An Act to prevent fishing with seines, and pound or trap nets in the small inland lakes and streams in the State of Michigan.

[Approved March 16, 1865. Laws of 1865, p. 352.]

seines, etc., pro

(2087.) SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, Fishing with That it shall not be lawful hereafter to fish with seines, trap nets, hibited. pound nets, or any species of continuous nets, in any of the inland lakes or small streams of all the territory, according to the United States survey, north of the township line numbered twenty north. (2088.) SEC. 2. Any person offending against the provisions of Penalty for of this act shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to a fine of not over one hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail not over sixty days, to be determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.

fending.

An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to provide for the erection and maintenance of shutes for the passage of fish through the dams across the streams of this State. " 1

[Approved March 21, 1865. Laws of 1885, p. 685.]

(2089.) SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, Act amended. That an act entitled "An act to provide for the erection and maintenance of shutes for the passage of fish through the dams across the streams in this State," approved March sixteenth, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-one, be and the same is hereby amended so as to read as follows:

shutes.

(2090.) SEC. 2. There shall be erected and maintained in each Erection of dam across any stream which by law is a public highway, by the owner or occupant thereof, or by those persons using the waters thereof, through the medium of any canal or race, sufficient and permanent shutes to admit the passage of fish in such stream during the months of April, May, and June in each year; and if the Neglect to erect. owner of or occupant of any such dam, or person or persons using the water thereof, through the medium of any canal or race, shall neglect or refuse, for the period of sixty days, to construct and maintain such shutes, as aforesaid, whenever requested, in writing, so to do by any ten freeholders of the same county, such person Penalty. or persons shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and for each and every sixty days that such person or persons shall so neglect or refuse, he or they shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. 2

1 This amendatory act is inserted in the place of the original, as it supersedes it. As amended by Act 66 of the Laws of 1867, p. 94, approved March 20, 1867.

(2091.) SEC. 3. Whoever obstructs the main channel or course of any river or creek, by placing therein nets or fishing apparatus of any kind whatever, for the purpose of taking or stopping fish of any kind, shall thereby incur, for each offense, a fine not exceeding twenty-five dollars; and in no case shall the said channel or course, so left open, be less than one-third of the whole breadth of the river.

Penalties for obstructing pas

sage of fish.

An Act to prevent the obstruction of the free passage of fish along streams and inland rivers, by the interposition of fish weirs, weir dams, or weir nets.

[Approved March 30, 1869. Laws of 1869, p. 145.]

(2092.) SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to place a weir dam, fish weir, or weir net, across any race, drain, stream, or inland river of this State, in such a manner as to obstruct the free passage of fish up and down the same; and any person violating the provisions of this act shall be liable to a penalty of not less than five nor more than fifty dollars for each such violation, and also for the payment of two dollars additional penalty for every day he shall continue to keep up such fish weir or weir net, in violation of this act, after having been duly notified by any elector of the township wherein such fish weir or weir net may be, feeling himself aggrieved thereby, to remove the same; said penalty or How recovered. penalties to be recovered before any court of competent jurisdiction, in the township or county where such offense shall have been committed.

SEC. 2. This act shall take immediate effect.

CHAPTER

LXIV.

THE PROTECTION OF GAME AND MUSKRATS.

An Act to revise and consolidate the several acts relating to the protection of game, and for the better preservation of elk, deer, birds, and wild fowl.

[Approved April 3, 1869. Laws of 1869, p. 211.]

may be hunted.

(2093.) SECTION 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, when game That no person or persons shall pursue, or hunt, or kill any wild elk, wild buck, doe, or fawn, save only during the months of September, October, November, and December, in each year, or kill or destroy, by any means whatever, or attempt to take or destroy any wild turkey at any time during the year, except in the months of September, October, November, and December, in each year; or kill or destroy, by any means whatever, any woodcock until after the fifth day of July, nor any prairie chicken, or pinnated grouse, ruffled grouse, commonly called partridge, or pheasant, or any wood duck, teal duck, or mallard duck, save only from the fifth day of August in each year to the first day of February next following.'

(2094.) SEC. 2. No person or persons shall kill or destroy, or Ibid. attempt to kill or destroy, any quail, sometimes called Virginia partridge, save only during the months of October, November, and December, in each year; and no person or persons shall kill or Penalty for dedestroy any quail in this State, at any time after the passage of this act, until the first day of October, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, under a penalty of five dollars for each quail destroyed.1

1As amended by Act 135 of the Laws of 1871, p. 212, approved and took effect April 15, 1871.

stroying quail.

Killing fowl with
Bwiveled guns,

nests prohibited.

