1 Licenses for hunting or shipping game—Continued. State. Kind of Fee. By whom issued. Remarks. Commissioners of Inland Commissioners of Inland .75 County clerk 25.00 25.00 County clerk Nonresident. 25.00 County auditor. Resident. 25 County auditor. In cities of more than 3,000 Baltimore, Caroline, Carroll, Queen Anne (for sale). For 1 year from date of is- For 1 year from date of is- Game and forestry warden Live game birds bred and County treasurer Nonresident. 26.00 Secretary of state.. Licenses not required for shooting or trapping certain waterfowl on Patuxent in case of citizens of St. Mary, Prince George, Charles, Anne Arundel, and Calvert counties. II.-FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS REGULATING TRANSPORTATION AND SALE OF GAME. The last forty years have witnessed a steady development in laws relating to game. In 1864 only 18 States and the District of Columbia had enacted such legislation; in 1874 this number had increased to 24; and at the present time every State and Territory has restrictive measures of some sort on its statute books. The earlier laws were concerned chiefly with fixing seasons and methods of capture, but of late, markets have come to be regarded as the chief factor in game destruction and more attention has been given to the restriction of export and sale. The importance of the question of transportation has become so great as to receive consideration from Congress, and during the present year a Federal law has been enacted which prohibits interstate commerce in game killed in violation of local laws. Not only have the regulations concerning capture, transportation, and sale increased in number and complexity, but there is a growing tendency toward uniformity in the different State statutes, and various principles are gradually receiving more general recognition. Prominent among these is the principle of State ownership of game, which has been stated as follows: "The wild game within a State belongs to the people in their collective sovereign capacity. It is not the subject of private ownership except in so far as the people may elect to make it so, and they may, if they see fit, absolutely prohibit the taking of it, or traffic and commerce in it, if it is deemed necessary for the protection or preservation of the public good." This principle, as thus defined by the supreme court of California, has been upheld by the supreme court of Minnesota and by the Supreme Court of the United States. It forms the foundation of all modern legislation affecting trade in game. Every State and Territory in the Union, except Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, and Virginia, deems it "necessary for the protection or preservation of the public good" to prohibit traffic and commerce in game to a greater or lesser extent. And two of the excepted States, Missouri and Nebraska, have until recently had laws of this kind. It is important to note that not only is the killing of game a privilege and not a right, but that the ownership of game differs from that of other property in that even after it has been reduced to possession it is subject to certain restrictions. On this principle are based the non Ex parte Maier, 103 California, 476. 2 3 4 export laws now in force in 40 States; the Massachusetts statute,' which prohibits sale during close seasons of game artificially propagated upon private lands, in spite of the fact that such game is declared by the law to be the exclusive property of the person propagating it, and also the statutes of Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, which declare that possession of fish or game by any person at any time, whether taken within or without the State, shall be deemed a consent of such person that the title shall remain in the State for the purpose of regulating the use and disposition of such fish or game. The qualified character of private ownership of game is thus asserted by the Supreme Court of the United States: 營 The power of a State to protect by adequate police regulation its people against the adulteration of articles of food, * * although in doing so commerce might be remotely affected, necessarily carries with it the existence of a like power to preserve a food supply which belongs in common to all the people of the State, which can only become the subject of ownership in a qualified way, and which can never be the object of commerce except with the consent of the State and subject to the conditions which it may deem best to impose for the public good. Matters connected with the killing of game, as regulated by game laws, may be grouped under three heads: (1) Manner of capture, (2) time of capture, and (3) object of capture. Under the first head may be included prohibitions against pursuing deer with hounds, netting quail, killing birds before sunrise or after sunset, killing wild fowl with swivel guns or pursuing them with steam or naphtha launches, and like regulations which are so common and so similar in their restrictions that a detailed statement by States is unnecessary. Under the second head come close seasons, absolute protection (as in the case of insectivorous birds), protection for terms of years, and regulations against killing birds on certain days of the week. The statutes covering these points are so varied and are subject to such frequent change that no attempt has been made to compile them, but the regulations now in force are summarized and tabulated on pp. 18-29. The most important provisions under the third head are those which make it unlawful to kill big game for hides, or to capture or kill any game for sale, or for shipping beyond the limits of the county or State. These are the topics which properly come within the scope of this bulletin, and the sections which relate to them are quoted in full. For laws protecting birds other than game birds, see Bulletin No. 12 of the Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Acts of 1884, chap. 308. Laws of 1899, p. 227, sec. 11. 3 Gen. Laws of 1897, chap. 221, sec. 9. 4 Laws of 1899, chap. 312, sec. 26. "In some of the States certain facts are declared to constitute prima facie evidence of violation of law. Among these may be mentioned possession of game without license in Colorado, or out of season in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland (most counties). Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York. Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington; and receipt of game for shipment in Connecticut, Maine (unless properly tagged), Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. FEDERAL LAW. Those sections of the act of May 25, 1900, commonly known as the Lacey Act, which relate to the sale and transportation of game are here given in full for the information of shippers and dealers. AN ACT to enlarge the powers of the Department of Agriculture, prohibit the transportation by interstate commerce of game killed in violation of local laws, and for other purposes. SEC. 3. That it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to deliver to any common carrier, or for any common carrier to transport from one State or Territory to another State or Territory, or from the District of Columbia or Alaska to any State or Territory, or from any State or Territory to the District of Columbia or Alaska, any foreign animals or birds the importation of which is prohibited,' or the dead bodies or parts thereof of any wild animals or birds, where such animals or birds have been killed in violation of the laws of the State, Territory, or District in which the same were killed: Provided, That nothing herein shall prevent the transportation of any dead birds or animals killed during the season when the same may be lawfully captured, and the export of which is not prohibited by law in the State, Territory, or District in which the same are killed. SEC. 4. That all packages containing such dead animals, birds, or parts thereof, when shipped by interstate commerce, as provided in section one of this act, shall be plainly and clearly marked, so that the name and address of the shipper and the nature of the contents may be readily ascertained on inspection of the outside of such packages. For each evasion or violation of this act the shipper shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars; and the consignee knowingly receiving such articles so shipped and transported in violation of this act shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars; and the carrier knowingly carrying or transporting the same shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of not exceeding two hundred dollars. SEC. 5. That all dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any foreign game animals, or game or song birds, the importation of which is prohibited, or the dead bodies, or parts thereof, of any wild game animals, or game or song birds transported into any State or Territory, or remaining therein for use, consumption, sale, or storage therein, shall upon arrival in such State or Territory be subject to the operation and effect of the laws of such State or Territory enacted in the exercise of its police powers, to the same extent and in the same manner as though such animals and birds had been produced in such State or Territory, and shall not be exempt therefrom by reason of being introduced therein in original packages or otherwise. This act shall not prevent the importation, transportation, or sale of birds or bird plumage manufactured from the feathers of barnyard fowl. Approved May 25, 1900. Mongoose, flying fox, English sparrow, and starling. 9368-No. 14-005 47 STATE LAWS. The following digest of the laws of the various States relates chiefly to the transportation and sale of game. Sections which contain prohibitions against transportation and sale merely during close seasons are omitted, since they are so common that their repetition seems unnecessary. Hence no extracts will be found from the laws of the District of Columbia, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, or Virginia. As a rule the statutes are quoted verbatim, but in some cases abstracts only are given, and these are placed in brackets. SEC. 5. * ALABAMA. General Laws of 1899, pp. 77-83. * * It shall be unlawful at any period or season of the year to kill, entrap, or pursue with intent to kill or entrap any deer, fawn, wild turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge, woodcock or squirrel, in any part of this State, for the purpose of selling the same. It shall be unlawful for the proprietor, manager, clerk or agent of any market, or other person, firm or corporation, to purchase, sell or expose for sale, any deer, fawn, wild turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge, woodcock or squirrel, killed or entrapped within this State. That it shall be unlawful for the proprietor, manager, clerk or agent of any market, or other person, firm or corporation, to purchase for the purpose of again selling the same any deer, fawn, wild turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge or woodcock killed or entrapped within this State. Whosoever shall offend against any of the provisions of this section, shall, on conviction, be fined not less than one hundred dollars for every deer, fawn, so taken, purchased or sold, and twenty-five dollars for every wild turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge or woodcock so taken. purchased or sold, or by sentence to imprisonment in the county jail for a period of one day for each dollar of penalty imposed. SEC. 6. That no person or persons, company or corporation, or the agent or employee thereof, shall at any time, catch, take or kill, or have in his, her or its possession or under his, her or its control, any of the birds or game mammals of this State, the killing of which at any or all times is prohibited by the laws of this State, with intent to ship or remove the same beyond the limits of this State, or with intent to aid in the shipment or removal thereof out of this State; and it shall not be lawful for any person or persons, railroad company, express company, stage driver, or any company or corporation, or person or persons, acting in the capacity of a common carrier, their officers or employees, to knowingly receive for transportation or transport or remove beyond the limits of the State, any of the game birds or game mammals mentioned in this act. [Penalty, $50-$100 for each offense.] * * * SEC. 14. * * * Provided, the provisions of this act shall not apply to the counties of Hale, Tuscaloosa, Marengo, Wilcox, Marion, Greene, Pickens, Coosa, Clay, Choctaw, Calhoun, Limestone, Clarke, Washington, Chambers, Lawrence, Coffee, Autauga, St. Clair, Franklin, Geneva, Walker. Randolph, Lowndes. Pike, Lauderdale, Butler, Bullock, Dale, Henry, Russell, Cleburne, Lee, Winston, Hale, |