CHAPTER XXII. 



THE CONSERVATION OF BIRDS (CONCLUDED). 



II. THE GAME-BIRDS. 



THE term game-birds is at present held to comprise the fol- 

 lowing four orders of birds : Anseres, ducks, geese, and swans ; 

 Paludicolce, cranes, rails, coots, and gallinules ; Limicolce, shore 

 birds ; Gallince, grouse and quail. The members of the order 

 Columbce, pigeons and doves, have been generally considered 

 game, and still are by many ; but these birds have become so 

 scarce that it is plainly unwise to treat them as game any 

 longer. For the same reason certain species belonging to the 

 orders above named should be taken from the game list, tem- 

 porarily at least. The cranes are such birds. Flickers, larks, 

 robins, and similar birds, formerly called game, as we have 

 seen, by right are game no longer. Either by decrease or by 

 a demonstrated superior living value the accepted list of game- 

 birds has been growing shorter. It is the purpose of this 

 chapter to find the cause and trace the course of this tendency. 



Prior to the settlement of America by the whites, and, 

 indeed, for many years after it, the game-bird problem was 

 wholly in the destructive phase. How could enough birds be 

 secured to satisfy bodily needs ? was the sum of it. After a 

 steadily-increasing drain for many years, we find ourselves 

 confronted by a different phase, not destructive, but conserva- 

 tive. The question now stands, How can extermination be 

 prevented ? 



Aboriginal weapons were so crude and furred animals so 

 much more desirable on account of their skins that birds were 

 not seriously persecuted by the red men. The pioneers were 

 better equipped. Like the Indians, they depended on game 

 for their meat supply, and early appreciated the sapid qualities 



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