WEALTH ON WINGS 



had thought that all the ducks and geese had to do 

 was to go up north somewhere and lay eggs for 

 you and me. They are doing nothing of the kind up 

 there, compared with their former performances. 



Now those people up north, a great many of them, 

 never heard of Texas or Louisiana and would not 

 be able to tell where the Gulf of Mexico is. They 

 do not know anything about the number of birds we 

 shoot. All they know is that they do not have so 

 many birds as they formerly did. 



Without a doubt or question we have killed their 

 birds ; they have not killed ours. Our winter shoot- 

 ing, our spring shooting, our market shooting 

 those are the things which have cut down the nat- 

 ural food of many an Indian village in the Far 

 North. 



One of our favorite assertions, used to justify us 

 in shooting when and how we like, was the old 

 myth that the Indians destroy the ducks up north 

 by gathering their eggs. They do gather a few 

 ducks' eggs, it is true, and they are not very par- 

 ticular about the freshness of them ; but there is no 

 regular or steady industry in that line, and the eggs 

 are not regarded as a regular form of food but an 

 incidental item. 



An Indian is very lazy. If he can get anything 

 to eat round the post, or if his nets are bringing him 



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