substitute for the 
above shall be made: 
Section 241,—Whenever in this act the possession of 
fish, game or birds, or the flesh thereof, or the plumage, 
skin or any part of any bird prohibited, reference is 
had equally to such fish, game or bird, or the flesh, 
plumage, skin or part thereof, coming from without the 
State as to that taken within the State. 
This is simply adding the plumage of the birds 
in this section which now makes it illegal to 
have in possession, fish, game or birds, or the 
flesh thereof coming from without the State as 
to that taken within the State. The object of 
the change in Sections 98 and 241 is to make 
the plumage of wild birds taken in foreign 
States and countries subject to the laws of the 
State of New York immediately on arrival with¬ 
in the jurisdiction of New York, as is now the 
case with the flesh of fish, game or birds. So 
long as it is legal to sell feathers of wild birds 
that come from without the State, it will be im¬ 
possible to protect the birds found within the 
State, as they are indistinguishable from birds 
of the same families coming from other lo¬ 
calities. 
To emphasize the very great importance of 
giving the most rigid protection to our non¬ 
game birds, about 80 per cent, of the avi-fauna 
of the State I need only call your attention to 
the fact that an innumerable host of gypsy and 
brown-tailed moths are fast nearing the borders 
of New York. These two dreadful pests have 
cost Massachusetts millions of dollars in trying 
to check their spread, to say nothing of the 
loss of valuable trees and the discomfort of the 
people. At the rate these moths are traveling 
westward, it will be but a short time before they 
will reach this State and the authorities will be 
called upon to do what Massachusetts is now 
doing. Will it not be good common sense to do 
all that we can to protect our valuable birds 
and have their aid in keeping in check these 
pests? 
I also suggest that all of the remaining part 
of Section 241. commencing at “provided” on 
the fifth line, shall be stricken out, so that the 
bonding privilege for game deaiCrs shall be 
abolished. This League can take no more 
potent action for the preservation of birds and 
game than to make this recommendation. 
There is absolutely no reason that can be given 
or suggested why game dealers should be per¬ 
mitted to secure large stocks of game just prior 
to the end of the open season, and if not able to 
sell it. to have the privilege of putting the same 
in bond and holding it over until the next open 
season. In the first nlace the game that is 
held over for a year is unfit for human food, 
and secondly, if the dealers know that they 
cannot hold the game that cannot be disposed 
of during the open season, they would not be 
willing to buy from the market hunters more 
game than could be sold prior to the last 
day of the open season. In this way the 
market hunter would not be able to dispose of 
his birds and game and consequently he would 
not kill what he could not dispose of and one 
of the most serious drains on the birds and 
game of this State would be stopped. 
Sections 87, 170 and 170a must be taken to¬ 
gether. These three sections comprise the wild¬ 
fowl law for New York and Long Island. 
I earnestly and in as forcible language as I 
can command suggest to this League that they 
recommend that there shall be one game law 
for the State of New York. It is absolutely 
ridiculous to have separate laws for different 
parts of a State that is no larger than New 
York. The conditions are so near alike in all 
parts of the State that one law will suffice and 
will be much easier to enforce than separate 
laws. Separate laws are special legislation. I 
therefore suggest that it is very important that 
Sections 170 and 170a, applying to Long Island, 
shall be repealed. In any event. Section 170a 
should be repealed for reasons which will be 
stated hereafter. 
Section 87 now reads as follows: 
Section 87.—Wildfowl; Open Season.—Ducks, geese, 
brant and swan may be taken from September 16th to De¬ 
cember 31st, both inclusive, and possessed from Sep¬ 
tember 16th to- the last day of February, both inclusive; 
they shall not be taken in the night after sunset until 
sunrise; they shall not be taken or possessed at any 
other time. There shall be no open season at any time 
for wood duck. 
I recommend the following; Strike out the 
words “from September sixteenth to the last 
day of February, both inclusive,” and substitute 
therefor “only during the open season.” The 
reason for this change is that legalizing the 
possession of ducks, geese, brant and swan to 
the last day of February practically nullifies the 
anti-spring shooting law which has now been 
in force in the State for a number of years. A 
gunner may now kill waterfowl for sixty days 
after the end of the close season, provided a 
game warden does not see him actually kill the 
birds. The fact that he has them in possession 
after they are killed is not illegal, and with the 
present small number of game wardens in the 
State, it is a physical impossibility for the game 
commission to stop the illegal killing of wild¬ 
fowl between January first and the last day of 
February, unless the possession of these birds 
is prohibited. The January first law is of no 
value in its present form. 
