A LOOK BACKWARD 515 
is, to kill a few more birds—than your neighbor or your 
rival. 
Although all the larger game birds had been exter- 
minated in the Eastern and Middle States by the time 
of the Civil War, it was not until the advent of the 
breech-loader in America, about 1868 or ’69, that bird 
shooting began to be excessive in nearby localities. Yet, 
by the middle of the following decade, complaints began 
to be heard of the scarcity of game. People who a few 
years before had had no difficulty in killing thirty birds 
in a day, grumbled when they could get but fifteen, or 
perhaps ten, and found vacant covers long known to 
be depended on for a certain number of birds. These 
were the first warnings of the scarcity of game birds, 
which, since that time, we all have known. 
In those days, too, the gunners interested themselves 
much in the question as to which was the most useful 
arm, the breech-loader or the muzzle-loader. Those 
who had adopted the new weapon vaunted its conven- 
ience and general efficiency, while the more conservative 
declared that the breech-loader did not throw shot with 
the force of the muzzle-loader, and declared that they 
would never change their weapons. 
It was about this time that the first periodicals de- 
voted exclusively to shooting and fishing were estab- 
lished. These were, first, the American Sportsman, 
which lived but two or three years, and then Forest and 
Stream, which subsequently absorbed the successor of 
the American Sportsman, the Rod and Gun. These 
journals were immediately successful, because of the 
