238 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



170 possible kinds of game-bird in the United 

 States. This, however, is a considerable overesti- 

 mate of what sportsmen are actually permitted to 

 shoot. Limitations have been placed on virtually 

 every natural group, considerably narrowing the 

 number of species eligible for the gun of the 

 hunter. 



Some forms have been removed for an indefinite 

 period from the active game list ; others are only 

 temporarily absent. For example, the crane 

 group has been placed entirely and for all time 

 out of reach of the sportsman. Of the fifty or 

 more species of ducks, geese, and swans, the wood- 

 duck and several forms of eider-duck have been 

 removed, probably forever, and swans have a long 

 temporary respite. Quail, prairie chickens, and 

 turkeys in many States are given closed seasons 

 of five to ten years, or permanent exemption. 

 Finally, out of the seventy-odd species of shore- 

 birds and snipe, only six are eligible for shooting : 

 the woodcock, Wilson snipe, greater and lesser 

 yellowlegs, and black-breasted and golden plover. 



Thus the number of game-birds residing in the 

 United States that can be shot falls to consider- 

 ably less than a hundred. Subtracting from these 

 the several species of grouse and ptarmigan which 

 inhabit only Alaska, together with those birds 

 which are rare visitants to the border States from 

 Mexico, there are left less than seventy-five bona- 

 fide species to be utilized as game. 



