WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:05.040
<v Speaker 1>Section fifteen of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven, number two,

2
00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:11.240
<v Speaker 1>February nineteen hundred. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox

3
00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039
<v Speaker 1>recordings are in the public domain. For more information or

4
00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:21.359
<v Speaker 1>to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Larry Wilson,

5
00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:27.519
<v Speaker 1>The New Sport by John Winthrop Scott. In the early days,

6
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.199
<v Speaker 1>every man and boy knew how to use a gun.

7
00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:33.840
<v Speaker 1>It was a necessity of life. It brought in meat

8
00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:37.679
<v Speaker 1>for the family. The regular business of every holiday was

9
00:00:37.719 --> 00:00:40.880
<v Speaker 1>to go to the woods and kill the free life

10
00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:44.079
<v Speaker 1>of the woods. The pleasure of ranging about for a purpose,

11
00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:48.520
<v Speaker 1>and the excitement attending success and bringing game were among

12
00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:54.640
<v Speaker 1>their greater pleasures. Now we live in cities. Mainly even

13
00:00:54.679 --> 00:00:58.039
<v Speaker 1>the country boy has less regard for the gun the

14
00:00:58.119 --> 00:01:00.320
<v Speaker 1>game in Many of the birds and animals that are

15
00:01:00.359 --> 00:01:03.600
<v Speaker 1>not game have been killed off, so that country boys

16
00:01:03.640 --> 00:01:06.000
<v Speaker 1>now wish to give them a chance for their lives.

17
00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:10.680
<v Speaker 1>Probably the worst murderers of the songsters and innocent animals

18
00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:13.840
<v Speaker 1>are the ignorant city youths, who get only a day

19
00:01:13.959 --> 00:01:16.920
<v Speaker 1>or two in the woods in a year. Guns have

20
00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:20.480
<v Speaker 1>been improved to such an extent that whether the gunner

21
00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.599
<v Speaker 1>has any skill or not. Everything in sight can be

22
00:01:23.719 --> 00:01:26.840
<v Speaker 1>killed because of the rapidity of fire and the number

23
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.680
<v Speaker 1>of chances for killing. A gun has been invented which

24
00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:33.760
<v Speaker 1>pours a steady stream of rapid fire as long as

25
00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:37.079
<v Speaker 1>you hold the trigger. It was invented for killing men

26
00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.719
<v Speaker 1>on the battlefield, but there are other guns nearly as

27
00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:47.120
<v Speaker 1>destructive that are used for sport. Public schools, autumn societies,

28
00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:51.519
<v Speaker 1>women's clubs, and other humanizing agencies have so modified the

29
00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:55.000
<v Speaker 1>ideas of boys and young men that there are but

30
00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:58.680
<v Speaker 1>few who hunt for sport. The cheapening of the camera

31
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.439
<v Speaker 1>and its perfection for an amateur use have placed a

32
00:02:01.480 --> 00:02:05.159
<v Speaker 1>new shooting apparatus in their hands, and many young people

33
00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:08.159
<v Speaker 1>of both sexes are now more or less expert in

34
00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:12.599
<v Speaker 1>making exposures and developing. A shot with a camera is

35
00:02:12.639 --> 00:02:15.400
<v Speaker 1>worth more than a shot with a gun. You have

36
00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:19.039
<v Speaker 1>to eat or stuff the unfortunate burder animal you shoot

37
00:02:19.080 --> 00:02:21.560
<v Speaker 1>with a gun. When it is gone, you have nothing

38
00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.400
<v Speaker 1>to show for your skill. The shot with a camera

39
00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:28.039
<v Speaker 1>gives you a handsome picture with many thrilling details to relate.