(2095.) SEC. 3. No person or persons shall at any time, with a trap, or snare, or net, take any partridge, prairie chicken, wood duck, teal duck, mallard duck, or quail, or attempt to take, with any trap, snare, or net, any partridge, prairie chicken, or quail: Provided however, That it shall be lawful to trap quail and take them alive, for the purpose of keeping them alive through the winter, and for no other purpose whatever; and it shall also be lawful to take with a trap, snare, or net, any wood duck, teal duck, or mallard duck for breeding purposes.

1

(2096.) SEC. 4. No person or persons shall at any time kill or etc., and robbing attempt to kill any wild duck, or other wild fowl, with or by means of a swivel or punt gun, or rob or destroy the nests of any wild ducks or wild geese, or in any manner kill or molest the same whilst they are sitting at night on their nesting places.

When game not to be sold.

Proviso.

Penalty for vio

lating provis

(2097.) SEC. 5. No person or persons shall sell, or expose for sale, or have in his or her possession for the purpose of selling or exposing for sale, any of the birds or animals protected by this act after the expiration of thirty days next succeeding the times limited and prescribed for the killing of any such birds or animals: Provided however, That it shall be lawful to expose for sale, and to sell, any live quail for the purpose of preserving the same alive through the winter.'

(2098.) SEC. 6. Any person or persons violating any of the foregoions of this act. ing provisions of this act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall likewise be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, and shall, on conviction thereof, stand committed to the common jail until such penalty is paid, provided that such imprisonment shall not exceed thirty days.

Entirely prohib

iting any per

at any time, certain birds.

(2099.) SEC. 7. No person shall at any time, within this State, kill son from killing any robin, night-hawk, whippoorwill, finch, thrush, lark, sparrow, cherry bird, swallow, yellow bird, blue bird, brown thrasher, wren, martin, oriole, woodpecker, bobolink, or any song bird, nor rob the nests of such birds, under a penalty of five dollars for each bird so killed, and for each nest so robbed.

Penalty for

transporting at certain times.

(2100.) SEC. 8. That any railroad, express company, or other common carrier, or any of their agents or servants, or other persons having any of the above named birds or animals in their possession for transportation, or shall transport the same, after the expiration of thirty days next succeeding the times limited and prescribed for the killing of such birds or animals, shall be punished by fine not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dol

1 Vide note to section 1 of this act.

lars: Provided, That such penalty shall not apply to the transpor- Proviso.
tation of live quail which are to be kept alive through the winter,
or to the transportation of such birds or animals in transitu
through this State from other States where it it is lawful to kill
such birds or animals at the time of such transportation.'

maiming pig

eons near nest

ings, etc.

(2101.) SEC. 9. No person or persons shall use any gun or guns, Penalty for or fire-arms, to maim, kill, or destroy any wild pigeon or pigeons, at or within one half-mile of the place or places where they are gathered in bodies for the purpose of brooding their young, known as pigeon nestings; and no person or persons shall use any gun, guns, or fire-arms, to maim, kill, or destroy any wild pigeon or pigeons within their roostings, anywhere within the limits of this State; and every person so offending against the provisions of this section, or any part thereof, shall be subject to a penalty of fifty dollars, with costs of suit.

how brought.

torneys, duties

(2102.) SEC. 10. A prosecution may be brought by any person in Prosecution, the name of the people of the State of Michigan, against any person or persons violating any of the provisions of this act, before any justice of the peace of the county in which such violation is alleged to have taken place, or before any court of competent jurisdiction; and it is made the duty of all prosecuting attorneys in Prosecuting atthis State to see that the provisions of this act are enforced in of their respective counties, and they shall prosecute all offenders, on receiving information of the violation of any of the provisions of this act; and it is made the duty of sheriffs, under-sheriffs, deputy- sheriffs, etc., sheriffs, constables, and police officers, to inform against and prosecute all persons whom there is probable cause to believe are guilty of violating any of the provisions of this act.

duties of.

mals may be

(2103.) SEC. 11. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any Birds and aniperson who shall kill any of the birds or animals protected by this killed for speciact, for the sole purpose of preserving them as specimens for scien- mens, etc. tific purposes, nor to any person who shall collect the eggs or nests of any bird for such scientific purposes: Provided, That in a Proviso. prosecution for the violation of any of the provisions of this act, it shall not be necessary for the prosecution to prove that the killing of the bird or animal, or the taking of the nest or eggs, as the case may be, was not done for scientific purposes.

be made within

(2104.) SEC. 12. All prosecutions under the provisions of this act Prosecutions to shall be commenced within three months from the time such three months. offense was committed.

1 Vide note to section 1 of this act.