in South Carolina 31 



Several reports show that pothunting goes on all the year 

 round, in season and out. Mr. J. G. Chafee, Aiken, con- 

 siders the pothunter one of the worst enemies of the Bob- 

 white, and reports: "The pothunter shoots them on the 

 ground, traps them, etc." Food is so plentiful and so easy 

 to obtain with a little work, that there is no excuse for 

 pothunting. The birds which still remain to us are too 

 valuable as crop-protectors and as objects of sport and 

 study, to be exterminated by the pothunter and market 

 hunter. 



Automobiles, Etc. 



Decoys, blinds, traps, baits, automobiles, improved fire- 

 arms and smokeless powder all have their part to play in 

 the drama of destruction. Mr. W. A. Klauber, Bamberg, 

 says: "The automobile is the bird's worst enemy, as it 

 enables sportsmen to go from fifteen to twenty-five miles 

 from town in one afternoon." Mr. A. L. Youmans, 

 Hampton, believes that the automatic and pump gun and 

 hunting out of season are the greatest causes of decrease 

 of game birds. 



Mr. A. J. Cox, Williamsburg, writes: "So-called sports- 

 men who live in town, own automobiles, kennels of dogs 

 and automatic guns cause the greatest destruction. ' ' Mr. 

 F. L. Willcox, Florence, considers the decrease of Bob- 

 white due to hunters and the greater facility for transpor- 

 tation afforded by automobiles. Michigan is one of the 

 first States to restrict hunting of game by automobiles. 

 The game laws as amended by the last legislature of that 

 State prohibit the use of automobiles, in hunting Bob- 

 whites. 



The army of gunners which takes the field every fall is 

 larger and better equipped than the one which preceded 

 it. Speaking of conditions of thirty or more years ago, 

 Mr. Frank Hampton, Richland says: "In and near Colum- 

 bia, not more than twenty people did much shooting. 

 Two-hundred would be a conservative estimate now, and 

 with better guns and ammunition and automobiles to take 

 them thirty miles into^the country, instead of from two to 



