THE LEGITIMATE USE OF GAME 95 



bel's quail, a species resembling the well-known 

 valley- quail of California, is gloriously holding its 

 own, chiefly because its natural enemies are so few 

 and sportsmen rarely molest it. Over thousands of 

 square miles of creosote bushes, mesquites and cacti 

 of various kinds, that handsome little quail is living 

 in peace and security ; and when attacked, it knows 

 that safety lies in running on the ground and not 

 in taking wing and rising clear of the bushes to be 

 shot. 



The rigid closing of the markets of New York 

 and Massachusetts against the sale of native wild 

 game has had an immediate and visible effect in 

 rendering wild geese, brant and ducks more plenti- 

 ful all along the Atlantic coast north of the Caro- 

 linas, and also throughout the New England and 

 Middle States. This increase is so marked that 

 once more wild-fowl shooting has become in this 

 part of the world a legitimate sport. The reduction 

 of the four-months' shooting season to three 

 months, as has been done by the federal migratory 

 bird law, will still further promote the return of 

 wild fowl to the northeastern United States, with 

 the prospect that eventually there will be duck- 

 shooting for thousands of sportsmen instead of 

 hundreds only. From October 1 to January 16 

 you now may go duck-shooting on Great South 

 Bay, and on the bays and lakes of all New England, 

 with a clear conscience; but I repeat that in Con- 



