56 
gun, the percussion cap, the breech-loader, the “ pump gun,” 
and now we have the rapid-firing automatic gun. With this 
a passing flock can he followed with a perfect rain of shot. 
The association of sportsmen into clubs facilitates the general 
spread of knowledge about favorable covers or stands. ISTo 
sooner are game birds plentiful anywhere, than the news- 
papers publish the fact for all the world to read and profit 
by. Railroads widely advertise all places along their routes 
where game can he found. Hotel keepers publish the ad- 
vantages their neighborhoods afford to shooters. The tele- 
graph and telephone carry to the cities the news of the arrival 
of flights of birds. Railroads, steamboats, trolley cars and 
automobiles convey the shooters immediately to the spot; 
Let us see how these various agencies work in the destruc- 
tion of shore birds. A flight of birds is seen some day on 
the shores of Cape Cod. This news is immediately tele- 
phoned to Boston. The favored ones get it, and that night 
trains and automobiles take them to the ground. The next 
morning they join with the local gunners in what is virtually 
an attempt to kill every bird. If the daily papers publish 
the news, every gunner who reads it can take advantage of 
the opportunity and be on the ground within twenty-four 
hours. When ducks and geese are flying, men go and live 
in brush houses built at the ponds, or conceal themselves 
in blinds, or follow the birds in boats. The deadly “ pump 
gun ” makes it almost impossible for a flock to get safely 
by a good shot. In the winter of 1900-01 I observed 
some modern duck shooting in Florida. The members of a 
certain shooting club that had bought a large tract of marshes 
were accustomed to lie in blinds in favorable localities, 
where they shot so many ducks that they could not possibly 
make use of them. These ducks were kindly given away 
to people who lived in a region within twenty miles of the 
clubhouse. A gunner occupying a blind and putting out 
his decoys would have men in boats to go about and start 
the ducks, that they might be attracted to his decoys. I 
am credibly informed that at least one of these gentlemen 
had several “ pump guns ” in his blind, with a man to 
keep them loaded, and, being a very quick and accurate 
