CONSERVATION OF GAME BIRDS. 519 



accidents of migration and to the attacks of their natural 

 enemies. (3) Spring shooting destroys the naturally selected 

 breeding stock, while mating or mated, and on the way to 

 the breeding grounds, or in the very act of reproduction. 



The value of protecting birds in spring on their northward 

 migration and on their breeding grounds is shown in the cases 

 of the American Robin, the Bobolink and the Red-winged 

 Blackbird. All these birds have been shot in great numbers 

 in the southern States in the fall for more than two centuries. 



Millions of Bobolinks have been shipped to market in the 

 southern and middle States. These birds are killed mostly 

 in the late summer and fall. The slaughter of Bobolinks in the 

 fall for so many years has not very greatly reduced their 

 numbers in the north, where they are protected by law in their 

 spring migration and in the breeding season. This protection 

 perpetuates the species. 



The wild-fowl which come north in spring have survived 

 the hardships and dangers of the winter. They are in good 

 condition, and nearly every pair is fitted to be the parents of 

 strong, healthy young. To kill them then should be regarded 

 as reprehensible. A Massachusetts gunner who had been 

 accustomed to shoot Snipe in spring noticed something peculiar 

 about a bird which he shot, opened it and found an egg in 

 the oviduct, ready for laying. He never shot another Snipe 

 in spring. Two gunners in Rhode Island had killed about a 

 bushel of Winter Yellow-legs in spring. A friend who opened 

 some of the females found eggs developing in their ovaries. 



A Cape Cod gunner assured me that it was better sport 

 shooting Ducks in spring than in fall, for when one bird was 

 killed its mate would "hang around" and he could bag both. 

 A worthy citizen of Massachusetts shot a pair of Wood Ducks 

 (legally) in April. He was then a boy, and as the pair flew 

 past him he shot and killed the wonderfully beautiful male, 

 which fell into the stream. The little female circled about, 

 came back and alighted beside her dead mate, remaining 

 there until the boy reloaded his old single-barrelled, muzzle- 

 loading gun and killed her. He afterwards learned that the 

 pair had a nest and eggs in a hollow tree near by. Thus the 



