No. 4.] DECREASE OF BIRDS. 479 



clay pigeon they have become a legion. The numl)er of 

 trained setters, pointers and retrievers also has increased 

 greatly. Mr. H. R. Packard of Attlel)orougli writes that 

 there are at least seventy-five hunters provided Avith bird 

 dogs now, where there were only three bu'd dogs in the 

 town thirty years ago. A man who knows ver}^ little of 

 the habits of the birds can find birds with a doo^. A well- 

 trained dog enables the sportsman to find and follow birds 

 to the death when once started. 



The improvement in modern firearms renders the sports- 

 man of to-day far more dangerous to the birds than was 

 his great-grandfather with the uncertain flintlock. In olden 

 times the sportsman must do the best he could with his 

 single shot (when the gun did not miss fire). Then came 

 the percussion cap, the double gun, the breech-loader, the 

 "pump gun," and now we have the rapid-firing automatic 

 gun. With this a ]^assing flock can be followed with a per- 

 fect rain of shot. The association of sportsmen into chdjs 

 facilitates the general spread of knowledge about favorable 

 covers or stands. No sooner are game birds plentiful any- 

 where, than the newspapers publish the fact for all the world 

 to read and profit by. Railroads widely advertise all places 

 along their routes where game can be found. Hotel keepers 

 publish the advantages their neighborhoods aflbrd to shooters. 

 The telegraph and telephone carry to the cities the news of 

 the arrival of flights of birds. The railroads, steamboats 

 and trolley cars convey the shooters innnediately to tlie 

 spot. 



Let us see how these various agencies work in the de- 

 struction of shore birds. A flight of l)irds is seen some 

 da}' on the shores of Cape Cod. This news is immediately 

 teleplioned to Boston. The favored ones get it, and that 

 night the trains take them to the ground. The next morn- 

 ing they join with the local gunners in Avhat is virtually an 

 attempt to kill every bird. If the daily papers })ubli.sh the 

 news, every gunner who reads it can take advantage of 

 the opportunity, and be on the ground within twenty-four 

 hours. When the ducks and geese are flying, men go and 

 lire in brush houses built at the ponds, or conceal themselves 



