154 BREAKING A BIRD DOG 
every way within his power to help protect 
the farmer from the encroachment of un¬ 
scrupulous shooters. Accidents will hap¬ 
pen. Yet accidents need not happen very 
often. There is no excuse for it. If a do¬ 
mestic fowl is accidentally killed, or any of 
the stock is injured, no sportsman is fair 
even to himself, let alone his brother sports¬ 
men, if he does not immediately go to the 
man whose property has been lost or dam¬ 
aged and make it good. The fellow who 
ducks such responsibility is only making it 
harder for himself, and for others. If such 
responsibilities had not been ducked in the 
past, we would to-day be shooting quail in 
Ohio, take it from me! As a matter of fact, 
I very much doubt if any hunter who can’t 
tell a cow from a quail is fit to be allowed to 
roam the fields with loaded firearms. 
I will confess that, until I had thought 
seriously upon these things, I myself did 
not regard the farmers’ attitude in the same 
sympathetic light as I do at present. To¬ 
day I would do anything that lies within 
my power to protect the farmers’ interests, 
because I know their interests and mine 
