Evening star., 1911-09-01
N|MRODS ARE ACTIVE
Thousands of Reedbirds Fall
on Eastern Branch.
SPORT GOOD THIS YEAR
Many Gunners Take Advantage of
Opening of Season to Visit
the Marshes.

"Reedbirds on toast" the sign so IA
miliar the first day of September. was
displayed on the bars and counters OF
cafes and lunchrooms this morning. to-
day marking the opening Of the season
| for shooting birds in the marshes.
Long before dawn this morning small
| army Of sportsmen-not as many as the
| usual first morning because OF the bad
weather last night-appeared in the vi
| cinity Of Benning bridge to await the
| hour when 1t would be light enough fol
them to see the birds. and soon after the
break Of day the bombardment started.
Thousands Of shots were fired by the
gunners and thousands Of birds were
killed. Early in the day 1t became ap.
parent that reedbirds were more plentiful
this year than they had been for severa
years past Ortolan were also fairly
plentiful. and there is no limit to the
blackbirds. although very few Of the
gunners gave the blackbirds a thought
today
Men who go on the marshes for the
sport of shooting realize that the reed.
| birds furnish more sport early in the
season. than do the ortolan or blackbirds
and many OF them never shoot at back
birds. Ortolan are not. as rule in good
condition so early in the season. but in
week or two after the opening OF the
season they usually fatten.
Most OF the sportsmen who were out
| early in the morning came in before
noon, not waiting to catch the afternoon
| high tide, while others waited until the
afternoon tide to do their shooting. The
gunners were distributed north and south
| of the bridge, all taking care to go be-
yond the 2OO-yard signs in order not tc
violate the law
George Wood High Gun.
| OF the gunners who came ashore earl,
in the day at Benning bridge George
| Wood had made the biggest killing. Ht
had 1O6 reedbirds and eight ortolan.
Others who came in early with reed
birds were ". c. Davis, dozen; Georg.
Barr, 8 dozen; George Bean, dozen
| James Barber, 3 dozen; DR.. Price,
dozen; Robert E. Bender, dozen: Clar
ence Ingling. dozen: H. Bohnke.
dozen: William Clark, dozen; William
ludlow. dozen; ]. B. Jensen, 6 dozen
and ]. F. Eberd, dozen.
William Wagner, the veteran sports
| man, was out on the branch early thi
morning. He does not usually try hi
hand at the sport the first day Of thu
| season. but he went out today because h
thought shooting would probably be safe
than usual on account of the weathe
conditions keeping many gunners a
home.
1t is expected the number of gunner
will be largely increased tomorrow shoult
the weather remain good. The polio
I were on hand early this morning to SCI
| that the gunners did not violate the Law
and to give first aid to the injured il
case of any accidental shooting.
| Dealers in the local markets had bird
on their benches early this morning
| Reedbirds were quoted at 81 a dozen
| ortolan at S1.25 and blackbirds at 30 an<
60 cents. The supply was not equal to tn,
demand. it was stated, and dealers sug
gested that most of the gunners toda!
| were probably out for the sport and no
| for commercial purposes. It is believed
a much larger supply will be received be
| fore night.