282 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, the Virginias and then bv 

 the " Atlantic coast line " to Florida on the eastern sea- 

 board, or down through the states of Washington, Ore- 

 gon and California to Mexico, Central and South 

 America, their flight will be punctuated at every rest- 

 ing or feeding place by swiftly propelled charges of 

 chilled shot. These will be fired at them from all 

 manner of shotguns, from the single-barreled muzzle- 

 loader, carried by the southern darkey, to the modern 

 improved hammerless. 



During this southern migration it has been estimated 

 that more than 500,000 guns are used by a like number 

 of men and boys. A hundred cartridges for three days' 

 shooting is not an excessive number to fire, and if the 

 gunners are out on an average of three times in a 

 season, we will have the enormous total of 150,000,000 

 cartridges, containing an ounce and a quarter of shot to 

 each one, or a total of over 585 tons of shot. This is 

 for a single season. 



These figures may seem stupendous and perhaps may 

 be excessive, but I hardly think so. Of course, if every 

 shot bagged a bird the ducks would soon be extermi- 

 nated, but they are becoming more and more wary with 

 each passing year, and big bags are the exception now- 

 adays. 



The stern enforcement in most of the states and ter- 

 ritories of the game laws, which limit the shooting to 

 prescribed dates and in some states to only a certain 



