THE OOLOGIST 



tective laws, a dozen species of ducks 

 will disappear from the continent with- 

 in ten years. Under present conditions 

 the Indians in the far North hunt the 

 nests of the mother birds and destroy 

 the eggs by thousands. Almost as soon 

 as the young are hatched, and before 

 they are able to fly, these savages pur- 

 sue and kill them with clubs. A native 

 will eat at a single meal, a dozen young 

 wild geese, none of which are perhaps 

 larger than his fist; while if they were 

 let alone any one of them would make 

 a good, square meal six months later. 



As soon as the young water fowls are 

 able to fly they, with their parents 

 start on their southern migration. 

 When they cross the border into Mich- 

 igan, Minnesota, N. Dakota, Montana, 

 or Washington, an army of sportsmen 

 assa'l them. As the winter season ad- 

 vances, the birds move south and at 

 every stopping point they encounter a 

 new division of this army of shooters. 

 Even when they reach their winter 

 feeding grounds, about the Gulf of 

 Mexico, they are still pursued and 

 slaughtered 



A still more savage enemy greets 

 them at the International boundry. I 

 refer now to the market hunters. 

 These men move south with the birds, 

 clear into the gulf states; camp with 

 them all winter and then follow them 

 north to the International boundry line 

 again on the spring flight. 



A game dealer in Chicago, for in- 

 stance, receives a shipment of wild 

 geese and ducks from a market hunter 

 in Minnesota or N. Dakota in August. 

 In September he receives another 

 shipment from the same man 100 

 miles farther south. He keeps on re- 

 ceiving daily or weekly shipments 

 from this same man, clear down from 

 the Mississippi Valley into Louisiana or 

 Texas, all through the winter. Then 

 the shipments begin to come from a 

 point farther north and continue with 

 unceasing irregularity through March, 



April and up into May, the last ship- 

 ment coming again from N. Dakota or 

 Minnesota 



Is it a wonder therefore, that be- 

 tween the warfare kept up by these 

 sportsmen and their goril'a allies, the 

 water fowl should st'-adily decrease 

 from year to year? The wonder is that 

 they have been able to withstand these 

 terrific onslaughts so long. It is only 

 because they are such prolific breeders, 

 and in spite of this they are doomed, 

 under the existing circumstances. The 

 remedy is for shorter open seasors. 

 These should be limited to 30 days. 



Second : The season should open on 

 the same day and close on the same 

 day in all states within given parallels 

 of latitude. For instance, in all states 

 north of the 40th parallel the season 

 should open Sept. 1st and close Sept. 

 30th. In all states south . f the 40th 

 degree, and north of the 35tb degree, it 

 should open Oct. 1st, and close Oct. 

 31st. In all states on or south of the 

 35th parallel it should open Nov. 1st 

 and close Dec. 31st. I wou'd accord 

 the extra 30 days of open season to the 

 Southern states because in some seasons 

 the water fowl would not reach these 

 states until late in November, or even 

 in December. 



Third: All states should pass laws 

 limiting the bag for any one shooter to 

 ten ducks and three geese for any one 

 day, and to fifty ducks or fifteen geese 

 for any one year. 



Fourth: The sale of game of all 

 kinds should be rigidly prohibited at 

 all times. The broad principle should 

 be established that game is and should 

 be the property of the man who can go 

 afield and kill it. He should be per- 

 mitted to give to his friends, to a 

 reasonable extent, but not to sell to any 

 one. 



Fifth: A rigid and impartial enforce- 

 ment of game laws everywhere and at 

 all times. 



Much that has been said as to the 



