278 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



effect, for they practise" it, and cannot be accused of seltish 

 motives. As editors and contributors they have already 

 awakened a wide-spread interest in the protection of game, 

 and it is largely through their labors that protective laws have 

 been spread on the statute-books of every State in the Union. 



In our examination of motives we have seen that, though 

 differing in kind, they have worked together along the same 

 line towards the same result. So far as effect goes, they have 

 been practically a unit, and in tracing the progress of decrease 

 need not be separated. It is when we consider preventive 

 means that a distinction should be made between them. 



In the early days game Avas taken at all seasons and by 

 every available means. The settlers were not in a condition 

 to think of ultimate results, and their successors did not take 

 the pains. For many years wild fowl were so plentiful that 

 the idea that they might become scarce probably did not occur 

 to people in general. To kill a female bird in spring virtually 

 destroys a whole brood for a gain of one — a poor one at 

 that. In spite of the plain improvidence of killing at all 

 seasons, it was continued for generations after it was noticed 

 that birds were growing less. So it was Avith traps, nets, and 

 swivel-guns. As a specitic illustration of the results of inju- 

 dicious killing and of the prevailing negligent spirit with which 

 it was viewed, let us look at the history of New Hampshire. 

 Being one of the older States, the history of its game is prac- 

 tically a chronicle of that of other older States and a prophecy 

 of that of the newer. 



New Hampshire was first settled in its southeast corner, 

 near the sea, about the year 1623. Its forests were dense 

 and its soil stubborn, so that its occupation was very gradual. 

 In 1792 Jeremy Belknap published a history of the State, in 

 which was given a list of its birds. Among them were four 

 game-birds that no longer have a place there. They were the 

 sand-hill crane, the heath-hen, the wild turkey, and the pas- 

 senger pigeon. The crane was even then presumably rare, 



