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and young of all kinds of nesting birds. Of this, more will be said under 
Crow, page 261. 
But all these natural or indirectly human causes of the decrease of 
our Ducks are probably unimportant in comparison with the direct effect 
of man in his spring shooting, wanton over-shooting, market-hunting, and 
general wasteful practices. Spring shooting is particularly pernicious as 
it takes the best of the breeding stock — the strongest and hardiest birds 
that have survived the dangers of a double migration, the severity of 
winter conditions, and are just ready to increase and multiply. To kill 
these birds is like drawing on the principal instead of the interest for 
current expenses. Previous to the conclusion of the Migratory Birds 
Convention Act with the United States each province and state had its own 
independent game laws. Some legal seasons were long, some were short, 
but on the average each was set to get the maximum toll from the passing 
flocks. In many cases the birds were never out of hearing of the guns that 
spread destruction among them from the time the season opened in the 
autumn on our prairies until the following breeding season. Our open seasons 
may have been but a scant two months, but many of the birds owing to 
their moving from one jurisdiction to another in their migratory flights 
suffered eight months or more of continuous lawful shooting. As long as 
each province or state through which the birds passed in their great annual 
journeys made its own game laws, with only the advantage of its own 
constituents in view, the general good was certain to suffer. The tendency 
of each community to shoot as long as there was anything to shoot and to 
make certain that each got as much as its neighbour, could be corrected 
only by a central control that had power to adjudicate between interests 
and apportion them according to the recuperative powers of the species 
affected. This was accomplished by the Migratory Birds Convention 
between the United States and Canada. By this treaty, for the first time, 
Canada has a voice in the formation of game laws in states outside her 
jurisdiction and is assured that protection to Canadian migrating game 
birds follows them south, and that we are not protecting birds solely for 
the benefit of foreigners. 
The effect of the Act on wild fowl has been more beneficial 
than its most enthusiastic advocates had hoped. With the elimination of 
spring shooting and market-hunting, and with reasonable open seasons 
intelligently allotted to various localities over the whole continent, the 
rapid reduction of our wild fowl has been stayed, and their numbers even 
increased. Today we feel confident that the question of using without 
destroying our migratory game has been solved; that we can continue to 
have good sport and yet leave this great patrimony undiminished to 
posterity. 
One other important question remains to be solved, that of shooting 
grounds for the general public. It matters little to the ordinary man 
whether we have many or few game birds if the best shooting grounds are 
in the hands of private individuals and clubs. As Canadians we do not 
take kindly to private preserves and privileged classes. Already large, 
suitable areas have been set aside from the government lands for reserves, 
where birds may breed undisturbed by cattle or by haymaking and other 
human activities. These reserves will tend to scatter their surplus life about 
the surrounding country and offer sport beyond their confines. Some of them 
may, under proper regulation, furnish suitable shooting grounds for the 
