“Smith and I were about a hundred yards from them [the flock of Canada geese], when Murphy scared them.  They rose in a dense mass and came directly between Smith and me.  We were about gunshot distance apart, and they were not over thirty feet in the air when we opened up on them with our pump guns and No. 5 shot.  When the smoke cleared away and we had rounded up the cripples we found we had twenty-one geese.  I have heard of bigger killings out in this country, but never positively knew of them.”

So then:  those two gunners averaged 10-1/2 wild geese per pump gun out of one flock!  And yet there are wise and reflective sportsmen who say, “What difference does the kind of gun make so long as you live up to the law?”

I think that the pump and automatic guns make about 75 per-cent of difference, against the game; that is all!

The number of shot-guns now in use in the United States is almost beyond belief.  About six years ago a gentleman interested in the manufacture of such weapons informed me, and his statement has never been disputed, that every year about 500,000 new shot-guns were sold in the United States.  The number of shot cartridges annually produced by our four great cartridge companies has been reliably estimated as follows: 

Winchester Arms Co 300,000,000
Union Metallic Cartridge Co 250,000,000
Peters Cartridge Co 150,000,000
Western Cartridge Co 75,000,000
                                -----------
                                775,000,000

We must stop all the holes in the barrel, or eventually lose all the water.  No group of bird-slaughterers is entitled to immunity.  We will not “limit the bag, and enforce the laws,” while we permit the makers and users of autoloading and pump guns to kill at will, as they demand.

* * * * *

[Illustration:  Copy of letter:  National Association of Audubon Societies Founded 1901.  Incorporated 1906.

For the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals

WILLIAM DUTCHER, President
JOHN E. THAYER, 1st Vice-President
THEO.  S. PALMER, M.D., 2d Vice-President
T. GILBERT PEARSON, Secretary
FRANK M. CHAPMAN, Treasurer
SAMUEL T. CARTER, Jr., Attorney

OFFICES
525 Manhattan Avenue, New York City

[Illustration:  Map showing (shaded) States having Audubon Societies.]

[Illustration:  Map showing (shaded) States which have adopted the A.O.U. model law protecting the non-game birds.]

141 Broadway.

Feb. 26th 1906.

My dear Mr. Hornaday:—­

It is with much surprise that I learn through your communication of even date that certain persons are claiming that the National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Animals and Birds is in favor of the use of automatic or pump guns, and consequently is not in favor of the passage of laws to prevent the use or sale of such firearms.