16 GAME AND ITS PROTECTION. 
cessary—that illegal profits will not equal legal 
punishments; but their customers should also dis- 
courage, by withdrawing their patronage, conduct 
that is so injurious to the public interests. Wood- 
cock would not be shot in spring, nor quail in sum- 
mer, unless the demand for them were sufficiently 
great to pay both the expense of capture and the 
danger of exposure; and, with a diminution of pur- 
chasers, will be an increased diminution of the num- 
ber of birds improperly killed. 
Birds and fish, except in their proper seasons, are 
always tasteless, and often unhealthy food. A set- 
ting quail or a spawning trout is absolutely unfit to 
eat, and to do without them is no sacrifice; but for 
the sportsman to restrain his ardor as the close-time 
draws towards an end, and when others less scrupu- 
lous are filling their bags daily, or when in the 
wilder sections of country there is no one to com- 
plain or object, requires the heroism of self-denial. 
Nevertheless, the effect of example should not be 
forgotten, and the duty of the true sportsman is 
clear and unmistakable: he must abide by the law ; 
or, where there is no law, must govern himself by 
analogous rules. 
In the wilderness, it is true, where birds are abun- 
dant to excess, he may without blame supply his 
pot with cheeping grouse or wood-duck flappers, if 
he can offer hunger as an excuse; but not even 
there, unless driven by extremity, can he slay the 
parent of a brood that will starve without parental 
care. In the settled regions, no matter how great 
