30 Decrease of Birds 



find enough nesting sites, shelter, food, water and safety 

 to make it attractive to them. 



Every scheme for clearing or draining land or for 

 replanting land which has already been cleared, should 

 take into consideration the requirements necessary for 

 attracting and holding the bird population. It should be 

 an easy matter for every farmer to leave fence-rows, 

 hedges, tangles of blackberry vines, wild honeysuckle, 

 bamboo and plum thickets for his friends, the birds. Use- 

 less burning of woods and fields should cease. 



The Exterminative Practice of Market Hunting 



That the deadly and iniquitous practice of market hunt- 

 ing is resulting in the steady slaughter of our game birds is 

 shown by the reports of fifty-four observers from almost 

 every county in the State. Mr. D. H. Trezevant, Calhoun, 

 considers this to be one of the most potent causes of 

 decrease. Dr. W. T. Hornady says: 'There is no influence 

 so deadly to wild life as that of the market gunner who 

 works six days a week from sunrise until sunset hunting 

 down and killing every game bird that he can reach." 1 



The market hunter kills as many birds in a day as pos- 

 sible. That is his "business." The higher the price per 

 bird that he receives in the market either for food or hat 

 trimmings, the more birds he tries to kill. The lower the 

 price, the more he must kill. The reports of more than 

 half a hundred observers show that the few restrictions 

 placed upon the killing and sale of game are successfully 

 evaded. The game of the State belongs to the whole peo- 

 ple of the State and market hunting is a class privilege 

 and a robbery of the people at large. 



Pothunting 



The pothunter is also one of the most pernicious enemies 

 of bird life. Neither the market nor pothunter has any 

 scruple as regards how or where they procure their prey. 



lHornaday, (W. T.) Our Vanishing Wild Life. p. 64. 



