264 Union Bay 



throwing their whirling bolos, the boating drives which 

 ended in the slaughter of thousands of birds on the lakes of 

 Mexico, Eskimos standing in the fog on high points along 

 the spring flights of the birds, using large handnets to trans- 

 form magnificent flight into crumpled inertness. Grim but 

 revealing would have been the summer drives when the wild 

 fowl could not fly, the young because they were too young, 

 the mature because they were moulting. Mighty was the 

 slaughter and more terrific the waste because only the most 

 desirable birds were saved. More easily recorded from a 

 photographic standpoint would have been the skills of the 

 individual: the snaring, the shooting with bow and arrow, 

 or the killing with the spear, or ancient sling. Then there was 

 the netting and the basket traps. Most picturesque of all was 

 the approach on the surface of the water of the moving 

 basket which covered the head of the hunter. When he got 

 within reach, the hidden man would seize the unsuspecting 

 birds, pull them beneath the surface, and wring their necks. 

 These were but a few of the methods, some long aban- 

 doned, some still in use, that might be photographed. I grew 

 quite enthusiastic until I thought of the difficulties in the 

 way— of the distances to be covered, the necessity of being 

 on hand at exactly the proper time to view the methods of 

 the present, and of the complications of reproducing those 

 of the past. Most of the ancient scenes would conflict with 

 the game laws. For example, the taking of ducks with fal- 

 cons could be done only by special permission, if at all, and 

 the conservationist would probably regard it as an unjus- 

 tifiable sacrifice to history. And as for the wild fowl them- 

 selves: they doubtless would be unable to derive much satis- 

 faction from the thought that having their legs snapped by 

 flying bolos or their necks twisted by a man wading with his 

 head under a basket would be a considerable contribution 

 to the pictorial representation of hunting methods of the 

 past. I decided without further reflection that no individual 



