surround its shipment. The States in which big-game hunting is still permitted, the open seasons, and limitations as to numbers, are shown in the following table:

GAME BIRDS PROTECTED FOR A TERM OF YEARS.

Two conditions are generally recognized as justifying the complete withdrawal of open seasons for several years: (1) When game has been killed off to such an extent that a period of recuperation is necessary to save it from extermination; and (2) when game is introduced into a new locality and time is required for it to become established amid new surroundings. The periods of absolute protection usually vary from two to ten years, and are renewed when necessary. The only protection of the kind accorded native game birds is as follows: Washington and Wisconsin protect quail until 1901; Arizona protects bobwhite and prairie chickens until 1902; Oregon protects wild turkeys until 1904; North Dakota protects quail and wild swans. until 1905; indefinite protection is accorded quail, partridge, and ptarmigan in Colorado; pheasants in Kansas; pinnated grouse in Massachusetts; quail in Montana; grouse in Oklahoma; quail in Oregon (east of the Cascades); pinnated grouse and introduced game birds. in Utah; and wild swans in Wyoming. Several counties in Maryland and Tennessee also extend protection, either for a term or indefinitely, to various birds, such as quail, grouse, pheasants, wild turkey, woodcock, and snipe.

In Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin doves are given the same protection at all seasons as that accorded nongame birds.

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Pheasants and other foreign game birds are almost always given a close season of from three to ten years after introduction. They are protected in twenty-eight States, as shown by the accompanying map (See Pl. II). In Oregon this protection is confined to the region east of the Cascades and some of the counties in the southwestern part of the State, but does not cover the Willamette Valley, where the period has already expired. Protection without limit is in force in Colorado, Montana, eastern Oregon, Utah, and some of the counties of Virginia. The periods expire in 1901 in New Hampshire, Washington, and Wisconsin; in 1902 in Arizona, Idaho, New Jersey, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas; in 1903 in South Carolina; in 1904 in Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, and Oklahoma; in 1905 in Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Dakota, and Rhode Island; and in 1909 in Maine.

CLOSE SEASONS.

No question in game protection is more important than that of the seasons during which birds and animals shall be protected, yet, strange to say, there is none in which State game laws show greater diversity and none in which they are more subject to change! Even the laws of adjoining States show little uniformity in this respect, and in some States changes in game seasons are made at nearly every legislative session. This lack of uniformity often defeats the purpose of provisions intended to allow game opportunity to recuperate. It also introduces needless confusion and makes compliance with the provisions of the Federal law difficult for shippers and game dealers, who must consider the open seasons in both the State in which their game is killed and in that to which it is shipped. Further confusion results from diversity in defining the seasons. In some laws the open seasons,

in others the closed, are stated, and in these statements may be found all possible varieties of inclusion and exclusion of the dates named. Again, exceptions are often grafted upon exceptions to such a degree as to obscure the intent of the law.

An attempt is here made to bring together in one table all the close seasons for game prescribed by the various States and by the Provinces of Canada. For the sake of simplicity a uniform method is used both in the arrangement of species and statement of seasons. In each case big game is first considered, then follow squirrels and rabbits; then upland game birds, such as quail, grouse, pheasants, turkeys, and doves; then shore birds; and finally water fowl, such as ducks, geese, and swans. In the statement of seasons only close seasons have been given, and in stating these the plan of the Vermont law, to include the first date but not the last, has been followed consistently. The Vermont scheme has the advantage of showing readily both the open and close seasons, since either may be obtained by reading the other backward. Thus, when the close season is stated as

December 1-October 1, the open season begins October 1 and ends December 1 (it being understood in each case that the last date is excluded). In some States certain days of the week constitute additional close seasons throughout the term in which killing is permitted. Sundays constitute a close season for all game in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Allegany County, Md., the District of Columbia, North Carolina, Alabama, Ohio, the Indian Territory, and in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. Mondays also constitute a close season for wild ducks in Ohio; Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for rail, reedbirds, and red-winged blackbirds in the District of Columbia, and for wild fowl in Carteret County, N. C., and Wednesdays and Saturdays for wild fowl in Currituck County, N. C. Similar exceptions are made for wild fowl in the Maryland laws for Anne Arundel, Cecil, Dorchester, and Harford counties. These special exceptions are not noticed in the table here given; but apart from this, and with the further exception of the county laws of Alabama, Mississippi, and Virginia, of which no recent compilation is available, the table may be regarded as a complete résumé of the regulations now in force. It is based primarily on the summary contained in 'Game Laws in Brief,' issued by the Forest and Stream Publishing Company, and has been corrected to December 1, 1900. In its preparation, the laws passed during the present year by Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and South Carolina have been consulted. The section relating to Maryland county laws has been taken from the synopsis prepared by the Maryland Game and Fish Protective Association, and has been corrected by Mr. Frank C. Kirkwood, secretary of the association. That for North Carolina is based on the synopsis of the game laws published by Mr. T. K. Bruner, secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, in the Bulletin of the North Carolina Board of Agriculture for October, 1900. The one relating to Tennessee county laws has been compiled directly from the code of 1896 and the session laws of 1897 and 1899. Finally, the section covering the quail laws of Virginia has been prepared from data furnished by Mr. Franklin Stearns, chief warden of the Virginia division of the League of American Sportsmen.

The difficulty of securing absolute accuracy in a table of this kind is very great, and the absence in the laws of many States of express legislation as to the inclusion or exclusion of the dates beginning and ending the seasons makes exactness in this particular a matter of doubt. Sportsmen and others are therefore requested to examine the table and to report promptly any inaccuracies which may be found, so that future editions may be made as correct as possible.