THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 293 



Now, how long can our remaining game birds and mammals 

 endure before even two and one-half million well-armed men 

 and boys, eager and keen to "kill something," and get a dead- 

 game equivalent for their annual expenditure in guns, ammu- 

 nition, travel and subsistence? 



In addition to the hunters themselves, they are assisted 

 by thousands of expert guides, thousands of horses, thousands 

 of dogs, hundreds of automobiles and hundreds of thousands 

 of tents. Each big-game hunter has an experienced guide 

 who knows the haunts and habits of the game, the best 

 feeding-grounds, the best trails and everything else that will 

 aid the hunter in taking the game at a disadvantage and des- 

 troying it. The big-game rifles are of the highest power, the 

 longest range, the greatest accuracy and the best repeating 

 mechanism that modern inventive genius can produce. It 

 is said that in Wyoming the Maxim silencer is now being 

 used. England has produced a weapon of a new type, called 

 "the scatter rifle," which is intended for use on ducks. The 

 best binoculars are used in searching out the game, and horses 

 carry the hunters and guides as near as possible to the game. 

 Eor bears baits are freely used, and in the pursuit of pumas 

 dogs are employed to the hmit of the available supply. 



The deadliness of the automobile in hunting already is so 

 apparent that North Dakota has wisely and justly forbidden 

 its use by law (1911). The swift machine enables city 

 hunters to penetrate game regions they could not reach with 

 horses, and hunt through from four to six locahties per day, 

 instead of one only, as formerly. The use of automobiles in 

 hunting should be everywhere prohibited. 



