A LOOK BACKWARD 515 



is, to kill a few more birds than your neighbor or your 

 rival. 



Although all the larger game birds had been exter- 

 minated in the Eastern and Middle States by the time 

 of the Civil War, it was not until the advent of the 

 breech-loader in America, about 1868 or '69, that bird 

 shooting began to be excessive in nearby localities. Yet, 

 by the middle of the following decade, complaints began 

 to be heard of the scarcity of game. People who a few 

 years before had had no difficulty in killing thirty birds 

 in a day, grumbled when they could get but fifteen, or 

 perhaps ten, and found vacant covers long known to 

 be depended on for a certain number of birds. These 

 were the first warnings of the scarcity of game birds, 

 which, since that time, we all have known. 



In those days, too, the gunners interested themselves 

 much in the question as to which was the most useful 

 arm, the breech-loader or the muzzle-loader. Those 

 who had adopted the new weapon vaunted its conven- 

 ience and general efficiency, while the more conservative 

 declared that the breech-loader did not throw shot with 

 the force of the muzzle-loader, and declared that they 

 would never change their weapons. 



It was about this time that the first periodicals de- 

 voted exclusively to shooting and fishing were estab- 

 lished. These were, first, the American Sportsman, 

 which lived but two or three years, and then Forest and 

 Stream, which subsequently absorbed the successor of 

 the American Sportsman, the Rod and Gun. These 

 journals were immediately successful, because of the 



