BIRDS ON HATS, ETC. 87 
have our game mammals, our game birds, and our fish 
protected and preserved. Where deer have disap- 
peared, coons, hares, and rabbits have become big 
game, and where geese, ducks, grouse, and quail are 
exterminated, robins, orioles, and bluebirds will become 
fowls, as is proved in several South European countries. 
Men and boys will continue to love the gun and the 
rod, and however much we may desire to make our boys 
become true lovers of nature, we certainly do not want 
to educate their aggressive virility and their love for 
sport and adventure out of them. A nation needs 
philosophers, poets, artists, and perhaps even some 
dreamers, but she also needs just that bubbling vitality 
which in every healthy boy is the delight of parents 
and teachers who take the trouble to understand boys. 
Give your restless, mischievous, mean boy a good book 
on outdoor sport, and he will at once drop mischief 
and meanness, forget even about eating, and will quickly 
become your staunch friend. 
I cannot close this chapter without calling attention 
to the nuisance of ubiquitous, irresponsible gunners of 
all classes, men, women, and boys. If you have not 
enough moral backbone to let song birds, ducks, loons, 
terns, and other lake and shore birds alone, when you 
go on a summer outing or for a few days’ fishing, 
then in the name of human kindness and for the sake 
of the birds, leave your guns and little rifles at home! 
The birds were not intended for your targets. Have 
another gun slave throw up potatoes for you and 
remember that the ball will penetrate or possibly pass 
