Had the game laws that are being made now been made fifteen years ago there would not be the scarcity of game that is now found in most states. Some of the state laws are fine, but in the greater number of them there is no adequate protection afforded to the game, and the consequence is that it is killed for market and shipped from state to state, and whole localities are thus cleared of game in a few seasons.

Spring shooting should be stopped, and not a gun fired until after the hatching season is over and the young birds large enough to take care of themselves in the field.

Thousands of birds die each year, because parent birds are killed or maimed, and the laws cannot be made too stringent in this respect.

So long as one man is at liberty to shoot and destroy a fine flock of birds, others will feel that they, too, might as well have the game as he, and it is hard on the man who wants game protection to see his neighbor come home with a big bag, while he has kept the law and stayed at home.

A POT HUNTER.

Market hunters will shoot any bird, young or old, and most of the woodcocks put on the market are nothing but quail, doves, or even blackbirds.

Quail cannot survive a severe winter, but die of exposure and starvation. This could be avoided by providing grain for them and indeciding the farmers to feed them. A few dozen birds purchased, if needful, by private subscription, and turned loose in each county, would keep the state well stocked with game.

In the same way the migratory birds are slaughtered, while too young to take care of themselves, and all true sportsmen will help in every way the enforcement of the laws that will protect the game and at the same time increase the pleasure and excitement of hunting.