Daily camera., 1899-04-04
EVADING GAME LAW,
Illegal Killing of Game Birds Il
Quite Common.
Protective Agencies Are CircaAvent-
- By lnGesioas Schemes Sf N0at-
ers-Game shipped ~
COrpses.


tective agencies, are engaged just now
in an effort, which they consider laud-
able. 10 induce Illinois to turn aside
from the evil of her ways and to keep
her eye on the eighth commandme mt.
No game birds except ducks and snipe
that are killed in Illinois may be sold
in the state. This is to prevent the ex-
termination Of prairie chickens, quail
and ruled grouse. The result of this
is that Chicago and the state as well
have TO look beyond the borders for the
table game supply. Now it happens
that nearly all the states and terri
tories have laws which forbid the ex-
portation of game from their limits.
Chicago gets most of its birds and veni-
son from these states and therein its
inhabitants, most OF them unwittingly
perhaps. are compounding, as il were.
a feathered and turred felony.
The Chicago market is too strong a
temptation for the gunners and fish
ermen of "noneNport states" to with
stand. Good prices prevail here and
The hunters will get their game through
II the shipping costs greater cunning
than the shooting. Game wardens and
deputies cannot be in all places al once
and so they direct their energies at
points where gam. shipping has been
most frequent and most fragrant. At
many of the smaller unmatched places
in Minnesota or Wisconsin week after
week there appears or the railroad sta
ton platform boxes marked for Chi
cago shipment and bearing the word
poultry" Poultry nine times out of
ten turned out TO be quail. ruled grouse
or woodcock when the package is
opened in the Chicago commission
house. In places where the game war
dcns are alert all sorts OF sub,erfuges
are tried TO get the game through to the
Illinois consumer. Many a crate Of
cabbages has hh,i game neart. Many
barrel of apples has had core of
grouse. Not long ago a pine box OF the
regulation coffin-inclosing size and
marked on the outside Corpse" was
delivered 10 4 commission house in Chi
cago. II was from a small town in
Minnesota and came through on pas
senger ticket. AS is usual when a body
y shipped. 1t was treated with respect
b. the railroad people, who did not
doubt that the person TO whom the box
was addressed was an undertaken. At
the depot man appeared. took charge
of the ''remnins" and had them taken
10 an express wagon, whose driver only
grinned when told to drive toward
South Water street.
is II a corpse p he asked.
1T is several of them" was the an
swer. and the thousand or SO Of dead
quail which were aficrward tumbled
ou, OF the receptacle verified the state
meni.
Some OF the Audubon society mem
bers keep sharp outlook along the
commission store fronts TO see that no
song birds are offered for sale. One OF
the socieiy's directors was walking
through South Water street one day
wher he came upon huge box of snow
buniings. beautiful feathered visitors
from the far north |, is agsins, the
law TO kin them or to have them in
possession for purposes OF sale. The
audubon follower asked The dealer
what the birds were.
Reed birds" said he.
Rats" muttcred the quesiioner.
Tha, word COS, him his case. for when
The game warden 90 minutes later APP
pcurcd at the store the birds had disap-
peared a. completely as though they
had taken on life and fight and gone 10
their arctic home
1t may not be known, but it is fac,
that no restaurant or store has the
righ, 10 offer reed birds for sale. The
reed bird is simply the bobolink in his
fall plumage and the bobolipk is pro-
,ected by law. The reason that the
audubon people and the game warden
don't bother much about the reed bird
question is that ninety y-nine one hun
dredths of the reed birds sold in Chi
cago are English sparrows.
The severe weather during the latter
par, of January drove from the far
north TO Lake Michigan great fiocks OF
beautiful ducks known MS "old squaws. :"
They are beautiful and after that all is
said that can be said. They are abso-
lutely unfit for food. the flesh being
nothing short of disgusting, The poor,
coniiding creatures have been slaugh-
tered by the hundreds recently from
the piers along the lake front. Many OF
them were TO be seen hanging in iron,
of the stores and are offered for sale.
The man who will eat one will have a
physicians bill that will outweigh 20
times that of the duck.
The Wisconsin people are just now
struggling with the problem of the pre-
serya,ion of the fish in their small lakes.
Here Chicago figures again. A Chicago
sportsman wen, 10 Wisconsin lake
during the last muskellunge season.
The place had been famous for the big
fellows year or two back. He hired
an oarsman and fshed all the day
through Never a strike. II was mex.
plicable. After the boatman had
pocketed his days wage he drnwled: !:
Il guess the reason we didn't git any
was bechuse dynamited EN- all out
last month for the Chicago market