Trouble Among the Birds 163 



He did -not say we should never kill the quail. They 

 have evidently been created for man's use, or they would 

 not have been given such juicy and nutritious flesh; just 

 as many other fowls and animals were made to minister 

 to the subsistence and pleasure of the human family. 

 Besides, there can be no doubt that, if the quail were all 

 permitted to live and multiply, they would soon become 

 so abundant as to do much harm in our grain fields. So 

 some of them should be killed, but not in a cruel manner. 



One thing is certain, they should not be killed with 

 shotguns! You ask at once and in some surprise, Why 

 not? Because that is cruel. Don't you see how? Well, 

 that is the way with most of us we do many things 

 without thinking. It is not cruel to kill quail with a 

 shotgun providing they are killed outright. But have 

 you never thought how many of the fine shot must wound 

 some of the birds that fly away? A bird with several 

 shots in its body may not be fatally hurt at first, but 

 will fly off and alight somewhere in the bushes where no 

 hunter can find it. In a few days the wounds grow sore, 

 then gangrene sets in, and the bird slowly dies in awful 

 torture. No one to help it, no one even to pity. Is not 

 that cruel? 



But how are these birds to be treated? They should 

 be dealt with kindly, fed in winter, so that they will 

 become comparatively tame, somewhat like the fowl of 

 the barnyard. Then, in the proper season, they should 

 be caught with a net. This can be done by placing the 

 nets in such a way that the birds will run into them about 

 lla 



