The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-06-15
FRA B. HOWE. Editor and Publish r
PASSING OF SPRING SHOOTING


Edward H. Forbusn, entomologist of
the Massachusetts state board of ag-
riculture> and secretary of the Nation
al Audubon societies writes as fol
lows:
The great and General Court of
Massachusetts recently has passed a
bill which protects wild swans at all
times and forbids the hunting and
sale of wild ducks, geese and brant
between January LIST and September
18th of each year. 1t was time!
Pending the passage of this law, hun
tiers along .tne Massachusetts, coast
have been shooting surf ducks, she'll
brakes and looms by the dozen, and
as these birds were of little food
value, especially in the spring, many
have been left to drift away on the
tide. or rot on the beach, where they
fell. This useless slaughter in the
name of sport has been carried on
even in tae month of May when the
female ducks, with eggs developing
in their ovaries were seeking their
breeding grounds.
Rhode Island is now the only New
England state, that has refused to
enact laws to protect wild fowl in the
spring, and even Rhode Island has
forbidden the shooting of two species
of duck in spring and prohibited the
| killing of shore birds on their YER
nal flight. The stoppage of spring
shooting is logical step, step in
the right direction. Prof. Wells W.
Cooks of the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture. the Government
expert in bird migration, man who
has given more study and thought to
the migration and distribution Of
American-water-fow perhaps than
any other now living, says that all
shooting of these birds snould cease
at the end of the regular fall migra-
ton This ends usually about the first
of December. Irregular movements
from the rivers and lakes to the shore
continue sometimes until January,
but no shooting should be allowed lat
er than January first. In severe sea
sons, when ponds, lakes and rivers
freeze up in December or January, the
surface-feeding ducks, like the black
duck, have no place to go for food or
drink, except to tne few open places
left on the flats along the coast of
southern New England or to the warm
springs still open. Here the con
cealed gunners, lying in wait, slaugh-
ter the wild fowl without mercy even
when the birds are so poor in flesh
and flavor that they are unfit for food
This practice will be continued until
it is forbidden by law and the law en-
forced.
The killing of waterfowl in spring
which has been practised so long in
the United States, has driven out
most of the wild ducks and all the
geese that formerly nested here and
already it has produced a marked re-
duction in the number of wild fowl-on
the Canadian breeding grounds In
Northern and Western Canada many
great breeding places of wild fowl are
already broken up, and ii we expect
to retain supply of these birds for
| the future, we must make it safe for
them to breed in favorable localities
in the New England states, as well
as in Canada. North America which
was once the greatest paradise for
| Wild FOWL in the world is fast losing
this great natural resource. A firm
stand against spring shooting is the
most essential step towards conserv-
ing these birds.
Many attempts which have been
made to reopen winter and spring
shooting in the states where 1t is now
forbidden have been defeated; but
there is still movement on foot to
repeal or amend the present excellent
law in Connecticut. This should not
succeed 1t is merely a phase of the
old. old fight between the humane and
far-sighted who wish to provide for
the future of the whole people, and
the selfish and short-sighted few who
are willing to sacrifice the birds to
get few dollars or a little sport with.
out regard for the future.