GAME LAWS AND GAME SUPPLY 



north latitude, for the past twenty-two years, and 

 can assure you that not one bird exists today among 

 the migratory families where ten came and went 

 two decades ago. 



"There are many reasons for this apart from the 

 winter and spring shooting. The nesting grounds 

 have been settled, and lakes where wild celery was 

 prolific a few years ago are barren of it now 

 simply pastured to death, I presume, owing to the 

 curtailment of the feeding grounds. The recurrent 

 disappearance of the rabbits forces the coyotes to 

 hunt other food, and duck eggs are very much to 

 their liking. Then numerous small sloughs, for- 

 merly having every one their three or four 

 broods of ducks, have disappeared before the plow. 

 Out-of -season shooting has made the more wary 

 wild ducks avoid entirely great stretches of country. 



"I can assure you that the game laws are pretty 

 well observed throughout Western Canada. Our 

 open season for ducks is pretty short and after this 

 year is likely to be two or three weeks shorter, not 

 opening possibly until September fifteenth. This 

 will make it very little over a month, when you con- 

 sider that our sloughs ice over usually in the latter 

 half of October and the ducks move south. 



"This year, in my immediate home neighbor- 

 hood, ducks were so plentiful through September 



277 



