238 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



Only twenty-seven correspondents report an increase of 

 migrating Woodcock or flight birds, and one hundred and 

 thirty-six note a diminution. Several of the former base their 

 statements on the great flight of 1908, while the latter prac- 

 tically all speak from years of experience. Those who see an 

 increase are mostly in the counties where the flight of 1908 

 was most marked, while those who record a decrease are 

 scattered over the State, as follows: Dukes, one; Barnstable, 

 seven; Bristol, nine; Plymouth, twenty; Norfolk, seven; 

 Essex, seventeen; Middlesex, twenty-three; Worcester, ten; 

 Hampden, nine; Hampshire, six; Franklin, twelve; Berk- 

 shire, six, and eastern Massachusetts generally, nine. 



While the decrease of native Woodcock is regarded on 

 the whole as larger than that of flight birds, on the other 

 hand, a recent accession of breeding birds has been noted by 

 more correspondents than those recording an increase of flight 

 birds. Better laws and better law enforcement in the States 

 south of us will help to increase our native Woodcock. 



We have now gone very near to the limit in protecting 

 Woodcock in Massachusetts; our open season of one month 

 comes so late that our own gunners get little chance to kill 

 native birds legally, and a month in which to shoot migratory 

 birds is about as short a season as most gunners will be content 

 with. There is nothing more that we can do for the Woodcock 

 in Massachusetts, unless we limit by law the number of birds 

 which the sportsman may take legally in a day, and still 

 further reduce the shooting season. 



The sportsmen's organizations of Massachusetts might 

 have some influence upon legislation in the southern States if 

 a hmit to the size of the daily bag were required here. If the 

 stories of sportsmen who hunt Woodcock in the south in winter 

 are to be beUeved, the slaughter of these birds in certain sec- 

 tions is enormous. At times incalculable numbers of these 

 birds from the north are closely crowded into a limited region, 

 and may be killed by scores and hundreds. Mr. James J. 

 Pringle gives a record of fifty -five Woodcock killed from 9 a.m. 

 to 2 P.M. in Louisiana to his own gun. To prevent this the 

 season there should be shortened and the bag limited. 



