“SONG BIRDS” 159 
belong—in the hands of their best friends: 
the sportsmen . 
It’s bad practice to make laws that any 
large number of citizens will not respect. 
We have too many such—and they breed 
contempt of all law, which is the worst thing 
that can happen. Give quail back to the 
sportsmen, and the birds will be better pro¬ 
tected than they are to-day. Then if there is 
a short open season—even if for only five or 
ten days—it will be observed and respected 
by the best sportsmen everywhere; and that 
will be a healthy condition. It is most de¬ 
cidedly not the case with the law that exists 
to-day . 
As I write, the following letter has just 
reached me from a sportsman who lives al¬ 
most on the boundary line of Ohio and West 
Virginia. It occurs to me that it merits 
publication: 
Another winter has passed without serious dam¬ 
age to our quail. They are more plentiful to-day in 
West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio than for many 
years. This is not hearsay, but from actual experi¬ 
ence. In the state of Old Kentucky, in Carter 
County, during last November and part of De- 
