. The book of birds; common birds of town and country and American game birds . ableend curtails to some extent the presentprivileges of sportsmen, they should notcomplain, since the ultimate result of thelaw, if it be enforced, will be largely toincrease the number of our game it then somewhat curtail the privi-leges of the present generation of sports-men, it will at least insure to future gen-erations the perpetuity of our game birds. Here it may be pointed out that if thepresent Migratory Bird Law. now beforethe United States Supreme Court, shouldfail to meet the test of legal


. The book of birds; common birds of town and country and American game birds . ableend curtails to some extent the presentprivileges of sportsmen, they should notcomplain, since the ultimate result of thelaw, if it be enforced, will be largely toincrease the number of our game it then somewhat curtail the privi-leges of the present generation of sports-men, it will at least insure to future gen-erations the perpetuity of our game birds. Here it may be pointed out that if thepresent Migratory Bird Law. now beforethe United States Supreme Court, shouldfail to meet the test of legal requirementsand be pronounced invalid, bird conser-vationists need not be discouraged, sincetwo courses are o])en: first, so to amendthe law that it will stand every legal test;second, to obtain a constitutional amend-ment which will effect the desired end. Amendments to our Constitution areproverbially difficult to secure, but whocan doubt that with the widespread in-terest in bird life of the i)resent genera-tion of -Kmericans such an amendmentcan be obtained in due 154 AMERICAN GAME BIRDS 15: SPORTSMEN AS CONSERVATORS OF GAME There are many good citizens in theUnited States who believe that huntingis wrong and who consider all sportsmenarch enemies of wild life. There aresportsmen and sportsmen, and the genu-ine lover of gun and dog will almost in-variably be found to be a lover of natureand at heart a conservationist of wild life. Be the sportsman what he may, thesportsmen of the United States, as abody, constitute a very important factorin the present struggle to keep wild crea-tures from total extinction. Many of uswho love wild life and who long agoabandoned the use of the gun, neverthe-less believe that game exists for reasonsother than esthetic. Only extremists in-sist that all animal life is sacred and muston no account be taken. Birds, in addi-tion to their esthetic value and their im-portance as allies of the farmer in hiswarfare on insects, are important as


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdsun, bookyear1921