'FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



365 



few words. I think most of the animals 

 and birds coming under the head of game 

 could be easily restored to their former 

 abundance if something like the following 

 laws were enforced, for all are prolific: 



Selling dead game should be prohibited 

 everywhere in the United States at all 

 times for a period of 10 or 12 years. 



All birds of the pheasant, partridge, 

 grouse and quail family should be shot or 

 taken during one month in each year only ; 

 that month to be arranged in each State 

 in accordance with the climate and the 

 habits of the 'species of game birds located 

 there. Rabbits and squirrels should be 

 taken in the same month only. 



No wading or swimming birds of any 

 kind should be killed or taken between 

 March 1st and November 1st in each year. 

 This would virtually protect all -the snipe, 

 woodcock and shore birds, also swans, 

 geese, ducks, gulls, tern and the numerous 

 tribes that suffer so much on our shores 

 and waters- in early spring. Perhaps the 

 time would require altering for the Pa- 

 cific and Gulf coasts. 



A license costing at least $1 yearly should 

 be required by each person carrying or 

 using a gun for outdoor shooting. Failure 

 to produce the license when required 

 should involve forfeiture of the gun. 



All notices posted by owners of property, 

 or by their properly accredited agents, as 

 to no shooting or hunting allowed in 

 woods, forests, marshes and water or other 

 places where game is supposed to exist 

 should be respected by all; failure in this 

 respect to be punished by fine for trespass, 

 besides the fine for killing game, if out of 

 season. 



A tax of $5 yearly should be paid for 

 every dog used for hunting or shooting 

 purposes. Perhaps a clause exempting 

 fox hounds might be inserted. Many dogs 

 go hunting on their own responsibility 

 every night and frighten and destroy many 

 birds and small animals. I hear hounds 

 every day in the woods near here. No 

 wonder game is scarce. 



I had almost added, all professional 

 guides should be shot on siorit. 



As to insect eating birds and birds of 

 plumage, nothing will ever bring them back 

 to their former abundance. There are too 

 many agents preventing this. 



David Bruce. 



ANSWER. 



I thoroughly appreciate your loyalty to 

 Recreation, and the fact that you continue 

 to read it regularly. 



You do not really understand the pur- 

 poses of the League. Its object is not to 

 make sportsmen by any means. The men 

 who created it simply recognized the fact 

 that we are confronted with a condition 

 nr\(\ riot ^theory, Thsre were, and are, hun- 



dreds of thousands of men in the country 

 who own guns and dogs, and who, up to 

 a few years ago, regarded the man who 

 could kill the most game in a day as the 

 greatest sportsman. I said to a few of my 

 friends, "This must be stopped. These 

 men must be taught that it is not all of 

 hunting to kill game." So we organized 

 this League. We knftw that in order to re- 

 form these men we must get in among 

 them and work ; that we could not hope to 

 reach them effectively by standing back 

 and throwing arguments at them. Please 

 read the declaration of principles on the 

 first page of the constitution and by-laws 

 of the League and see if you do not agree 

 with them. 



The League immediately went to work 

 to educate sportsmen on the lines indi- 

 cated in this preamble. We set our forces 

 to work to secure the enactment of laws 

 limiting the number of birds and animals 

 which a man might kill in a day or a year ; 

 also to secure the enactment of laws prohib- 

 iting" the sale of game, and the wearing 

 of plumage of birds for decorative pur- 

 poses. 



We have made wonderful strides in this 

 work, as you have doubtless learned 

 through Recreation. You can learn more 

 of it by reading my annual report and 

 the proceedings of the annual meeting of 

 the League. Even these do not tell one- 

 half of it. It would require 1,000 pages 

 of type of the same size as that used in 

 this page to give a detailed statement 

 of all the good accomplished by this League 

 in the past 3 years. You say you are a 

 naturalist, and not a sportsman. This is 

 also true of W. T. Hornaday, Ernest 

 Seton-Thompson and Dr. C. Hart Merriam, 

 officers of this League. They have been 

 identified with the movement from its 

 start, as naturalists. I doubt if any one 

 of them has fired a gun in the last 

 3 years. If he has, it has been for the 

 purpose of securing a specimen of some 

 bird or mammal -"or scientific purposes. 

 When you consider the attitude of these 

 men toward the League how can you or 

 any other naturalist or lover of nature re- 

 fuse to aid in this work? — Editor. 



GAME AND GAME HOGS IN TEXAS. 

 Karnes City, Tex. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Game of all kinds was more plentiful 

 the past season than for many years. Deer 

 were almost extinct in this vicinity, but a 

 few were killed last fall, and considerable 

 sign was seen. They are increasing, and 

 luckily were not hunted much. Turkeys 

 are entirely gone, but Bob White, our 

 mainstay, is here in countless numbers, 

 Last spring saw the greatest increase I ever 

 knew. an4 m spite pf heavy shooting they 



