June 25, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
1015 
We have heard of the establishment of a game 
farm somewhere in the center of the State, but 
at best this is only a questionable experiment. 
Last year we understood Hungarian partridges 
and eggs of the latter were to be purchased by 
the State and distributed this season, but noth¬ 
ing in that line has materialized so far. For 
several years other States have purchased and 
distributed large consignments of these and 
other birds, but our State has been noticeably 
lax in this respect. 
What has become of all this money paid in 
for licenses? Is the State hoarding it up, or 
has it been diverted to other purposes, and if 
so, to what? The man who handles the gun 
is the only one who has contributed to this fund, 
and to my way of thinking it should be used 
in his interests. The fisherman is not entitled 
to any of it, for he has not contributed a cent, 
and neither should it be spent in looking after 
our forests for a similar reason. 
All the shooter asks is justice; that we be not 
discriminated against in the glaring manner of 
recent years; and that we be judged, not from 
the narrow standpoint of personal bias, but on 
the broader ground of fair treatment and equal 
rights. Because others can see no pleasure in 
our favorite pastime is no reason why we should 
be declared criminals for indulging in it. From 
ancient times the pursuit of game in the field 
has been considered a manly and invigorating 
sport, and there seems no sane reason why it 
should come under the ban now. 
As a matter of fairness the fisherman should 
be asked to pay a tax as well as the gunner. 
Their demands upon the State are much greater, 
so why should they not be taxed? 
Regarding the composition of our Forest, Fish 
and Game Commission, there really seems no 
good reason why these interests should be placed 
in the control of one department, and I 1 believe 
much better results will be obtained by separat¬ 
ing the forest interests from those of fish and 
game, and placing in charge of each such de¬ 
partment competent men. 
It seems a farce to place at the head of such 
important departments of our State Government 
men who know absolutely nothing of the sub¬ 
jects they are asked to administer, and then to 
ask the forest, fish and game committee of the 
Legislature—for the most part composed of men 
unacquainted with these subjects—to pass laws 
in relation thereto. I am personally acquainted 
with a number of the members of the forest, 
fish and game committee of the Legislature, and, 
while I consider them men of the highest in¬ 
tegrity and character, I know that their knowl¬ 
edge of fish and game is very very limited. Is 
it any wonder then that many unjust laws are 
enacted? Glance through a copy of the forest, 
fish and game laws and see the result. There 
you will find many laws that are unfair and dis¬ 
criminate between the residents of different por¬ 
tions of our State, also many acts of special 
legislation for which there can be no excuse. 
A striking illustration of this abuse is Section 
174a, of the forest, fish and game laws. By this 
section the members of the Robbins and Gardi¬ 
ners Island clubs are allowed to kill quail from 
Oct. 15 to Jan. 31, and woodcock from Aug. 1 
to Dec. 31, while on the balance of Long Island, 
quail and woodcock can only be killed from Nov. 
I to Dec. 31. This is clearly an act of special 
legislation and should not be tolerated. 
In December, 1908, I had the pleasure of meet¬ 
ing Hon. James S. Whipple, Forest, Fish and 
Game Commissioner, and on calling his atten¬ 
tion to this state of affairs he said there must 
be a mistake somewhere, and that he would 
look into the matter. I also spoke to a member 
of the fish and game committee of the Legisla¬ 
ture on this same subject, and relying on their 
properly adjusting matters, I paid no further 
attention to it, until within about ten days of 
the adjournment of the Legislature, when I 
wrote a member of the fish and game committee 
about it, and was informed by him that nothing 
had been done and that it was then too late to 
introduce any new bills. 
This winter I again communicated with Com¬ 
missioner Whipple in regard to this woodcock 
clause and received a reply from Chief Game 
Protector Burnham that, as we had so many 
game law violators and illegal shooters on Long 
Island, the Legislature had seen fit to make the 
law relating to quail, partridge and woodcock 
on Long Island uniform, and nothing further 
would be done in the matter by their commis¬ 
sion. 
Such a statement coming from one so high 
in authority as the chief game protector of our 
State greatly surprised me, but in it may be 
found the true reason or explanation of the re¬ 
cent lack of enforcement of our game laws. 
Our chief game protector evidently believes that 
all that is necessary in order to protect our 
game is for the Legislature to pass certain laws 
prohibiting its taking, and that thereafter there 
will be no violations, but an experience of seven¬ 
teen years in criminal courts has taught me that 
all the laws passed by man will not prevent the 
commission of crime. We must have somebody 
to enforce these laws, and to apprehend and 
punish those who violate them, otherwise such 
laws become inoperative. 
