No. 4.] GAME PROTECTION. 277 



natural enemies of the game as lynxes, cats, foxes, raccoons, minks, 

 weasels, rats, crows and bird hawks are held in check by the game- 

 keeper, the game soon beeonu\s abundant. In some cases it increases 

 so fast that considerable shooting becomes necessary to prevent 

 excessive increase and the consequent spread of infectious diseases, 

 which are very fatal on an overcrowded game preserve. In this lati- 

 tude the bob-white is sometimes nearly exterminated by severe winters; 

 but much of this excessive mortality might be avoided by giving the 

 birds a little care, protection and food. The woodcock needs only 

 suitable cover and protection. The ruffed grouse or partridge is hardy, 

 and may be made numerous on any preserve which contains good 

 cover and an abundant supply of food. The wooded hillsides of 

 Massachusetts, interspersed with swampy hollows, are the natural 

 paradise for this king of game birds; and there is much rocky and 

 swampy land that is of little value for anything but the production 

 of timber and game. The pinnated grouse or heath hen ought to 

 thrive under protection on much of the sparsely wooded land in 

 southeastern Massachusetts. The increase in the numbers of these 

 birds on Martha's Vineyard since they have been made the wards of 

 the Fish and Game Commissioners gives hope that they may recover 

 their lost ground. Snipe and certain shore birds will gather on any 

 suitable marshes where they are not continually molested, while 

 ducks may be attracted to ponds, streams or fens by a few call or 

 decoy ducks, or by wild rice or a supply of grain for food. 



The principal objection urged by the opponents of the system of 

 leasing shooting rights and the establishment of game preserves is 

 that the policy is un-American, and that it gives over the shooting 

 privileges into the hands of the wealthy few, thus depriving the many 

 of the right to take game that belongs to the whole people. It may be 

 admitted that the system is un-American, for the American policy of 

 destruction which has been so successful in the past allows unlimited 

 freedom to all to take or destroy every living wild thing upon the 

 face of the earth. Such license was necessarily permitted during the 

 time of settlement; but unless the people are restrained in their 

 rapacious tendencies, as population increases the extinction of all wild 

 game will result. Already the day of open and free shooting in the 

 east has passed. The occupation of the market hunter has become 

 intermittent and precarious, and necessaiy laws have been enacted, 

 — too late, indeed, to save some species of our game, but in time to 

 prevent the destruction of others. As population increases, the 

 number of shooters will increase; and the present system of game 

 protection must and undoubtedly will be changed to follow that of 

 other countries, which, although more thickly settled than our own, 

 have nevertheless an abundance of game in fields and coverts as well 

 as in their markets. In the mean time, under inadequate protection 

 our own supply has been continually decreasing. 



