BIRD SLAUGHTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 299, 27 May 1915, Page 7

BIRD SLAUGHTER.

METHODS OF 01/11 " SPORTSM >;X7' Oil the wholesale bird-staiv.'.iterin;. 1 , methods of sportsmen Ywio had lieeii making lamentation over the decease of ffathered faille, Mr. \\\ W. Small, curator of Pukekma Park, has something to say in a reicnfc issue of the Lytlelton Times. Mr. Smith is well known as a. Xislure iover a:ui a:; advocate of the pniteellon of native hird.i. "It is an oh! he says, "Lhat. ';»! i tilings eon:-- 10 him who haits.' 11e.ni,,, waited very iong and (cry patiently for tome inllueiitiai daily journal to dea. in an out ,pi.ken and fi-arless tone with the lug-bag •sportsmen' who are complaining tii.s year of the scarcity of native game. J was very pleased to note your sub-leader on the subject in your issue of Saturday, .May That' the annually increasing scarcity id' native ducks is chieily due to big bags in former years is unquestionable. Jn the Xorlh Island extensive swamps which were formerly the haunts of vast numbers ol wild duck have been drained, and thus have they been robberl both of their feeding anil nesting grounds. Owing to tiie circumscribed areas, in some districts, to which the Wild birds were compelled to retreat for their subsistence, they fell, and still fall, an easy prey to unworthy sportsmen, who never for a moment, scruple about destroying the last bird if possible to swell their already big bags. It would be interesting to know to what parts ol the back country of the Xortli island the ducks have gone from the swamps of till' Waikatn. The theory is absurd. We have o nly to consider the large number of shooting licenses issued annually in the northern city to explain the absence of ducks from" the Waikato swamps this season." And the wild hirrl champion makes decidedly Unroniplinientary reference to the proud ''sport." -who poses for the illustrated newspapers by the side of his liuge bag of native game, many sizes his fair share of the season's .birds. The elementary ethics of sport are discussed 'by the writer, who declares thai, no true sportsman would tolerate the ruthless and wanton destruction of native game birds that has been practised annually for many years past. "Is it not a fact." asks Mr. Smith, "that Wellington sportsmen have yisited Olinkune, on the Main Trunk railway, for Several years in the shooting season, and. without sanction or hindrance, bavc bagged sacks of wild pigeons in the extensive Maori-owned native forests of (he district? Can it therefore be wondered at that this, (he finest and gentlest species of wild .pigeon in (lie world, is rapidly vanishing from the forest';'' In his opinion, (he itw Wause inserted in the Act lor the Protection of Xative flame limiting the day's bau has come too late to lie of much good: to which it may be a.dderl that there is reason to believe the clause is broken by unscrupulous and unwatehed gunmen. In support of the statement that wholesale slaughtering is responsible for the decrease in the numbers of feathered game, Mr. Smith rpiotes from his own experience and observation. "Reliable proof of the rapidly diminishing numbers of grev duck and teal." he says. "Is the lew and fewer that annually taf;o refuge on lakes in public, gardens and private grounds during the shooting season. \\ hen f took charge of the Pukekura Park at Xcw Plymouth: seven years ago, from four to live hundred of these interesting and valuable game birds frc(|ucntcd (he lakes daily during the winter months, and became rpiil'e tame. This year there are onlt about one hundred. To keep a stock of them on hand for the interest of visitors and amusement of children, / have snared a, la Maori several dn/.ni annually and pinioned them. When I left Ashburton eleven years ago from fifteen hundred to tu.o thousand, took retuge ftnnuallv on the lakes in the Onyrrim there. Wli.n.4 approximate number have come in thh year of grace and flerman sportsmen it would he of interest to know." ]n Mr. Smith's opinion, the native game will" < out in in- (o decrease unless the Legislature furtherTmits the season for shootcertain birds, and also enforces the limitation of bag clause more strictly, "'it these interdicts probably will be of little Use unless public spirit discourages flic brand of sportsman who brair.q of his big hag and delights in getting' liis photograph taken in company with a whole poulterer's shop full of dead birds.