202 GAME PRESERVERS AND BIRD PRESERVERS. 



We should like to see insect-eat in 2^ and 

 weed- destroying birds swarming in onr gar- 

 dens and fields, and wild-foAvl breeding in 

 peace on every pond ; and as we are now 

 largely importing very inferior game birds for 

 food, we think our modern naturalists would 

 do us better service if they would tell us how 

 to make our grouse, pheasants, and partridges 

 ten times as numerous as they are, so that they 

 misfht be common on most men's tables instead 

 of constantly advising us to feed other birds 

 and beasts with the fiesh and eggs of the few 

 we still possess. 



If edible birds are to be eaten they must be 

 killed, and this leads us to the question of what 

 is the most merciful way to kill them. We have 

 no hesitation in saying that the most merciful 

 way is to shoot them. Most of them die in the 

 air and never know what hurts them, while the 

 few wounded are the exception which proves the 

 rule. Numbers of people if they heard that a 

 gentleman had had his woods surrounded with 