40
00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.120
<v Speaker 1>If you wish to boast, you have the evidence at

41
00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:36.599
<v Speaker 1>hand to corroborate your statement. The pictures last indefinitely, are

42
00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:41.400
<v Speaker 1>easily stored and may be duplicated at will. Camera presents

43
00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:46.159
<v Speaker 1>last Christmas far outnumbered the guns given. Boys and girls

44
00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.599
<v Speaker 1>much prefer the usport to the old. With the aid

45
00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:52.800
<v Speaker 1>of the bicycle and getting about the country. Young people

46
00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:56.159
<v Speaker 1>are making trips to the country with loaded cameras and

47
00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:59.719
<v Speaker 1>bringing in much more satisfactory game than they used to

48
00:02:59.719 --> 00:03:03.479
<v Speaker 1>get with guns. The skills some of them have manifested

49
00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:06.240
<v Speaker 1>in getting a focus on some shy resident of the

50
00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:11.000
<v Speaker 1>woods or fields is indeed remarkable. Imitations of brush heaps

51
00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.360
<v Speaker 1>are made out of light stuff that may be easily

52
00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:16.639
<v Speaker 1>carried about. These may be placed before the residence of

53
00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:20.000
<v Speaker 1>a rabbit or woodchuck for several days before the attempt

54
00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:23.080
<v Speaker 1>is made to get a shot from beneath. A great

55
00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:27.360
<v Speaker 1>deal of caution is sometimes necessary to get the subject accustomed,

56
00:03:27.479 --> 00:03:30.479
<v Speaker 1>even to a strange brush heap, so he will act

57
00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.400
<v Speaker 1>naturally at the instant the snap is made. Two young

58
00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:38.599
<v Speaker 1>Englishmen made a mock tree trunk of cloth, painted its exterior,

59
00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:41.879
<v Speaker 1>cut holes in it for observation and for the camera,

60
00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.879
<v Speaker 1>tricked it out with vines, spread it out on a

61
00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.319
<v Speaker 1>light frame so they could set it up where they

62
00:03:47.400 --> 00:03:51.639
<v Speaker 1>chose and got so many beautiful and scientifically interesting views

63
00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:54.280
<v Speaker 1>that they have written a book that has had a

64
00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.240
<v Speaker 1>large sale. It is embellished with half tone engravings made

65
00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:02.159
<v Speaker 1>from their collections of photograp and it is a most

66
00:04:02.199 --> 00:04:06.520
<v Speaker 1>delightful and useful addition to one's library. It is entitled

67
00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:10.560
<v Speaker 1>Wildlife at Home and is published by Castle and Company

68
00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:14.039
<v Speaker 1>of New York. It has met with such popularity largely

69
00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:16.879
<v Speaker 1>because it has appeared just at the time when so

70
00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.040
<v Speaker 1>many young people are turning their attention from the killing

71
00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:23.160
<v Speaker 1>of birds and animals to the more pleasing and humane

72
00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:29.079
<v Speaker 1>business of catching their likenesses in their native haunts. Doctor R. W.

73
00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:34.000
<v Speaker 1>Schuefeldt of Washington, a distinguished naturalist, has made many photographs

74
00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:37.399
<v Speaker 1>of wildlife in the United States, and embellished his own

75
00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:41.040
<v Speaker 1>works with reproductions of these pictures, which are so very

76
00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:46.600
<v Speaker 1>interesting and difficult to secure. The telephoto lens is a

77
00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:50.720
<v Speaker 1>great help in taking the more timid subjects. Audubon used

78
00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.920
<v Speaker 1>a telescope to get the most familiar glimpses of these

79
00:04:53.959 --> 00:04:57.560
<v Speaker 1>little inhabitants of the forts, long before the dry plate

80
00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:01.079
<v Speaker 1>was invented. What would he he need not have given

81
00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:03.879
<v Speaker 1>to have been the possessor of a means of taking

82
00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:08.240
<v Speaker 1>instantly all details and attitudes of the wild birds he

83
00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:12.120
<v Speaker 1>loved so well. The camera is now adding daily to

84
00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:15.560
<v Speaker 1>the accurate knowledge we possess of the things of nature,

85
00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:19.240
<v Speaker 1>and every young person should own one and become familiar

86
00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.319
<v Speaker 1>with its rare qualities and usefulness. It is very gratifying

87
00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:26.519
<v Speaker 1>to think that sport in the woods now means something

88
00:05:26.600 --> 00:05:29.879
<v Speaker 1>superior to the old bloody work. Our boys formally pursued

89
00:05:29.879 --> 00:05:33.000
<v Speaker 1>with guns with a copy of the book above mentioned,

90
00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:36.480
<v Speaker 1>a boys equipped with suggestions and directions enough to keep

91
00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:41.759
<v Speaker 1>him busy and well employed for several seasons. In the

92
00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:42.920
<v Speaker 1>section fifteen,