AMERICAN GAME BIRDS 
destruction of birds of prey and of wild 
four-footed animals of whatever name or 
nature, 
The contrary is true of that predatory 
animal, the house cat. Never were house 
cats more destructive of bird life than 
now. While the annual loss of insectiv- 
orous birds by them is far greater than 
that of game birds, the loss of woodcock, 
quail, grouse, and upland-breeding shore- 
birds is by no means small. Taking into 
account bird life in general, the cat is 
undoubtedly the most destructive mam- 
mal we have, and the aggregate number 
of birds annually killed by them in the 
United States is enormous. 
Of late years serious losses have been 
reported among the ducks of certain lo- 
calities in the West. The causes are yet 
obscure, but they are probably not due to 
epidemics, as commonly believed. ‘They 
will probably prove to ‘be very local and 
of comparatively modern origin, and to 
be dependent on drainage contaminations 
or unnatural crowding into unfavorable 
feeding grounds. It is hence highly prob- 
able that such losses can be eliminated 
either in whole or in part. 
Before the coming of the whites, for- 
est and prairie fires were due to lightning 
or were purposely set by the Indians to 
facilitate the pursuit of large game. 
While they were no doubt common at 
certain seasons and probably fatal to 
many birds, they were too insignificant to 
have played an important part in the re- 
duction of numbers. 
FIREARMS THE CHIEF CAUSE OF DECREASE 
The destruction of former breeding 
grounds through drainage and the gen- 
eral advance of agriculture is a very im- 
portant cause of the diminution of certain 
species. But while agriculture usurps the 
breeding grounds of many kinds, espe- 
cially ducks and geese, its effect in this 
direction is to some extent lessened, since 
it prepares the way for other species, like 
the upland game birds, and furnishes 
food and breeding grounds for them. 
While these and other causes that might 
be enumerated have tended to diminish 
the numbers of game birds, even taken 
collectively they have played only a minor 
part in the great reduction of these birds 
as a whole. 
107 
It is the gun that has been the chief 
cause of the destruction of our game, 
large and small. Whatever weight may 
be attached to other causes, these fade 
into insignificance when compared with 
the effect of firearms. 
It is nothing short of marvelous how 
little time was required by the early pio- 
neers, even with the crude firearms of the 
time, to make an impression on the abun- 
dance of American game. What the In- 
dian with his bow and arrow and his rude 
nets failed to do in thousands of years, 
the handful of white men with powder 
and shot accomplished in a few decades. 
Writing within 40 years after the first 
settlement in New England, Josselyn 
states that already the wild pigeon had 
diminished greatly, “the English taking 
them with nets”; and he adds that the 
English and Indians, who by this time 
were supplied with guns, had “destroyed 
the breed of wild turkeys, so that even at 
that early day it was very rare to meet 
one in the woods.” 
Thus two of our most important game 
birds, in less than half a century after the 
first settlements, had already begun to 
disappear from the neighborhood of the 
New England colonies. Nor is there 
reason to believe that it was different 
in other parts of the country. Game 
abounded, was needed for food, the sup- 
ply seemed inexhaustible, and it was shot 
regardless of consequences, and at first, 
no doubt, without thought of them. 
It is undoubtedly true that up to the 
present time far more strenuous efforts 
have been made in this country to destroy 
game than to preserve it. Even today a 
vastly greater number of individuals are 
interested in game as something to kill 
than as something which deserves pro- 
tection. Clubs having for their chief ob- 
ject the pursuit of game of all kinds have 
existed since early days; but organiza- 
tions having for their chief object the 
preservation of game are relatively few 
in number and of comparatively recent 
origin. 
AMERICA A SPORTSMAN’S PARADISE 
America has always been a paradise for 
sportsmen, but of late years the number 
of those whose chief relaxation is the 
pursuit of game has greatly increased, 
