pimpernel, young peas, etc., etc. Of berries : the wild mezereum, wild straw- 

 berries, currants, elderberries, blackberries, mistletoe and hawthorn. 



The successful introduction of this splendid game bird really marks a new 

 era in the history of sport, and its advent should be hailed with delight by all 

 true sportsmen. Quick on the wing, prolific, hardy, sapid, this handsome 

 pheasant is admirably adapted to take the place of those larger native birds, the 

 wild turkey, the prairie chicken, the ruffed grouse, which are no longer available 

 to us. 



The ethics of the situation is perfectly clear. When this country was a 

 howling wilderness it was right and proper that the pioneers should help them- 

 selves freely to the abundant game to satisfy their wants and to gratify their 

 desire for sport. That they went too far in some instances is clear to us as it 

 v^^as not to them. It is perhaps inevitable that some of the larger species of birds, 

 unconfined, should have succumbed, as did the deer and the bear among the 

 mammals. The necessary conditions of civilization, apart from the use of gun- 

 powder, were no longer quite tolerable to some of them. Up to a certain point 

 anybody might shoot the wild pigeon and the turkey and welcome. They were 

 bound to go sooner or later. 



But the situation has entirely changed. The country is no longer a wilder- 

 ness, nor its citizens dependent on the conquests of the chase for sustenance. 

 With the decline of the culinary claim a new value has been discovered for the 

 wild things, especially for the birds, viz., the esthetic value. The birds no longer 

 belong to those who seek food; they no longer belong to those who seek life 

 for the sake of taking it in artistic ways ; they belong rather to the four millions 

 of people in this state who are awaking to a sense of the varied charm of the 

 living bird. W"e should no longer regard the wood ducks, for example, as 

 creatures to be killed (pitiful remnant that there is left!) but as beautiful objects 

 of a fascinated interest — birds to study, to understand, to appreciate, to foster. 

 A gunner might kill them all in a day, but he has no moral right to do so (what- 

 ever the law may say about open seasons) ; they belong now to those who have a 

 higher use for them. 



But what about legitimate sport? It must confine itself to legitimate objects. 

 Those species which are now verging upon extinction, or which are not capable 

 of maintaining their present numerical status without absolute protection, are no 

 longer legitimate objects. Such objects do exist, and the bobwhite is typical 

 of these. But we have evidently reached that stage when the demand for game 

 must be artificially supplied. This can best be done by the introduction of certain 

 hardy species of demonstrated value, such as the Mogolian pheasant. This may 

 lead to the extensive use of private preserves under competent management. It 

 is not fair for Farmr A. to pasture grouse which Lawyer B. may shoot without 

 expense, nor is it fair to forbid Lawyer B. and his friends to shoot their own 

 birds on their own grounds whenever they like, within the dictates of humanity. 



In short, the time is upon us when those who want to shoot (and it's royal 

 fun!) must furnish their own game. 



313 



