THE ORBGON SPORTSMAN 27 
Mistaken for a bear while hunting in the Cow Creek Canyon in 
Douglas County, Fred Aitkinson, of Redmond, was shot in the left 
arm by Fred Trask of Myrtle Creek, his companion. Trask fired 
three shots at Aitkinson, but fortunately two of them went wild. 
While hunting deer in Lincoln County, E. J. Abby, of Newport, 
accidentally shot himself through the right foot. He was throwing a 
shell out of his gun when the weapon was discharged. 
Arthur B. Johnson, of Florence, Lane County, lost his right hand 
and part of the forearm by accidentally discharging his rifle. The 
gun started to fall, Johnson grabbed for it and the gun was discharged 
with the above terrible result. 
Kurt Koehler, residing near Hillsdale, was wounded in the throat 
and cheek by a hunter who fired two shots over the garden fence 
where the young man was working. Koehler, who is 20 years old, dis- 
armed the hunter and beat him so severely that the man fled to the 
woods, leaving his gun. He later returned, redeemed his gun for $10 
und a promise to pay the doctor’s bill, and disappeared. 
ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS 
In twenty-five years the stomachs of 50,000 birds have been ex- 
amined by the Biological Survey, and it has been found that 50 species 
feed up on different varieties of caterpillars, 36 upon those species that 
devastate plant life, 50 upon the most destructive species of scale in- 
sects. Considering noxious weeds, we find that the food of the mourn- 
ing dove is 64 per cent weed seed, 27 per cent of the meadow-lark’s 
food is weed seed, 40 species of sparrows in the United States are seed 
eaters, 90 per cent of their food being seed. There are 45 species 
und sub-species of woodpecker in the United States; two-thirds of 
their food is noxious insects, and they are the salvation of our forests. 
NECESSITY 
By Joun B. HAmMerstey, Rogue River, Oregon 
The word ‘‘necessary’’ during our usual vocations in life is often 
used. Not many years ago people were allowed to take, kill and 
destroy at will our fish from the waters and our game, and game birds, 
from the forests and plains, until we awoke to the realization that our 
streams were becoming depleted of their fish and the forests and 
plains of their once vast herds of buffalo, elk, sheep and goats; where 
today are to be found only the bones and horns of those animals that 
but a few years ago were considered so plentiful that they could defy 
man, beast and the elements. 
It became ‘‘necessary’’ to enact laws to protect the few remain- 
ing wild sheep, elk, goats, antelope, deer and game birds. What have 
been the results? Now, don’t be like the old farmer in Idaho who 
said, when his son was arrested for illegal hunting, ‘‘By gol! Nature 
has provided the deer for man to kill when he sees fit.’’ But be lib- 
eral enough to admit that while our laws may be inefficient, and meth- 
ods subject to criticism, yet, from a protection and unbiased stand- 
point, it has been the means of causing many beneficial results. 
It became ‘‘necessary’’ to appoint a State Game Warden, depu- 
ties, and a Fish and Game Commission to enact laws and endeavor 
