12 
BY THE WAY BIDE 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
4 
BY THE • WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except 
July and August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin, Illinois and 
Michigan Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year Single copies 5 cents 
Contributions to By the Wayside are invited 
from all lovers of Nature and friends of the 
birds. All communications should be sent to 
Roland E. Kremers, 1720 Vilas St., Madison, 
Wis. 
HUNTING. 
It is now drawing close to the heart 
of the hunting season, and it is fitting 
that we should give some attention to 
this practice, for it has a very impor¬ 
tant relation to bird protection and to 
Ihe ends for which the Wisconsin Au¬ 
dubon Society stands. Have you ever 
formed an idea of the vastness of this 
“sport?” In our own state, several 
hundred thousand licenses are taken 
out annually. Every Saturday after¬ 
noon, hundreds of hunters leave the 
larger cities to go to their shooting 
grounds. Indeed the situation is well- 
nigli appalling. AVe have, on a quiet 
Sunday morning, timed the interval 
between shots within hearing and 
Pound it to be from twenty to thirty 
seconds over a considerable period! 
But perhaps we ought give more em¬ 
phasis to the relation between hunting 
and the ideals of the Audubon Socie¬ 
ties. AVe maintain that hunting is a 
practice which must he abolished, es¬ 
pecially in a region so densely settled 
as Southern Wisconsin. In the first 
place, there is a great deal of danger 
connected with it ; during the hunting 
season one can hardly read a paper 
without coming across notices of hun¬ 
ters' deaths. Secondly, there is in the 
great majority of cases, absolutely no 
necessity for killing game for pur¬ 
poses of food,—foodstuffs are far too 
abundant to-day and much more readily 
procured. But the chief objection 
which we have to hunting is that it 
fosters a hrutal side of man’s nature. 
The hunting of a bird involves the kill¬ 
ing of that bird; and the death of any 
creatures tend to callous man’s heart,— 
especially is that true when the dying 
creature makes so strong an appeal to 
our esthetic nature as do the birds. 
It is a hope 1 ess task to try to convert 
the hunters who have reached their ma¬ 
turity, but it is a far easier, though still 
an immense undertaking to teach the 
school children to love the birds. AVe 
are, therefore, heartily in sympathy 
with Dr. Elson when he suggests that 
our readers make lunch counters this 
winter and try to secure photographs of 
such birds as come to feed. AVe are sure 
that they will be well repaid for their 
pains and that they will come to love 
the birds; and we trust that they will 
also rejoice in being able to secure a 
record of their friends while alb wing 
them to pursue their useful life. 
Nowadays one often hears the com¬ 
plaint from hunters that inasmuch as 
they pay money to procure licenses, the 
game warden’s department should do 
something to increase the amount of 
available game. AVe think that Mr. 
John A. Sholts, the State Fish and 
Game AVarden of AVisconsin, has made 
an effectual answer when he pointed out 
that it is the hunters themselves who are 
the direct beneficiaries of the activities 
of the wardens. 
