498 
Forest and Stream 
THE QUAIL AS A GAME BIRD 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
I T takes me a long time to get riled, 
but when I do I never lose my head. 
And I am told by those who know me 
that I am gifted with as much of the 
gray matter of a reasonable quality as 
the average man should possess. 
To the manner born, on an estate in 
Ireland, some 60-odd years ago, in my 
early childhood I have accompanied my 
father, Henry Thompson, who was con- 
sidered one of the best shots in Ireland, 
England or Scotland. 
Even as a child I could see him with 
his dogs and his double gun- — a pin-fire 
breechloader made by “Scott.” 
He would never kill more than his 
needs; he deplored the crippling of birds, 
which is incidental with every sportsman. 
He loved and protected the song bird, 
and never killed for the sake of killing". 
This was his method with salmon or with 
trout, and we owned a mile of fishing on 
the river Shannon. 
I have followed the precepts of my 
father in all the years of the nomadic 
life that I could spare from my business. 
I have shot and fished in Canada, from 
Quebec to Vancouver in my early days 
of living in that country, after the death 
of my father, who was a second son on 
an entailed estate. 
I left Canada to become an American 
citizen and have shot and fished a big 
part of the New England States, New 
York, Michigan, and what little there is 
to get in Ohio. 
Whether “Bob White,” our native 
quail, should be on the song bird list or 
not is a very-much mooted question. 
We have passed two open winters in 
Ohio, which have been very propitious 
to the preservation of wild life. But let 
us have a hard winter this y^ar, *with an 
abundance of snow, and ti.ousands of 
quail will die from starvation and cold 
or become easy prey for the fox. 
There is no doubt “Bob White” lives 
largely on seeds ; its favorite breeding- 
place is in a grain field. A covey of 
quail will take its quota in grain and 
particularly buckwheat, as much at least 
as it does from the weeds. If the laws 
of Ohio were as stringent as are the 
laws of New York State for the de- 
struction of weeds, quail would starve. 
As an active member of the Portage 
Fish and Game Association of Akron, 
Ohio, and of the Northern Ohio Fish 
and Gqme Association at Cleveland, the 
members of which associations pledge 
themselves to obey the laws — to protect 
game, to refrain from encroaching on 
personal property without a permit, to 
play the game clean — I am in a fair 
position to judge the status of the game 
bird and to criticise the habits of some 
of our so-called song birds. 
The robin destroys each year more 
fruit than his little carcass is worth; the 
same is the fact with the flicker (yellow 
hammer or higholder), particularly in 
the grape vineyards. I have seen a 
whole crop of Delaware grapes de- 
stroyed in Middle Bass Island by these 
two birds ; cherry orchards also suffer. 
The Portage Fish and Game Associa- 
tion has spent thousands of dollars for 
the protection of game birds in the State 
of Ohio. For refuges for pheasants, 
grouse, wild duck — woodcock — their ac- 
tivities go to the extent of preparing 
shelter and food during the hard win- 
ters, and Mr. Quail, even though on the 
song-bird list, gets his share of protec- 
tion. 
Our main enemies in our endeavor to 
protect are the hawk, the bluejay, crows, 
snakes and last, but by no means the 
least, the farmer boy or the farmer him- 
self, who has the coveys spotted long 
before the season, and who has no hesi- 
tation in potting them sitting. This has 
come under my personal observation, 
and I have been 'offered quail on the 
table in Ohio when out of season for 
other game birds. 
There are twelve states in the Union 
where quail have no open season. In our 
Southern States, some of which give an 
open season from November 20th to Feb- 
ruary 15th, and where many of our 
Northern sportsmen go for quail shoot- 
ing, it is an absolute slaughter; yet there 
are as many quail for the next season’s 
shooting, so the thought of extermination 
is rot. 
Quail are of the grouse species; they 
have been on the game list from time im- 
memorial ; they are our best food bird ; 
it takes a man to shoot a quail on the 
wing. And in the pursuit of the game 
bird — which will not come to you to be 
shot — God-given health and strength is 
gained as well as a dainty meal. It has 
never been my good fortune to have met 
a live red-blooded human being who 
would refrain from eating quail if it was 
in the meal — song bird or not. 
We are allowed only ten days in Ohio 
for shooting grouse and pheasant, and 
only male birds of the latter; quail 
should come in as a game bird in Ohio 
under the same restriction, and there 
would be an increase in their number 
each year, rather than a decrease, for 
the reason thqt every sportsman would 
do his best in the protection of them in 
the winter. 
Our forefathers hunted game for the 
food and recreation, the pursuit ranging 
from the reed bird to the wild turkey; 
we are no better than they, we like to 
live as well, and who would refrain 
from plucking a rose because it was 
beautiful, or from eating a brook trout 
for the same reason? 
W. H. Thompson, 
Ohio. 
IS TRAPPING JUSTIFIED? 
Dear Forest and Stream : 
D ECENTLY the Society for the Pre- 
vention of Gruelty to Animals of- 
fered prizes aggregating three hundred 
dollars for the best essays on the cruelty 
of trapping. The persons who foster 
this movement do so from highly com- 
mendable motives, for no one can deny 
that the use of steel traps entails a con- 
siderable amount of suffering to the 
victims. 
The question naturally arises, can this 
suffering be avoided? The S. P. C. A. 
and numerous other societies say that it 
can, but as yet they have offered no 
practical solution of the difficulty. The 
steel trap is the most practical device 
ever patented for the capture of fur- 
bearing animals, and as long as the de- 
mand for fur exists there are bound to 
be trappers. 
In the past few years many new types 
of traps have been placed on the market 
which are designed to instantly kill their 
victims, but these traps are hard to dis- 
guise and can only be used for the 
smaller animals. Furthermore, the claim 
made by the reformers that animals fre- 
quently remain tortured in traps for days 
is highly exaggerated ; such cases are 
very rare as no conscientious trapper 
will neglect his lines unless forced to do 
so by tire inclemency of the weather, or 
some equally important reason. 
The so-called imitation fur possesses 
neither the warmth nor the durability of 
the genuine article, and while sheepskin 
is equal to fur in point of warmth, it 
does not possess the beauty of the latter. 
Were it not for the protection afforded 
by fur, the explorers and other men who 
live and travel in the frigid regions 
would be unable to stand the intense cold 
and biting winds. Aside from the utility 
of natural fur, its beauty also has a 
great deal to do with its widespread 
popularity among both men and woman 
Besides the absolute necessity for fur, 
there is another point in favor of trap- 
ping; if the fur-bearing animals were 
not kept down in numbers below a cer- 
tain point their’ depredations would cause 
tremendous damage ; as it is, the lynxes 
