Forest and Stream, September 15, 1881

THE SCARCITY OF BAY SNIPE.

Tourists and sportsmen -- Field sports - Hunting : Waterfowl and shorebirdNatural resources -- Conservation - GameSea -- EggingInfrastructure -- Public - Government : Life-saving service

Your correspondent "L," in issue, Sept. 8, wishes observations on the growing scarcity of bay snipe and plover. Each succeeding year for the past twenty five years has shown a decrease, and the past ten years the decrease has been very rapid. Spring shooting and breech loaders are especially to blame, but egging at Cobb's Island, "writing up" shooting resorts by hotel keepers and enthusiastic amateurs, who "give away" the places dear to sportsmen, establishing watering places along the coast and shooting by the coast life-saving crews are the principal causes of the diminished numbers of bay birds. Men and boys tramping about the meadows and sand-bars instead of shooting from ambush, also tend to frighten the birds from our shores. -- CURLEW.