The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-10-06
SLAUGHTER OF RICE BIRDS.
Thousands Upon Thousands Shot and
Caught Along our Coast.

Caught Along our Coast.
Charleston Evening Post.
The rice bird or bobo1ink or reed
bird, as the game is known further
north, is now in great abundance on
the rice fields about Charleston and
the coast section of South Carolina,
and thousands Of the birds are being
killed every day, with no evidence of
any diminution in the supply.
The business of killing the birds
is profitable one for those who en-
gage in it, whether they indulge in the
exercise as sportsmen in bringing
down the game for the pleasure Of
shooting and supplying their own ta-
bles or kill the little birds for market
and to externinate the destroyers Of
the small grain. There are hundreds
of parties all over this lower section
Of South Carolina hunting the birds,
and although great quantities are
killed, yet the birds seem as numerous
as ever during the morning and even
ing, when they feed.
Killing the birds for sale is mostly
done in pot hunting" fashion in this
section, system of killing the birds
which is not in vogue in any other
place where the kind of game is
found. A large fire is built on the
marsh and a big net is arranged in
such a way that escape is impossible
when. the bird once enters it. The
marsh is beaten and the flying birds,
attracted by the light, enter the nets
and are caught in large quantities.
The birds are killed and shipped to
market. Many negroes are employed
in this work of trapping and killing
the game, working for themselves in
some cases and in others for firms
which make a regular business Of
dealing in the dainty and succulent
morsels.
Where gun is used the twelve
gauge double barrel shotgun is gen
orally preferred, althoughsome sports
men use a gun as small as a twenty
gauge. AS the birds are not hard to
kill, and a lot Of shooting has to be
done in the average days sport, this
smaller shooting iron is desirable.
The shell usually taken along is load
ed with one ounce Of No. 10 shot,
backed by two and a half to three
drains of powder of the semi-smoke-
less or smokeless variety, and in some
sections, where skifs are used in
whole or part, the dogs have to be
left at home.
The birds are found in the eastern
section of the country at this season
of the year subsisting on rice, oats,
millet and other grain grown in
swamps and marshy places. 1t is a
mystery where the rice birds come
from. Many of the knowing ones
are of the opinion that they bury
themselves in the mud from season to
season, after the manner of snakes
and frogs, but the more plausible
theory is that they come and go in the
night. The birds do not fly any great
distance in the daytime, rarely more
than 80 to 40 yards. That they do
most of their flying at night is proved
by the fact that hundreds of birds
may be picked up in the morning
dead, having come in contact with
live electric wires in places where
these agencies of modern civilization
are found. The birds disappear al
most as suddenly as they show up.
When the birds first show up they
are very thin and ragged looking.
When they strike the rice and oar
fields they soon fatten up, and after
three or four days of gluttony they
are as fat as the proverbial butter
ball. The birds are slow fliers, which
makes it possible for a man of only
ordinary skill to bring down large
numbers with his gun in the course
of his days sport. The size Of the
bag depends, Of course upon his skill,