132 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY BULLETIN 



EDITED BY THE DlRECloR. 



Elwin R. Sanborn, - Asst. Editor. 



Published at the Office of the Society. II Wall St., New York City. 



Copyright, IQ04, by the Ne7V York Zoological Society. 



No. 12. 



in New England on the first Thanksgiving in 

 America carried a blunderbuss scarcely more 

 effective than the bow and arrow of their Indian 

 rivals. In fact, as against game, the latter may 

 have been more deadly, as the noise was cer- 



Subscription price, 50 cents fur U 



Single numbers, 15 cen 

 Mailed fiec to Maiik 



JANUARY, 1904. tainly less and the range nearly the same. Then 



numbers, in advance. 



cents. followed two centutics of matchlock, flintlock 



; NlLES, 



©fficrre of \\t Siotietp. 

 ptcsiftcnt : 



IIUN. I.i:\ I P. MDKTON. 



<(Epetuti\JE iffommittcE : 



Charles T. Uaunev, Chairman, 

 Henry Fairfielu Osbokn, Madison (Irant, 



John S. Barnes, Wii liam 



Philip Schuyler. Sami:el Thorne, 



Levj p. Morton, e.x-offtcio. 



(Scnccal «l|tfficct» : 



Secretary, Madison Grant, 11 Wall Slreet, 



Treasurer Percy R. Pvne, 52 Wall Street, 



Director, WiLLiAivi T. Hornaday, Zoological Park, 



Director of the Aquarium, Charles H. Townsend, Battery Park. 



■^Boatt) of .maanaoct^: 



EX-OFl-ICIO, 

 The Mayor 0/ the City 0/ New 1 'cih. Hon. Seth Lo\y, 

 The President o/the Dep-t 0/ Parks. Hon. Willia.m R. Wili.cox. 



ClajJjS of 1904. ClajS? of 1905. tftajSjs of leoe. 



THE AUTOMATIC SHOT-GUN. 



A new engine of great destructive power has 

 appeared in the field to aid the forces at work in 

 tlie extermination i>f our game. This time it is 

 tlie birds that are to suffer. 



A sfiot-gun which fires, ejects the dead shell 

 and reloads in response tt.i ime pull of the 

 trigger has been placeil on the market. With it 

 the skilful market hunter i)r s]iortsman can wipe 

 out an entire ci>\'ey in the same number nf 

 seconds that are now required Inr the tlischarge 

 of the "right and left." 



Although the game liinis and animals t<\ this 

 continent have diminisheil at an alarming rate, 

 the number nf shooters ami the efficiency fit 

 their firearms have increased even more rajiidly. 

 The first hunters who followed the wild turkeys 



and cap, all of them slow and uncertain. With 

 the introduction of the rifle, essentially an 

 American production, came a rapidly increasing 

 range ami accuracy of aim ; but the loading was 

 still very slow. Then a half century ago, just as 

 the game entered on the stage of final decline, 

 we find the breech-loading rifles and double- 

 barrelled shot guns appearing. 



Next in the shot-guns came improvements in 

 cartridges and ammunition, and in breech- 

 mechanism, culminating in hammerless and 

 magazine shot-guns. 



With the automatic shot-gun the series has 

 culminated. In the same period rifles have im- 

 ]ir<ived e\en more rapidly, until ntjw the tyro 

 hunting in the Adirondacks or Maine, with a 

 solitl-nosed bullet and a rifle carrying a mile, not 

 infrequently kills his fellow man, when the latter 

 is quite beyond his vision. In fact, the time is 

 in sight when the State must require a license for 

 carrving rifles, or prohibit their use entirely. 



The shot-gun, liowever, will flourish long after 

 the rifle has been prohibited, just as there will be 

 food Inr shdt long after victims for bullets are 

 gone. 



It will be difficult to prevent by law the use 

 of these new automatic shot-guns, al- 

 though swivels ami large bore shot-guns have 

 been interdicted in duck shooting, and pitfalls 

 and snares barred in the chase of large game. 

 ,\ public sentiment can be aroused, and decent 

 sportsmen can declare against the use of these 

 new weapons ; but only the law can reach the pot- 

 hunters, or the sportsmen who are not decent. 



There is a crumb of comfort, however, in the 

 fact that all these deaillv devices in firearms 



