Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-08
Chasing the Birds Out of the Air
BY Frederic j. Haskin
WY ASHINGTON, Feb. "a thousand
w feet in the air a wadge of wild
W geese is winging southwark over

| Win a roar anu DeSluS 10 Clluu. having
reached the level of the geese it drives
straight after them. The big birds are max
ing perhaps fifty miles an hour, but the
macine is doing twice that. In five minutes
it's but fifty yards behind them Their steady
honking breaks into mild medley of alarm.
To them this thing is terror inconceivable.
1t is a hawk as big as a house and twice as
swift as any bird that flies. 1t is hawk
that roars like the north wind. And then,
suddenly, it begins to spit fire and flame, and
| two geese crumple in the air and fall to the
| blue waters far below.
| The geese have been shot at before. In
| fact, they have been shot at all the way from
southern Alberta to New Jersey. The sound
of shotgun is for them a signal to tower
out of range. And SO they tower now,
| climbing on strong pinions a hundred feet
straight into the air.
| And the plane towers after them, roaring
more loudly than ever. There are more shots
and three more geese go hurtling toward the
water. The survivors, honking in hoarse
| terror, fly every which way. Some tower,
some plunge toward the water, some go north
and some go south. The plane pursues
lone goose that happens to be in front of it,
kills him, and then descends gracefully to
Egather its prey.
Airplane Hunting Illegal
This is scene the like of which has been
enacted again and again in recent months,
and it is one which has provoked the ire of
game protectors. The biological survey here
! is especially aroused over the killing Of wild
fowl from airplanes, because the migratory
bird law, the enforcement of which is en-
trusted to the survey, specifically forbids the
taking Of wild fowl in that way. The sur
vey has obtained several arrests and convic
lions, and it is ready to send men to investi-
gate any case of such violations This hunt
ing in the air is a new thing, and the survey
hopes to scotch it before it has grown to dan
gerous proportions. 1t hopes to do this in
two ways-by arrest and prosecution Of Of
tenders, and by appealing to the sportsman
ship and self-interest of the hunters. For 1t
is hardly fair to hunt birds by method which
leaves them chance of escape, and it is
hardly intelligent to hunt them by method
which has the effect of driving them clear
out Of the country.
That is the immediate and striking eff
feet of airplane hunting. The birds are not
slow to see that they have an enemy which
it is impossible to escape. After one expe-
rience Of being pursued by a plane, flock
Of wild geese ducks will often leave that
vicinity for good and all. A whole season
of legitimate sport from blind and boat is
spoiled for a few minutes of spectacular
slaughter in mid-air
The migratory bird law, which prohibits
the shooting Of wild fowl during their migra-
tions northward toward their nesting
abundant in the last few years than they had
been for decades before Sportsmen in gen.
eral have come to appreciate its value. They
are now asked not to undo the good work by
the of and deadly method of in
vadng the air, which has heretofore been
the sanctuary inViolate Of all wild wings.
The hunting Of birds from planes seems to
have begun toward the end of the when
some navy hydroplanes on practice flights
began chasing flocks of wild fowl apparently
Co., oa1~ % LoA4~ MI -
logical survey at once took the matter up
with the navy department and the practice
was stopped. But after the war great many
military planes were sold for small sums and
number of manufacturers began putting
popular-priced airplanes on the market. The
combined air-and-water craft especially has
become popular toy for young men with
money, and its purchase and use seems to
be almost unrestricted by law.
AS result, cases of hunting in the air
have been reported with increasing frequency.
They have come from the Atlantic coastal re-
gion, from the big middle western rivers.
from California. In California motion pic
ture film was made of the shooting of ducks
from an airplane, and it was subsequently
suppressed at the request of the biological
survey.
When Ducks Are a Pest
In California, too, was made the only at
tempt to justify the hunting of wild fowl
from airplanes. California is one of the few
places in the world where wild ducks and
geese are so abundant that they sometimes
constitute a pest. In some parts of Califor-
MIA they devour the rice crops at such rate
that some measures have to be taken to kill
them or drive them away. Every year the
biological survey is besought for permits to
hunt these ducks out Of season in order to
keep them off the rice fields. It has often
appeared that those who applied for the per-
mits were more interested in getting the
ducks than in saving the rice These self
appointed protectors Of the rice fields de-
c1ded that the airplane would be Just the
thing with which to chase the ducks out of
the country, but the biological survey has not
agreed with them. 1t makes the claim that
the recent invention of the self-firing acety-
lene flash gun has solved the problem of
soaring the birds off the rice fields in the
most effective and economical way This gun
is based on the simple principle that the mix
ture of water with certain chemical makes
acetylene gas. The machine Is designed to
drop the water and effect this mixture at reg
ular intervals, the resultant gas being ig-
nited by pilot light. The gun is said to be
simple, inexpensive and sure of oneration
1t will fire shot with a great flash and bang
every minute all night long if desired And
it has the great advantage that it scares awav
not only the ducks, but also the blackbirds.
which do about half the damage, but which
no one cares to hunt. So the airplane is not
to be used for hunting, even as a protector
Of the crops.
WORDS FROM THE WISE