THE BIRD DEPARTMENT 



671 



iise of these guns and permit a person to kill as many as 

 twenty-five or even more in a day. This limit vi^as estab- 

 lished in the days of unsportsmanlike market-shooting, 

 when ducks were merchandise, not game, and there is no 

 private family to-day that could consume such a quantity 

 of meat. Until this limit is considerably reduced and 

 automatic and pump guns debarred, our waterfowl are 

 still in danger of extermination. One other argument 

 is sometimes advanced against considering them as game 

 birds because of the charm which always attends their 

 presence on our waters. When spring shooting was 

 allowed, there was considerable ground for this argument 



Fhotograph by C. C. Lmbuuy, Ithaca, A ew York. 



A BOB-WHITE ON ITS NEST 



The bob-white is a perfect game bird in most respects, but its greatest value 

 is as a destroyer of insects and a purveyor of cheer and inspiration in farming 

 districts. It should be removed from the game list. The nest here shown is 

 under a garden fence. 



because of their striking and beautiful plumages and their 

 curious and interesting antics or displays. But in the fall 

 they are, for the most part, obscurely marked, and it is 

 the impressive force of the well-formed flocks against the 

 dark clouds and the wild sweep of their wings that 

 charm us — a feeling that is only heightened by the 

 knowledge that they are game — that one's skill can be 

 matched against their wariness and their speed with the 

 possibility of legitimate reward. Were they never hunted, 

 they would become like domestic fowls, most of the charm 

 would be lost, and they might even become obnoxious. 



Less can be said for the second and third classes of 

 game birds, including the cranes, rails, coots, and galli- 

 nules. That they are edible is perhaps true, although 

 inferior to ducks, and the little sora and Virginia rails, 

 that are often shot in numbers, are so small as to make 

 scarcely a mouthful. About the only excuse for shooting 

 them is that they do no particular good, living as they do 

 in the marshes where few insects, except the mosquitoes. 



are objectionable. It requires very little skill to shoot 

 them because they flush quietly and fly weakly and usually 

 permit such close approach that they are knocked to pieces 

 by the shot. Gallinules are somewhat larger but equally 

 poor flyers and are usually shot as they run over the 

 water. The coot, however, is much more duck-like on the 



A MOURNING DOVE BROODING ITS YOUNG 



In spite of the fact that the passenger pigeon has been entirely exterminated; 

 showing that this class of birds cannot withstand hunting, the other species 

 are still retained on the game list. Many states now give protection to the 

 mourning dove and band-tailed pigeon, but the federal law and the recent 

 treaty with Canada still classify them with the game birds. 



wing as well as in its habits, so that there is some excuse 

 for shooting it. Cranes are, of course, very much larger 

 but they are rare everywhere, nearly exterminated by 

 shooting in the east and one species (the whooping crane) 

 is on the verge of annihilation throughout its range. 



The fourth class, including the Limicolce, or shore- 

 birds, will answer to our definition somewhat better, 

 although the smaller species of sandpipers and plovers 

 have advisedly been removed from the game list by the 

 federal law. Many of the larger species like the avocet 

 and curlew are likewise protected for a term of years 

 because they cannot stand the hunting and are rapidly 

 being exterminated. The difficulty in their case lies in 

 the fact that they travel in compact flocks and too many 

 can be killed at a shot. The yellowlegs and the black- 

 bellied and golden plover, which have been retained on the 

 list, have survived the persecution somewhat better than 

 the rest, but it would be much simpler and safer for all 

 the shore-birds, as they are difficult to distinguish, if they 

 too were removed for the period of ten years. The case 

 of the snipe and the woodcock is slightly diflferent for, 

 although their numbers have been seriously depleted, 

 under proper hunting restrictions they will be able to hold 

 their own. They never travel in compact flocks and fre- 

 quent much better cover than other shore-birds, the 

 woodcock in the dense alder thickets and the snipe in the 

 grassy marshes, and neither bird is often seen until flushed. 

 Both fly swiftly and erratically, making a startling sound 



