JOUKNAI. OK INIAINK ORNITHOI^OGICAI. SOCIETY. 69 



away gun after gun with their repeaters, with the result of siniph- 

 frightening the flock which circled once and then making a bee 

 line to the south rose high over Butler's Head and passed out to 

 sea in the teeth of the gale. 



I cannot close this article without an allusion to that great evil, 

 the repeating shotgun — as witnessed daily in this famous ducking 

 ground. It is certainly a serious matter and one which must 

 shortly be reckoned with if our shooting is to be preserved. In 

 making this broad statement I voice not only my own views, but 

 the candid opinion of many of the older native gunners of the bay 

 shore, whose observations of the results have extended over many 

 years, and who, themselves, have been forced to adopt the use of 

 these terrifying magazine guns in order to "hold their own," as 

 as they express it, with others, who bring them to the bay. Such 

 have repeatedly assured me of the great harm these furious fusil- 

 lades have done to the birds and are even now^ doing to the limited 

 number that are left, and even asked if something could not be 

 done to prohibit their use. They say they would welcome the day 

 when every one would be obliged to go back to the old double bar- 

 rel breech loader. The birds would then have a show at least, and 

 all the gunners would be on an equal footing as far as firearms go. 



The evils are two-fold. A repeater or magazine gun in the 

 hands of a good shot will enable him to exterminate a flock of six 

 or eight if the birds can be sculled within thirty-five yards, while in 

 the hands of an amateur or poor shot the entire six shots will be 

 banged away at the birds utterly regardless of whether they are in 

 within reasonable distance or not. This is, perhaps, the greater 

 evil of the two. It is so "handy" to have six shots at one's elbow, 

 that it seldom happens, and I will not except the expert or the able 

 native gunner who knows better, but what if he fires at all at a ris- 

 ing flock he will empty his gun at them even if he knows the birds 

 are out of range. 



This terrible and senseless cannonading — I can call it nothing 

 else — frightens such birds as escape, into a perfect frenzy and it is 

 little wonder that thousands of them are driven in distraction from 



