Evening star., 1935-11-03
Bv John L. CoOntS.

II of Louisiana bayou. AS the
4 \ weeds parted and the boat
drifted slowly in there arose on the
air the harsh cry of a bird. followed
by mighty whir of wings as a wild
duck squattered off across the marsh.
The boys father lifted his gun; the
boy uttered a cry. 1t was too late.
The duck coursed down and plunged
Into the reeds. The boy pointed to
the spot from which it had risen. In
q nest there were two doWny. fluffy
little things. Motherless they were
now.
That was not so many years ago,
when America squandered with prodi-
gaity its natural wild-hfe resources.
Since then, year by year, the law has
closed in on such practices. Uncle
Sam, through his long arm, has
reached out to make safer and safer
the life of waterfowl.
Last year J. N. CDing) Darling. who
has dropped his facile cartoonist pen
to become a prosaic Government off,
cial administering the Biological Sur
vey, plugged up the last of the shot
gun barrels in Acknowledgment saga
entitled The Last of Our Wildfowl
Game"
With a grant of s8,5OO.OO0 to pro-
tect and conserve wildfowl life, he
started out on program that has
had for its conclusion, this year. the
establishment of 80 new waterfowl
refugees throughout the United States.
bringing the total throughout the
country up to 202 and embracing
roughly 4.5oo,oo0 acres.
And further, the most stringent
hunting regulations ever promulgated
In the history of the country are in
effect for this hunting season.
WILD life-like any other crop
w has to be fertilized in order to
produce greater yields. The fertilizer
In this case is water. Great areas OF
this element. far removed from the
trespass of man, are the great objec-
tive of the Biological Survey, says
Mr.. Darling.
But in addition to these new areas
being added to wild-life preserves
throughout the country. the Darling
program calls further for the creation
Of a system of refugees down the vast
Mississippi Valley. This valley is fly
way No. l of the Nation This means
that the major portion of the migra.
tory waterfowl that wend their way
southwark at the first sign of Winter
descending in the North and north.
ward at the first sign of returning
Spring, use this thoroughfare of the
air
Every 100 miles along this route
Is proposed to set up sanctuaries wher
wildfowl and other bird life may sto]
and rest, have breakfast and luncheon
II desired, without feeling that tn
meal has to be snatched from in from
Of a shotgun's mouth.
THE present case of our wild life
says Mr.. Darling. 'is precarious. w
human beings are not the only one
who have been up against hard time
these last few years. And our farm
families are not the only families tha
have suffered from the drought. II
fact, our troubles are mild compared t,
those of some other native American
the wild duck and other much-prizet
game birds OF the continent. The DIR,
year just passed has been the worst IL
history for them and it came on top O
q series of hard years, during which
our waterfowl population has been de-
creasing. Hunters killed more bird
than Matched during 1894. And wher
the survivors started South the earl!
part Of this Fall they found thousand
Of ponds and lakes dried up where al
ways before they could rest and feed.
"Our ducks have been suffering no
only from man and the gun-and rec
ords show there are from 100000 tt
100000 duck hunters in the countr.
but they are also up against famine
lack Of water and nesting places, dis
ease and bird and beast enemies. Ant
they haven't any F. e. r. A. or housing
committees or c. c. c. camps to turr
to for food. homes and protection fol
their young.
In the old pioneer days hunter.
didn't have to wait for open season.
or bother about hunting licenses
: Every day was an open season. Gaml
was plentiful enough for every one thu
year round. And the housewife coulc
plan her meals around the wild turkey
her husband brought in or the prairie
chicken or wild duck. Hunters didnt
have very good guns in those days ane
game reproduced more rapidly thar
they could take it.
But since the day of the moderr
. repeater and high-powered ammuni.
tion, the automobile and the motol
boat, and since the number of hunters
has increased so tremendously, we nj
longer have anywhere near enough
game to 60 round. This is the reason
for limiting not only the shooting sea
son, but also the bag.
I'VE Americans have been very care
less with our game, just as we havl
been with our rivers and forests ant
other natural resources. In our hast.
to get rich, we've drained so mucl
water off the land Of the North Cen
trail States that during the last Sum
ner we've been shooting domestic cat
tie for lack of water instead of duck
right on that old prairie marsh lant
and those drained lake beds.
why, from the sandhill lakes o.
Nebraska, north to the Canadian line
west as far as Montana, east to thu
Erie marshes was once an almost un.
broken series of fine nesting grounds
Iowa, Illinois and Indiana produced
many ducks. And on the Pacific slope
Oregon's Lake Malheur and Lower
klamath alone probably hatch eact
year more migratory waterfowl thar
nested in the whole United States this
last year. These two reservoirs, onc<
the chief source Of the great Pacific
Coast flight. are today as dry as q
boneyard. Draining marshes to maxi
more plowed fields and robbing land
to irrigate the deserts have done fol
100000 acres Of once prolific lant
In our country"
CHOOTING news to believers in un.
~ I,,o1- t,,,n<j0~ 6o. q od