The New York herald., 1869-12-26


Those who indulge in the pleasure Of shoot
ing wild ducks and geese on the seabeat
shores of Long Island are somewhat discon-
tented with certain section in the Game law
passed by the last Legislature. But we fear
/, tnas the people who grumble are not sports
| men, but persons Of q less chivalrous class, or
they would not object to any provisions of law
| which would tend to preserve game and pre-
vent iudiscriminate slaughter by day and
night ana at improper seasons. Your true
| sportsman, ali the world over, has nice sense
of discretion in the exercise of his peculiar
passion. HIS will not have birds killed in
| breeding time, nor nestlings shot down before
they have become mature birds nor will he
have inexperienced anglers, with net or rod,
make incursions upon the fnny tribe at
spawning time, or when the "fry" are seeking
their native waters for recuperation and natu-
raj growth 1t has become too much q custom
in this country to wage indiscriminate warfare
against birds of all kinds. The unfortunate
robin, which adds a new beauty to the woods;
the various kinds of woodpeckers-the
conservators of our forest trees-as
well as the prairie chicken, the quail,
the woodcock, tho partridge and the
duck, are the victims of every Goth and Van
dal who can carry gun. Hence it becomes
necessary to make some law to restrict this
kind of barbarism. 1t is difficult now to find
any game within hundred miles of city,
even out as far as the Western prairies Of Mis-
souri, or Kansas In the latter State prairie
fowl and wild turkey and small amount Of
California quail are to be found in the vicinity
of few of the growing cities, such as Topeka,
Lawrence and Salina, but in few years they
will disappear from these localities, as they
have already abandoned, to great extent,
Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, which were once
fine hunting countries. In our own State game
has diminished most notably In the Western
counties there are yet some chances for the
sportsman, in the higher order Of game, but
in the vicinity Of the city, with the exception
of some deer in Sullivan county, and q fair
share of woodcock and quail in the lake por-
ton of Orange county, there are little induce
ments for the true sportsman. The coast Of
Long Island is the exception for duck shoot
ing and it is to preserve this that the law
now objected to was enacted at the last
session of the Legislature. The wholesale
destruction of wild duck by means of
night batteries is prohibited, and we think
very properly. Moreover the law now in
force, which proscribes the shooting Of this
kind Of game from the 10th of June to the
Goth of October, did not emanate from the
Sportsman's Club, as may be supposed. 1t
was suggested by the sportsmen Of Long
Island themselves for their own protection
The value Of the law may be seen in its opera
ton. Aquatic game was never 80 plentiful on
Long Island as it is this season.
The absence Of restrictive game laws In the
Western States does not seem to make our
| markets any cheaper. In fact, prairie fowl
are as dear to-day as ever they were. In
England, where the game laws are very
stringent, the markets are still well supplied,
| because the owners Of preserves make sale Of
\ tho surpiua game. ~fter homo wants s~tis
fed and the sportsman's ambition is fulfilled.
| In this country the wastefnl destruction OF
game by the ''market hunters" is immense.
Probably not nalf the Birds killed By batteries
and other devices are put to useful purposes,
and not thousandth part Of the fish destroyed
finds better use than for manure. There can
be no objection, therefore, to any law which
restrains within reasonable limits a wanton
slaughter Of game and fish. There was time,
not many years ago, whom an area Of the
Potomac, embracing, perhaps, twenty acres,
has been seen covered with canvas back duck
as thick as reeds on the river bank but now
| it is days work to bag dozen brace in the
same locality The birds have been driven
from their feeding grounds by masked bat
| teries and other methods of destruction. It
would have been the same on Long Island and
the south shore Of Staten Island had the Game
law Of last session not been passed.