sy prey for hawks and coyotes." (F.T. Webber).

It would be possible to record many instances similar to the above, but
why multiply them? And now behold the cruel corollary:

At least twenty-five times during the past two years I have heard and
read arguments by sportsmen against my proposal for a 5-year close
season for quail, taking the ground that "The sportsmen are not wholly
to blame for the scarcity of quail. It is the cold winters that kill
them off!"

So then, _because the fierce winters murder the bob white, wholesale,
they should not have a chance to recover themselves_! Could human beings
possibly assume a more absurd attitude?

Yes, it is coldly and incontestably true, that even after such winter
slaughter as Mr. Webber has reported above, the very next season will
find the quail hunter joyously taking the field, his face beaming with
health and good living, to hunt down and shoot to death as many as
possible of the pitiful 25 per cent remnant that managed to survive the
pitiless winter. How many quail hunters, think you, ever stayed their
hands because of "a hard winter on the quail?" I warrant not one out of
every hundred! How many states in this Union ever put on a close season
because of a hard winter? I'll warrant that not one ever did; and I
think there is only one state whose game commissioners have the power to
act in that way without recourse to the legislature. This situation is
intolerable.

Thanks to the splendid codified game laws enacted in New York state in
1912, our Conservation Commission can declare a close season in any
locality, for any length of time, when the state of the game demands an
emergency measure. This act is as follows; and it is a model law, which
every other state should speedily enact:

* * * * *

THE NEW YORK CLOSE-SEASON LAW.

_152. Petition for additional protection; notice of hearings; power
to grant additional protection; notice of prohibition or regulation;
penalties_.

_1. Petition for additional protection_. Any citizen of the state
may file with the commission a petition in writing requesting it to
give any species of fish, other than migratory food fish of the sea,
or game protected by law, additional or other protection than that
afforded by the provisions of this article. Such petition shall
state the grounds upon which such protection is considered
necessary, and shall be signed by the petitio