AMERICAN GAME BIRDS 



Avian Fleets Which Hover Over Our Forests and Fre- 

 quent the Shores of Our Streanns, Lakes, and 

 Seaboard Constitute a Great National Asset, 

 But They Must Be Protected, Otherwise 

 Extermination Threatens Many 



By HENRY W. HENSHAW 



With Illustrations from Paintings by Louis Agassic Fiicrtcs 



FROM the time of the earliest set- 

 tlement of the country the wild 

 game of America has proved a na- 

 tional asset of extraordinary value. No- 

 where in the world, except in Africa, was 

 there ever greater abundance and variety 

 of wild life. 



The forests of America were filled with 

 game birds and animals, large and small ; 

 its streams, lakes, and ponds were cov- 

 ered with waterfowl, and its rivers and 

 shores furnished highways for myriads 

 of shorebirds as they passed north and 

 south. Xature would a])])ear Id have 

 stocked the continent with lavisli hand. 

 Indeed, but for tb.c wild game our prede- 

 cessors, the Indians, would not have been 

 able to maintain existence, nuich less to 

 advance as far as they did in the arts 

 that lift ])eoples toward the iilane of civil- 

 ization. 



.\nd at first our own forebears were 

 scarcely less dependent than the aborig- 

 ines upon game for food. Many years of 

 toil and struggle had to pass before the 

 rude husbandry of the colonists sufficed 

 to free them measurably from de])end- 

 ence on venison and wiUl fowl. 



Xor will any student of American his- 

 tory doubt that, but for tlie services of 

 our pioneer hunter> and trappers who 

 lilcr;ill\- bunted ;in(l trapjjed their wav 



from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the 

 course of empire westward would have 

 been halted for decades. As a conse- 

 quence, the settlement of much of our 

 fair land would have been long delayed, 

 if, indeed, the land had not passed into 

 the possession of other peoples. 



Moreover, it was in the pursuit of 

 game that the hardy frontiersmen devel- 

 oped skill as marksmen and acquired 

 many of the rude border accomplish- 

 ments wliich later made them effective 

 soldiers in the war for independence. 



Game existed everywhere, for the In- 

 dian, though wasteful of wild life and 

 knowing naugiit of game laws, took what 

 toll he would of the game about him, and 

 yet made no apparent impression on its 

 <|uantity ; so that it i)assed into the hands 

 of liis successors, along with his lantls. 

 practically in its original state. 



.\.Mi:UIC.\.N W A'I'KKl-OWL AND SIIORKIMRDS 



And wb.it a rich heritage it was! In 

 addition to the upland game birds of the 

 forests and open glades, great numbers 

 of ducks and shorebirds found on our 

 western ])rairies and in the innumerable 

 lakes and ponds tiie food, solitude, and 

 safety necessary fluring the nesting pe- 

 riod. More important still as a nursery 

 for wild fowl and ^]lorebird^ were, and 



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