TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. Ill 



a few exceptions, is being shot 

 to death very much faster than it 

 breeds. What state is there north 

 of North Carolina and east of 

 Arizona that to-day possesses more 

 than a ragged remnant of quail, 

 grouse, wood ducks and wild tur- 

 keys? 



For ten years the sportsmen of 

 New England have solemnly been 

 spending good money in restocking 

 with quail their quailless covers. 

 But have any of them ever gone 

 to work to put a five-year close 

 season on the books for the benefit 

 of quail? And yet when Kansas 

 did that, about five years ago, 

 the quail recovered rapidly. The 

 majority of our States have what 

 appear on their face to be excellent 

 game laws, and I believe that, 

 considering all things the majority 

 of them are very well enforced — 

 all but the bag-limit law which 

 for game birds, I think, are not 

 enforcible in not more than one 

 case out of every ten. It is 

 impossible for a game warden to 

 investigate the bag of every sports- 

 man every day in the season. 



"The great , trouble is there 

 are twenty times too many men 

 and boys who shoot according to 



law. If killing goes on as it now 

 is going, we will see all our killable 

 game exterminated according to 

 law, and our grandchildren will 

 see a gameless continent. Of course 

 I except the game and forest 

 preserves in States like Maine 

 and New Brunswick, where the 

 big game hunting laws are right 

 and are thoroughly enforced. How 

 many Americans are there who 

 know how many of our birds- 

 have already become extinct in 

 our own , time and how many 

 are on the road to extinction in 

 the near future? To enumerate 

 the species that first come to 

 mind, there are already extinct the 

 great auk, passenger pigeon, Labra- 

 dor duck, flamingo (in the United 

 States), Carolina parrekeet, Esqui- 

 maukerlew. And threatened with 

 early extinction are the golden 

 plover, whooping crane, trumpeter 

 swan, roseate spoon bill, red- 

 breasted sand piper, American 

 egret, wood duck, willet, sage 

 grouse and prairie grouse. There 

 are manj' States that have various 

 laws prohibiting the sale of game 

 killed within their own borders, 

 but they permit the sale of game 

 killed in other states." 



Prairie Hawk in Cactus Jungles of Mitchell's Lake 



During hunting trips one occa- 

 sionally comes across the carcass 

 of some prairie rodent, or per- 

 chance, of some remnant of reptile 

 which has been partly devoured 

 by a prairie hawk or an eagle. 

 Many years ago, on the road lead- 

 ing to the hilly regions of the 01- 

 mos settlement, north of San An- 

 tonio, hunting for quail and doves, 

 I suddenly came across a number 

 of the large Texas-Mexican eagles, 

 which were gathered around and 

 were devouring a huge bull-snake, 

 which, as wel as the rattlesnake, 

 in these days, were quite numerous 

 in certain favored localities of 



these old hunting grounds, (now 

 long ago converted into cultivated 

 land, and built up with modern 

 palatial residences, and attractive 

 villas) in the hilly regions of the 

 present north side touring loop. 

 These prairie eagles, some eight 

 or more of them, were busily en- 

 gaged chopping up the large snake 

 with their bills and fearful claws, 

 and some were dragging large 

 pieces of the entrails away, or 

 fighting for same; and it was 

 quite an unique sight — ^nowadays 

 hardly ever seen again in the near 

 prairie plains. 

 On another occasion, wjiile hunt- 