A further illustration of this unfair treatment 
will be found in the following sections: Sec¬ 
tions 89, 90 and 91 of Article VII., of the forest, 
fish and game laws, provide that no person shall 
take more than 36 quail, 36 woodcock or 20 
grouse in one season, nor more than 6 quail, 6 
woodcock or 4 grouse in one day, but nowhere 
can I find any mention of a bag limit on ducks 
and geese, and a gunner can kill as many of the 
latter as he desires. Why has there not been a 
daily and season bag limit placed on ducks and 
geese? Surely, they require some protection. 
Many of our Western and Southern States have 
adopted a daily and season bag limit on ducks 
and geese, but in this respect our State is 
strangely backward. 
Another section by which the legitimate 
sportsman is made to suffer unjustly is Section 
94, which provides that no person shall trans¬ 
port or accompany more than four grouse, six 
woodcock or six quail at one time. A literal 
interpretation of this section means that a sports¬ 
man can have in his possession at one time only 
the above stated number of quail, grouse or 
woodcock; that if he is fortunate enough to 
kill his daily limit of any one of these birds, he 
will be guilty of a game law violation if in 
addition he kills and possesses any of the others. 
This is another fair sample of recent legislation 
on game. By it the sportsman who spends a 
few days or a week in the country hunting is 
prohibited from bringing home the results of 
his efforts. If he kills a dozen quail and half 
a dozen partridges during his week’s vacation, 
he must act the part of a sneak in order to get 
them home, or must leave the greater portion 
of his game behind him. 
As to the question of game protection and 
propagation, much has been said as to advan¬ 
tages of a close season for a period of years, 
but the observing sportsman knows that, while 
the gun is responsible in great measure for the 
decrease in game, there are also many other 
factors to be taken into consideration. Natural 
enemies, forest fires, telephone and telegraph 
lines, wet breeding seasons, severe winters, dis¬ 
ease, etc., exact a much heavier toll than the 
gun, yet practically no effort has been made to 
reduce the loss from these sources. It is dur¬ 
ing severe winter weather that local game, such 
as quail, grouse, rabbits, etc., suffers most, for 
then weakened by the cold and lack of proper 
food it falls an easy victim to its natural 
enemies, and in this way the entire breeding 
stock of a given section is often destroyed in 
a few weeks. Given proper food at such times 
and with its natural enemies kept in check, most 
of this breeding stock would survive. 
Cats and dogs destroy much small game, while 
forest fires do untold damage to breeding game, 
destroying not only the nests and young, but 
also ruining the land as a breeding site, com¬ 
pelling the survivors to seek new locations. Ap¬ 
parently no effort is made to enforce our fire 
regulations, or enact more effective ones. This 
is a danger that is growing to serious propor¬ 
tions, and energetic steps should be taken to 
check it. 
Over wet breeding seasons we have no con¬ 
trol, but we can and should pass legislation con¬ 
trolling the erection of telephone and telegraph 
lines which annually destroy thousands of song 
and game birds. From personal observation I 
believe these lines kill as many woodcock in this 
State as the gunners. The companies should be 
compelled to string their wires in cable form, 
which are large enough for birds to see and 
dodge. 
The State should at once establish from the 
license funds a bureau of research in charge of 
competent men for the purpose of studying game 
and its diseases. Some seasons certain kinds of 
game are scarce, and we hear reports of disease, 
the young birds killed by insects, etc. Such a 
bureau should study game to determine what 
causes this scarcity and, if disease, find a remedy. 
It should also ascertain the food best adapted to 
various game birds and animals, and whether it 
is lack of food or cold that kills during winter, 
and what sort of shelter would best protect 
game; also what sort of aquatic plant food is 
best for waterfowl; what vermin—including ani¬ 
mals, birds and reptiles—is most destructive to 
our game birds and animals, and to devise means 
for destroying such vermin. 
I have long been of the opinion that much 
harm was done to our native quail by the im¬ 
portation of birds from the South and West, 
and the fact that here on Long Island quail seem 
to be on the increase, although no birds have 
been turned out for several years past strength¬ 
ens me in that belief. Birds confined in the 
numbers and cramped quarters necessary for 
long shipment are bound to breed more or less 
disease, and I have handled many such birds 
that appeared to be suffering from some sort of 
a distemper. I believe such birds spread dis- 
