20 GAME AND ITS PROTECTION. 



myriads of migratory flocks, the mind would be 

 astonished; and it would seem impossible ever to 

 reduce their numbers. This is to a certain degree 

 true ; for so long as the lagoons of the South shall 

 remain undisturbed, and the shores of the bays and 

 rivers unoccupied to any great extent, this abun- 

 dance of the migratory birds will continue. But 

 when the Southern shores shall be frequented with 

 gunners as plenteously as those of Long Island and 

 New Jersey, the last days of the bay-fowl will have 

 arrived. 



At present we suffer more from improper modes 

 of pursuit than from absolute scarcity of game. The 

 habit of using " batteries" in the South Bay of Long 

 Island, and locating them on the feeding or sanding- 

 grounds, has resulted in frightening away the birds. 

 Where, a few years ago, ten ducks stopped in the 

 water adjoining that famous sand-pit, there can 

 hardly be found one at present. After being dis- 

 turbed on their feeding-grounds by murderous dis- 

 charges from an unseen foe in their midst, they 

 become alarmed and leave the locality altogether. 

 To be sure, for a year or so, the number killed from 

 that ingenious mode of ambush will be enormous ; 

 but it is at a terrible sacrifice of the supply, and will 

 eventuate in ruin to those engaged in it. At pre- 

 sent on Long Island it is hardly possible to obtain a 

 decent day's sport without using a " battery ;" but 

 in the South, along the Chesapeake and Potomac, 

 where the use of these inventions has never been 

 allowed, the ducks are as abundant as ever. 