There is absolutely only one method by which 
the sportsmen of this State, as well as those of 
the country at large, can preserve the small 
remnant of game birds for their own good and 
for the pleasure and benefit of their posterity, 
and that is to have a uniform law enacted in 
every Commonwealth of the United States, and 
if such a law cannot be secured from the States 
themselves, then it must from the Federal Gov¬ 
ernment to the effect that hunting of all kinds 
shall positively stop on the first day of Janu¬ 
ary and that there shall be no shooting of any 
kind until a reasonable season in the fall of the 
year, so that the birds and game shall not be 
disturbed at a time when they are breeding. 
The earlier this proposition is recognized by 
yourselves and by every other sportsman in the 
land, the sooner will come the day when we 
shall stop seeing the birds and game gradually 
fading away. 
There never was a more vicious proposition, 
nor a more outrageous provision in any law 
than the privilege that is granted in four coun¬ 
ties of this State to shoot brant until the first 
day of May: it nullifies and renders inoperative 
the January first law. There are hundreds and 
hundreds of ducks killed while men are ostens¬ 
ibly out for brant. 
Repeal the possession clause and the special 
privilege to a part of the citizens of the State 
and no one will have any excuse for being 
found in the open with a gun until late summer 
or early fall. 
In this connection, I prophesy that in a very 
few years it will be found necessary to go so 
far as to stop the sale of ducks, unless in the 
meantime a bag limit has been adopted, which 
may delay such action for a time at least. We 
come now to another very important question 
which will appeal. I am sure, very forcibly to 
the members of this League who are interested 
in the preservation of quail, grouse and wood¬ 
cock; Sections 89 to 94, inclusive. 
The open season for grouse and woodcock is 
too long and it would be far better to limit the 
open season to the month of November, the 
same as the present law for quail. These three 
splendid game birds are fast disappearing, as 
every sportsman and every naturalist knows, 
and it is only a question of whether it will be 
better to limit the season to one month or to 
make a close season for a number of years. 
Again I call your attention to the fact that for 
these three game birds. Long Island has special 
exceptions made in its favor, which is entirely 
wrong, and an injustice to the sportsmen in the 
balance of the State. There can be no valid 
reason for this special legislation. 
Section 92 contains a provision that is one of 
the prime causes for the rapid disappearance in 
the State of New York of grouse, woodcock 
and quail, as it legalizes selling these birds, pro¬ 
vided they are not killed within the limits of 
this Commonwealth. I therefore suggest to this 
League, that one of the most important actions 
that it can take at this season is to recommend 
and also to see that the recommendation is 
adopted by the Legislature to amend Section 
92, as follows: By striking out in line one the 
words “taken in this State,” and all of the 
balance of the section, commencing with “shall 
not” on the third line of the section, so that 
the section will read: “Grouse, woodcock and 
quail shall not be sold or offered for sale within 
the State, or carried without the State.” 
I briefly give you some of the reasons why 
this amendment should be made: 
First: It is impossible to tell whether a dead 
quail, grouse or woodcock has been killed with¬ 
in the borders of New York, or in some ad¬ 
joining State, as there is no difference between 
the quail, grouse and woodcock of New Jersey 
and Connecticut and those of New York State. 
The same argument applies with these birds in 
the flesh that I have already given you regarding- 
the plumage of wild birds. In order to protect, 
our own birds, we must prohibit the sale of 
birds of a similar kind taken in other parts of 
the country. Until this rule is rigidly applied, 
it is useless to attempt to give satisfactory pro¬ 
tection to our own birds and game. 
Second: The State of New York, in giving- 
the privilege of selling grouse and quail taken 
outside of the State, is compounding a felony. 
This is a harsh term, but when I tell you that 
there is not a Commonwealth in the United 
States that permits the export of quail and 
grouse, you can readily see that every quail and 
every grouse that is offered for sale in New 
York State is a bird that has been illegally 
shipped from another State. Is it right for the- 
great State of New York to have a law upon 
its statute books permitting the sale of birds 
that are illegally exported from other States? 
There is no class of persons who do so much 
harm as the “fence” who makes it possible for the 
burglar or housebreaker to dispose of his ill- 
gotten gains, and the case is entirely parallel 
if the State of New York permits ill-gotten 
grouse to be disposed of in this State. Re¬ 
cently I was in lower Washington Market in 
the City of New York and saw quite a large 
number of boxes of quail exposed for sale. It 
is presumed that the dealers had given the bond 
stipulated for in Section 92, and they were thus 
authorized to sell these- quail, but to show that 
they knew that they were in possession con¬ 
trary to the law of some other State, and that 
the birds had to be shipped surreptitiously and' 
secretly, all of the boxes were stamped with 
stencil on the outside, “Pigeons.” 
There is, as every sportsman knows, a verv 
great demand in large centers for quail and' 
grouse from the high-priced hotels and restaur¬ 
ants, and they are so great a luxury that the- 
price paid for them is such an inducement that 
market hunters will take every opportunity to 
defeat the law. It was called to my attention 
not verv long since by a man of the most re¬ 
liable character, that one of the game dealers- 
