IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



7 



many quiet hours had been spent 

 the year before, only to find the 

 hills bare, with here and there, 

 among the unsightly stumps, 

 piles of corded wood. The land 

 in many of these spots is practi- 

 cally valueless, yet for the few 

 dollars the wood will bring the 

 farmer will cut down the last 

 vestige of these noble woods and 

 then wonder why, in place of the 

 evenly distributed and apportion- 

 ed rainfall of former years, we 

 now have months of drought. 

 There is much room for educa- 

 tion in these matters and to our 

 agricultural and district schools 

 we must entrust this branch of 

 education. How eagerly will all 

 nature loving people second Prof. 

 McBride's able suggestions to- 

 wards the formation of large 

 county parks where we may al- 

 ways find nature to a great meas- 

 ure undisturbed. 



To return to our text — we find 

 it is lawful to shoot Woodcock 

 on July tenth. To the true 

 sportsman nothing affords more 

 pleasure than a day among these 

 noble garne birds and when the 

 birds are strong and active it is 

 truly grand sport, but in midsum- 

 mer when the river bottoms are 

 steaming and the whole air is 

 heavy and drowsy and the birds 

 flush lazily and fly slowly the 



sport is gone, and for my part 

 1 should like to see the Wood- 

 cock season open September ist 

 instead of July ist. 



September ist, or better Sep- 

 tember 15th, should be the open- 

 ing date for our duck and geese 

 shooting. With us in the south- 

 ern part of the state there is . 

 practically no shooting before 

 this date, but in the lake region 

 the young ducks are an easy 

 mark in August. 



Then, too, spring shooting of 

 every kind should be abolished. 

 The spring shooting on ducks 

 and geese does more harm in one 

 season than fall shooting for 

 years. I shot ducks last spring 

 which were so poor they were of 

 no use for food and even later in 

 the year they were not the strong 

 active birds that make fall shoot- 

 ing so enjoyable. 



Section 3 of this chapter puts 

 a restriction on the number and 

 the purpose for which birds are 

 killed. 



"It shall be unlawful for any 

 person, at any time, or at any 

 place within this state, to shoot 

 or kill for traffic any Pinnated 

 Grouse or Prairie Chicken, Wood- 

 cock, Quail, Ruffed Grouse or 

 Pheasant; or for any one person 

 to shoot or kill during any one 

 day, more than twenty-five of 



