FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 
A CORRECTION. 
Nashville, Tenn., May Io, 1899. 
Mr. A. C. Webb: 
Dear. Sir: (Lhe “attention 7oi Gen 
We ovt". Jacksony.-and) sme feass) apeen 
called to an article in May Recre- 
ATION, addressed by you to the edi- 
tor 1m -Svhich® you) melude this) pat 
agraph, from a Danville correspondent, 
that I had-not seen until it was published 
by your request in RECREATION. 
“ Danville, Ala., Jan. rr, 1899.”’ 
“The holiday season of this neighborhood was en- 
livened by a visit of Gen. W. H. Jackson, Dr. J. W. 
Maddin and Mr. A. J. Carlton, expert bird hunters from 
Nashville, Tenn. They were entertained by Mr. and 
Mrs. G. C, Hardwick. The party spent 2 mornings in 
shooting and killed 1544 birds. 
You state that “undoubtedly a great 
part of these birds were song birds such as 
doves, meadow larks, robins, etc., where- 
upon, the editor, accepting your state- 
ment as true, denounces the slaughter as 
infamous. We write to inform you that 
only 154 birds were killed by our party, 
with 4 guns in 3 days, and not 1,544. They 
were all quail. Not a song bird was kill- 
ed. An average of about 13 birds a day to 
each man. We request that you and the 
editor of RECREATION rer ove the “‘infa- 
my” from the minds of the thousands of 
readers of RECREATION. You could have 
saved us this embarrassment by calling 
us on the telephone. We request that you 
send to RECREATION a written correction 
of these charges. Very respectfully, 
J. W. Maddin, M. D. 
Nashville, Tenn., May 13, 1899. 
Editor RECREATION: 
I have just been informed by Dr. J. W. 
Maddin that one of the clippings from 
the Nashville Banner, reprinted in May 
RECREATION was incorrect. The number 
killed was 154 birds, all quails. 
This puts these gentlemen in a very dif- 
ferent position from the one they would 
have occupied had the statements as pub- 
lished, and my inferences therefrom, been 
correct. Knowing that the finding of 
more than 1,500 game birds in a part of 
2 days was an impossibility in any 
Southern state, and that the robins, which 
winter in the gulf states were slaughtered 
by hundreds and daily exposed for sale in 
our market houses during winter and ear- 
ly spring, and that only robins at that sea- 
son could be found in such numbers, I 
naturally concluded the greater part of the 
birds killed must have been robins. It 
did not occur to me that there might have 
been a typographical error in regard to 
the number killed.. 
Your comments in regard to the kill- 
ing of song birds are eminently appropri- 
ate, but they do not apply to the 3 gen- 
tlemen named above. 
A. C. Webb. 
I regret that I should have unjustly 
charged these men with killing robins. 
However, I do not feel 1 am to blame 
for so doing. It would seem the proper 
thing for them to have done would have 
been to publish in the Nashville Banner 
a contradiction of its report. Then Mr. 
Webb, who sent me the clipping, would 
doubtless have seen their disclaimer and 
would have adviseu me. It seems, how- 
ever, they allowed the daily paper to® ac- 
cuse them falsely and made no protest. I 
reprinted the account in good faith and 
solely for the purpose of checking the 
custom, so prevalent in the South, of 
shooting robbins and calling them game 
birds. 
I considered Mr. Webb thoroughly 
trustworthy and as he was on the ground 
and knew the men mentioned, I did not 
question his knowledge of the facts, and 
so did not write the other men. I trust 
that what I said on the subject of the 
killing of robins may have done some 
good. It is high time all Southern sports- 
men should learn that their custom of 
killing robins and other song and insect- 
ivorous birds, under the name of sport, 
1s infamous in the extreme.—EDITOR. 

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING. 
When I landed in Texas from England, 
nothing so amused me as the enthusiasm 
with which people spoke of their own 
towns. They would tell you how many 
stores, blacksmith shops, etc., each contain- 
ed, how many trains ran through each day, 
what fine water they had in their wells, etc., 
etc., until one got tired. They reminded me 
very much of one of the members of an 
angling association to which I belonged 
in the old country. He was a cockney, 
and at every opportunity would launch 
forth on the superiority of everything per- 
taining to his native town. It was the larg- 
est town in the world, had the largest popu- 
lation, the cleverest lawyers, the most sci- 
entific physicians, the cleverest professors, 
the finest actors, etc., etc. He was a nuis- 
ance, Finally one of the other members 


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