912 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



sport for the number killed. It would seem, therefore, 

 that these birds ought to be able to hold their own but, 

 unfortunately for their preservation, they do not fly far 

 when frightened, thus allowing the hunter several trials 

 if he is not successful the first time. Furthennore, when 

 they have finally reached their winter home in southern 

 United States, they seldom leave the thicket or wet 



A I.KSSKR YELLOW LEGS 

 Single birds now grace the shores wliere once great flocks assembled. 



meadow which they have selected until it is time to 

 return once more to the north. Here, therefore, the 

 gunner is able, by hunting o\er the ground day after day, 

 unless the number killed is limited by law, to annihilate 

 all the birds wintering in the vicinity. In fact, there is 

 a case on record of a hunter in Louisiana who boasts of 

 having killed 69,087 snipe in, 20 years, an average of 

 3, .500 each season, as many as 366 having been killed in 

 a single day. The State game laws are further to blame 

 because they have permitted the shooting to continue 

 far into the spring, after many of the birds are mated 

 and ready to leave for the breeding grounds. With such 

 laws and such slaughter it is little wonder that the num- 

 bers of snipe and woodcock have rapidly decreased. 



It is true that these birds are preeminent as game, 

 serving man perhaps better in this capacity than in anv 

 other, and furnishing the largest return of legitimate 

 sport for the smallest loss of game life, but limits must 

 be fixed by law to govern the greed of what have been 

 aptly called "game hogs," so that the number killed each 

 year shall be distributed among the largest possible num- 

 ber of sjwrtsmen ; and the open season must be so ad- 

 justed that there will be no further decrease in their 

 numbers. 



It is fortunate that the United States Government real- 

 ized in time that some action had to be taken, and now if 

 public sentiment is sufficiently aroused, it will still be 



possible to preserve the remnant of these charming and 

 valuable creatures and even to restock the depleted 

 covers. The passage of the Weeks-McLean bill for 

 the protection of migratory game and insectivorous birds 

 puts the jurisdiction over these birds with the National 

 Government and the regulations drawn up by our far- 

 seeing United States Department of Agriculture now 

 have the force of law. This Federal law removes all 

 the smaller shore birds from the game list; likewise the 

 fast-disappearing curlews, avocets, stilts, godwits, killdeer 

 and upland plovers; it prohibits all spring and night 

 shooting and equalizes the open seasons in all parts of the 

 country. The law will be difficult to enforce. Already 

 it has met the determined and organized resistance of 

 market hunters, game dealers, hotelkeepers, and anti- 

 conservationists generally. If it is to be effective in pre- 

 serving for this and future generations one of the most 

 delightful assets of our shores and marshes, it must 

 liave the recognition and active support of all true con- 

 servationists. 



BIRD LIFE IN SEPTEMBER 



SEPTEMBER marks the beginning of well-defined 

 migration among birds. Shore birds of which we 

 have been writing, the long-distance travelers, 

 during this month arrive in greatest numbers, and it is 

 now that the hunting season opens in most of the north- 

 ern States. It is true that as early as July a few birds 

 begin their southward journey and during August there 

 is a general uneasiness felt among many species. But it 

 is not until September that the general exodus begins. 

 Most species migrate by night so that we do not see them 

 passing, but if one goes out under the heavens almost 

 any cloudy evening this month, he is sure to hear them 

 calling to one another as they fly over. Cloudy nights 

 are more satisfactory because when the sky is clear the 

 birds fly higher, often several thousand feet above the 

 ground and far out of hearing distance. 



In addition to the shore birds there will be many 

 other insect-eating species like the warblers, vireos and 

 flycatchers, migrating, but few will be recognizable for 

 their nocturnal calls are usually quite different from 

 those we have come to know during the day. 



During September one may look for many species that 

 have not been about all summer, birds returning from 

 farther north to their winter quarters. The first birds 

 to leave in the fall are those that have farthest to go 

 and most of these September migrants winter outside 

 of the United States, either in Central or South America 

 and some of the shore birds are not content until they 

 have reached Patagonia. 



One who has learned the birds only in their spring 

 attire will be greatly disappointed with himself when he 

 follows, for the first time, the flocks of fall migrants. 



