Game

animals of the chase. In its widest sense the term includes all fishes, birds, and animals, both of the land and sea, pursued and taken for profit or pleasure. By a fiction of English law defended by no less an authority than Blackstone, all game belongs to the king or to those whom he may authorize to take it. Under this view the game laws of England were very severe. It was a common saying that a slayer of the king's deer was treated more harshly than the slayer of men. As a matter of fact, hunters were put to death for killing deer without permission. The illegal taking of rabbits, pheasants, and other game is known in England as poaching. It is still treated as a serious offense. In America more liberal views have prevailed. Game of all sorts has been considered the rightful property of anyone who chose to take it, provided he kept out of inclosed or occupied premises. A farmer is considered entitled in season to the game found on his own farm, but the owner of wild, uninclosed, uncultivated land hardly ventures to set up a claim to exclusive ownership.

To prevent the extermination of game most states have enacted laws forbidding hunting or fishing during certain seasons. The open season during which each species of deer, moose, waterfowl, grouse, and game fish may be taken is established by statute. Many states forbid the exportation of game. Game wardens are appointed to enforce the laws. A number of sportsmen's organizations, the American Ornithological Union, the Audubon societies, and other associations, local, state, and national, aim to stimulate officials to vigilance. The national government has enacted game laws for Alaska and has established numerous game and forest preserves, notably Yellowstone Park.

Game is protected in a number of large city parks. There are a number of private game parks. Several men of wealth have acquired game preserves in the Adirondack region. George W. Vanderbilt has a park of 80,000 acres at Biltmore, North Carolina. In 1889 Austin Corbin, the lock maker, inclosed 36,000 acres near Newport, New Hampshire, with an eight foot fence of wire netting. Here he protects all sorts of game from a moose downward. This park covers a tract of mountain, stream, and meadow twelve miles long and seven wide. It is not only one of the largest, but one of the most successful private game preserves in the world.

See Deer; Grouse; Duck; Salmon; Trout; Bird