12 LAWS EEGULATING TEANSPOETATION AND SALE OF GAME. 



practically removed from tlie game list. Flickers, niglit hawks, meadow- 

 larks, blackbirds, and robins are insectivorous, and . although consid- 

 ered good eating, are far too valuable to be killed for sport or mar- 

 ket. Reedbirds or bobolinks are regarded as pests in the South and 

 are highly esteemed as song birds in the North ; they are treated as 

 game in only five States along the middle Atlantic coast, where they 

 are neither particularly beneficial nor injurious. They too may there- 

 fore be removed from the category of game. 



In comparison with some of the continents of the Old World North 

 America is deficient in big game. The true antelopes, which are 

 found in such wonderful variety in Africa, are entirely unrepresented 

 in this country, the nearest approach to them being the single species 

 of prong horn, or so-called antelope. Wild sheep and goats, of which 

 there are numerous species in Asia, are comparatively few in number 

 in this countrj^ and are confined to the mountains of the West. In 

 game birds, on the other hand, North America compares favorably 

 with any part of the world. Upland game is represented by quail and 

 grouse in great variety and hj several species of one of the finest of 

 all game birds — the wild turke}^ Shore birds are abundant in some 

 localities at certain seasons, and the ducks and geese which resort to 

 our streams and coasts in winter have rendered certain feeding grounds 

 famous the world over. When this list is increased by the addition 

 of the finest of the Old World pheasants, several species of which have 

 already been introduced, the variety of game birds will be unsurpassed 

 by that of any other region of similar extent. 



Improvidence and wantonness have, however, rapidly depleted the 

 stock of game. Buffalo are gone ; elk, moose, and caribou are rare, 

 except in a few favored localities ; and even deer, which are generally 

 distributed, have been greatly reduced in numbers hy unnecessary 

 and unreasonable slaughter. Wild ^pigeons, like the buffalo, have 

 been practically exterminated; the prairie chicken is no longer found 

 in much of the countrj^ that was its native home half a century ago; 

 wild turkeys and woodcock are almost extinct in many localities where 

 they should be numerous; and ducks and geese, which only a few 

 years ago were remarkably abundant in some sections, are rapidly 

 growing scarcer. Even quail, the subject of more legislation and 

 receiving better protection than any other kind of game, are now main- 

 tained in many places onl}^ by frequent restocking of depleted covers. 

 This diminution in the game supply is due partlj^ to lack of proper 

 enforcement of game laws, partly to the pernicious practice of spring 

 shooting, and partly to the rapid development of the trade in game 

 in recent years. 



Doubtless it would be interesting to trace the steps in ihe develop- 

 ment of game legislation in this country, but it will be sufficient 

 merely to refer to a few of the more important points. ' ' The laws 

 relating to game in the United States are generally, if not universally, 



