Speaker 1: Section fifteen of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven, number two,
Speaker 1: February nineteen hundred. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
Speaker 1: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Larry Wilson,
Speaker 1: The New Sport by John Winthrop Scott. In the early days,
Speaker 1: every man and boy knew how to use a gun.
Speaker 1: It was a necessity of life. It brought in meat
Speaker 1: for the family. The regular business of every holiday was
Speaker 1: to go to the woods and kill the free life
Speaker 1: of the woods. The pleasure of ranging about for a purpose,
Speaker 1: and the excitement attending success and bringing game were among
Speaker 1: their greater pleasures. Now we live in cities. Mainly even
Speaker 1: the country boy has less regard for the gun the
Speaker 1: game in Many of the birds and animals that are
Speaker 1: not game have been killed off, so that country boys
Speaker 1: now wish to give them a chance for their lives.
Speaker 1: Probably the worst murderers of the songsters and innocent animals
Speaker 1: are the ignorant city youths, who get only a day
Speaker 1: or two in the woods in a year. Guns have
Speaker 1: been improved to such an extent that whether the gunner
Speaker 1: has any skill or not. Everything in sight can be
Speaker 1: killed because of the rapidity of fire and the number
Speaker 1: of chances for killing. A gun has been invented which
Speaker 1: pours a steady stream of rapid fire as long as
Speaker 1: you hold the trigger. It was invented for killing men
Speaker 1: on the battlefield, but there are other guns nearly as
Speaker 1: destructive that are used for sport. Public schools, autumn societies,
Speaker 1: women's clubs, and other humanizing agencies have so modified the
Speaker 1: ideas of boys and young men that there are but
Speaker 1: few who hunt for sport. The cheapening of the camera
Speaker 1: and its perfection for an amateur use have placed a
Speaker 1: new shooting apparatus in their hands, and many young people
Speaker 1: of both sexes are now more or less expert in
Speaker 1: making exposures and developing. A shot with a camera is
Speaker 1: worth more than a shot with a gun. You have
Speaker 1: to eat or stuff the unfortunate burder animal you shoot
Speaker 1: with a gun. When it is gone, you have nothing
Speaker 1: to show for your skill. The shot with a camera
Speaker 1: gives you a handsome picture with many thrilling details to relate.
Speaker 1: If you wish to boast, you have the evidence at
Speaker 1: hand to corroborate your statement. The pictures last indefinitely, are
Speaker 1: easily stored and may be duplicated at will. Camera presents
Speaker 1: last Christmas far outnumbered the guns given. Boys and girls
Speaker 1: much prefer the usport to the old. With the aid
Speaker 1: of the bicycle and getting about the country. Young people
Speaker 1: are making trips to the country with loaded cameras and
Speaker 1: bringing in much more satisfactory game than they used to
Speaker 1: get with guns. The skills some of them have manifested
Speaker 1: in getting a focus on some shy resident of the
Speaker 1: woods or fields is indeed remarkable. Imitations of brush heaps
Speaker 1: are made out of light stuff that may be easily
Speaker 1: carried about. These may be placed before the residence of
Speaker 1: a rabbit or woodchuck for several days before the attempt
Speaker 1: is made to get a shot from beneath. A great
Speaker 1: deal of caution is sometimes necessary to get the subject accustomed,
Speaker 1: even to a strange brush heap, so he will act
Speaker 1: naturally at the instant the snap is made. Two young
Speaker 1: Englishmen made a mock tree trunk of cloth, painted its exterior,
Speaker 1: cut holes in it for observation and for the camera,
Speaker 1: tricked it out with vines, spread it out on a
Speaker 1: light frame so they could set it up where they
Speaker 1: chose and got so many beautiful and scientifically interesting views
Speaker 1: that they have written a book that has had a
Speaker 1: large sale. It is embellished with half tone engravings made
Speaker 1: from their collections of photograp and it is a most
Speaker 1: delightful and useful addition to one's library. It is entitled
Speaker 1: Wildlife at Home and is published by Castle and Company
Speaker 1: of New York. It has met with such popularity largely
Speaker 1: because it has appeared just at the time when so
Speaker 1: many young people are turning their attention from the killing
Speaker 1: of birds and animals to the more pleasing and humane
Speaker 1: business of catching their likenesses in their native haunts. Doctor R. W.
Speaker 1: Schuefeldt of Washington, a distinguished naturalist, has made many photographs
Speaker 1: of wildlife in the United States, and embellished his own
Speaker 1: works with reproductions of these pictures, which are so very
Speaker 1: interesting and difficult to secure. The telephoto lens is a
Speaker 1: great help in taking the more timid subjects. Audubon used
Speaker 1: a telescope to get the most familiar glimpses of these
Speaker 1: little inhabitants of the forts, long before the dry plate
Speaker 1: was invented. What would he he need not have given
Speaker 1: to have been the possessor of a means of taking
Speaker 1: instantly all details and attitudes of the wild birds he
Speaker 1: loved so well. The camera is now adding daily to
Speaker 1: the accurate knowledge we possess of the things of nature,
Speaker 1: and every young person should own one and become familiar
Speaker 1: with its rare qualities and usefulness. It is very gratifying
Speaker 1: to think that sport in the woods now means something
Speaker 1: superior to the old bloody work. Our boys formally pursued
Speaker 1: with guns with a copy of the book above mentioned,
Speaker 1: a boys equipped with suggestions and directions enough to keep
Speaker 1: him busy and well employed for several seasons. In the
Speaker 1: section fifteen,