September, 1922 
399 
THE RISING TIDE 
W ITH the first six months of 1922 past, it is evident 
that the rising tide of rifle shooting which is 
sweeping the country has established already a new 
high water mark, and if the interest in the sport of marks- 
manship continues, as it undoubtedly will, this year will 
be the banner year of all years in rifledom. 
Records in the office of the National Rifle Association 
show that not only have an unusually large number of 
clubs affiliated and reafifiliated, but, what is more significant, 
10,000 shooters have enrolled to date as individual mem- 
bers. This number is greater than that achieved during 
the entire year of 1921 and is far in excess of the figures 
for previous years. 
The time has come when the great national interests of 
the shooting clan can be fully conserved only by a closely 
; knit national organization of individual shooters, whose 
' desires in the matter of legislation will carry the weight 
of numbers and whose collective voice will be strong 
enough to command attention and respect. The organiza- 
tion and affiliation with the N. R. A. of rifle clubs enables 
: the shooters of the country to benefit by the provisions 
already existing on the books, but if new legislation is de- 
sired — and it is direfully needed — and if the old laws are 
not to be abrogated or permitted to lapse through disuse, 
shooters must impress upon Congress the merit of their 
I claims, the importance of their sport as a national asset, 
and the fact that they form an important part of the body 
politic. This can be done only through building up their 
: national organization with individual members. 
All those who are interested in shooting whether at 
targets or big game, should arrange to attend the Na- 
tional Rifle Matches at Camp Perry, Ohio, starting on 
September 2nd. 
Rifles and ammunition are furnished free by the 
Government and the matches will prove of immense 
practical benefit to the shooter as well as a delightful 
vacation. Full particulars may be obtained by address- 
ing General Fred Phillips, Woodward Building, Wash- 
ington D. C. 
FOREST FIRES AND WILD LIFE 
T he conservation of forested areas and particularly 
their protection from fire must go hand in hand with 
the conservation of most game. Shelter and food 
are necessities in the lives of the majority of animals and 
birds. Decrease one or both of these vital elements, which 
are supplied to a large degree in our forests, and the num- 
bers of valuable wild creatures are correspondingly di- 
minished. 
Forest fires not only destroy the forest but eliminate the 
necessary food and shelter. The belief that burning over 
in certain localities is beneficial because it promotes a new 
growth of grass, ignores the fact that the grass thus ob- 
tained does not compensate for the destruction of trees 
and the shelter and food required by animals. Partridges 
in particular suffer from forest or brush fires. When their 
favorite places are burned over and their food and shelter 
are gone they are obliged to seek new localities and face 
new dangers. 
Indiscriminate setting of spring fires in the Southern 
States dislodges deer, opossums, raccoons, foxes, squirrels, 
rabbits, and other animals and endangers ground-nesting 
birds in the timber, such as the woodcock, pheasant, wild 
turkey, and whip-poor-will. The woodcock is in some 
danger of extermination at the present time and deserves 
all possible protection. In seasons of drought, forest fires 
even invade marshy places and drive out fur-bearing ani- 
mals as well as waterfowl and shorebirds. Many think 
that burning results merely in temporary inconvenience to 
the game, and may not realize that the food of many birds 
is largely the seeds and berries of the year before. Burn- 
ing the brush also eliminates for months all shelter from 
natural enemies. 
Burning of the ground-cover in forests of longleaf and 
shortleaf pines kills the young trees as they emerge and 
results in thin, straggling growth. The burning of timber 
and other ground-cover which should absorb and retain 
moisture also accelerates the run-off and affects the stream- 
flow at different seasons to such an extent that the supply 
of fish may be materially decreased. 
WORLD-WIDE BIRD PROTECTION 
U NDER the leadership of America, the world is 
waking up to the necessity of protecting its wild 
birds. Representatives of organizations in various 
countries met in London on June 20 and formed an Inter- 
national Committee for carrying forward propaganda 
throughout the world on the subject of the protection of 
wild birds. 
T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Associa- 
ffon of Audubon Societies and a member of the Advisory 
Board of Forest and Stream, New York, heads this 
Committee, the membership of which includes Viscount 
Grey of Falladon, England ; Mijnheir P. G. van Tienhoven 
of Holland; Monsieur Delacour of Prance, and other 
equally well-known bird lovers. 
The Committee will at once take up the subject of ex- 
tending the organization through southern Prance and 
Italy where enormous numbers of songbirds are annually 
killed for food and where no adequate restrictive legisla- 
tion now exists. Bills pending in Parliament and in the 
United States Congress to prohibit the pouring of crude 
oil in territorial waters will be given support, and similar 
measures will be sought in other countries with a view of 
ultimately getting international action to stop this nuisance 
which IS responsible for the killing of millions of birds 
annually whose feathers become soaked in this oil that is 
poured on their feeding grounds. 
Mr. Pearson, who has just returned from studying bird 
protective matters in France, Holland and England reports 
that the general subject of bird protection in those coun- 
tries is not handled in the highly efficient manner that ob- 
tains in so many of our States. There are no game 
wardens employed by provincial or national governments 
m any of these countries. Practically the only protection 
wild birds have ever been afforded is on hunting estates, 
and here the attention of the privately employed game 
keepers is devoted almost entirely to game birds that are 
raised for shooting purposes. 
PUBLIC SHOOTING GROUNDS 
A waiting the passage of the Public Shooting 
Ground — Game Refuge Bill, sportsmen everywhere 
are mentally picking out suitable places that should 
be established under this measure when enacted into law. 
The Albuquerque branch of the New Mexico Game Pro- 
tective As,sociation has gone even farther. These men are 
leasing property which they think the government should 
own and in the lease is a purchase clause m order that the 
areas in question may be acquired by the government at 
the earliest possible time and at a cheaper price than pos- 
sibly would be the case if the United States Government 
negotiated for the property. 
Other sportsmen are writing to the American Game 
Protective Association, telling of good water areas that 
should be acquired and of others that furnished excellent 
breeding grounds in the past which have been sacrificed 
by some unwise drainage scheme and are now un farmed 
and of small value to anyone. It may be possible to re- 
claim such properties for the birds. 
