32 The Wild-Fowlers 



destructive, and altogether unsportsman- 

 like, or 'first-best sport/ as Tom Draw 

 would say ? Come, now, shut that desk 

 down, get your traps together, and meet 

 Doctor Corbin and me at luncheon at the 

 Studio to-morrow/' 



" No, sir/' responded Seth, closing his 

 lips firmly; " I won't do it, and further- 

 more, I 'm going to do all I can to put 

 down the murderous pursuit. Battery 

 shooting is the worst sort of game 

 slaughter; the birds that are not killed 

 outright by the shooters are made crip- 

 ples or frightened away for good. I say 

 for good, meaning forever, because the 

 slaughter is done on the fowls' actual 

 feeding-grounds, on open water, too, and 

 no duck is going to stay very long where 

 it is fired upon by an enemy who can con- 

 ceal himself without any apparent shelter. 

 Besides, you 're going shooting in the 

 springtime, when the birds are on their 

 way to the breeding-places, as you well 

 know, and I don't believe in this extrava- 



