GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 31 



ever, before the best game-bird in all the world, Bob- 

 white, shall be clubbed by shouting beaters from the 

 fields, and driven to a line of guns. Stranger things 

 have happened at the hands of fashion. I am inclined 

 to predict that the shooting at driven birds is not far 

 off. From England came the epidemics of the tennis- 

 court and golf. From England came the riding to 

 the hounds. 



There is in America much prejudice against the 

 private game-preserve, probably on account of its as- 

 sociation with aristocratic and monarchical institutions. 

 Large country seats and palatial city houses have, how- 

 ever, the same association without the game. Prejudice 

 against the private game-preserve may prove an argu- 

 ment in favor of the public park or refuge, and this is 

 far more important to the safety of the game. 



In England the private parks have for centuries pre- 

 served the game. There, although the bags are often 

 large, the killing is limited to the increase of the year. 

 Enough are spared to restock the grounds. Clubs 

 there are, no doubt, in America, which are a benefit to 

 the game. How many of these there are I do not know. 

 Many there are which work a serious harm. Rivalry 

 and shooting for count, or to be " high gun," often re- 

 sult in a slaughter equal to or worse than that when 

 the marshes and fields were all open ground. 



Such recent records as the killing of one hundred 

 and four mallards in a morning by one gun on an Ohio 

 preserve, the killing of four hundred teal in a day by 

 four in Oregon, the killing of four hundred and sev- 

 enty mallards by three guns on an Illinois preserve, 

 and the recent killing of two thousand ducks by nine 



