BIRDS ON HATS, ETC. 89 



starvation. This is but one incident of many that oc- 

 curred on the Rattlesnake, and no doubt on all streams 

 where parties go for a few days' outing. 



"G. E. VANBUREN, 



"Missoula, Mont." 



Is it a wonder that our birds decrease ? Cats hunt 

 them in the city ; ignorant schoolboys molest them in 

 the country ; men, boys, and females, whom Mr. Van 

 Buren very charitably, but just as inappropriately calls 

 "ladies," murder them at summer resorts and in the 

 trout-stream woods. If you are a good marksman, you 

 need not demonstrate it on song birds and on innocent 

 shore birds in the summer time. If you cannot be happy 

 without shooting, take an old barn-door with you and 

 place it against a sand hill. We are in great need of a 

 gun license to keep track of the fools, old and young, 

 male and female. The wonder is that we have any 

 birds left at all. 



The only legal remedy to abate this nuisance would 

 be a gun license in every settled district. 1 



1 See "Principles of The League of American Sportsmen," page 

 132. 



