Guns have been "improved" to such an extent that whether the gunner has any skill or not everything in sight can be killed because of the rapidity of fire and the number of chances for killing. A gun has been invented which pours a steady stream of rapid fire as long as you hold the trigger. It was invented for killing men on the battlefield; but there are other guns nearly as destructive that are used for "sport."
Public schools, Audubon societies, women's clubs, and other humanizing agencies have so modified the ideas of boys and young men that there are but few who hunt for sport.
The cheapening of the camera and its perfection for amateur use have placed a new shooting apparatus in their hands, and many young people of both sexes are now more or less expert in making exposures and developing. A shot with a camera is worth more than a shot with a gun. You have to eat or stuff the unfortunate bird or animal you shoot with a gun. When it is gone you have nothing to show for your skill.
The shot with a camera gives you a handsome picture with many thrilling details to relate. If you wish to boast you have the evidence at hand to corroborate your statement. The pictures last indefinitely, are easily stored, and may be duplicated at will.
Camera presents last Christmas far outnumbered the guns given. Boys and girls much prefer the new sport to the old. With the aid of the bicycle in getting about the country, young people are making trips to the country with loaded cameras and bringing in much more satisfactory game than they used to get with guns.
The skill some of them have manifested in getting a focus on some shy resident of the woods or fields is indeed remarkable. Imitations of brush heaps are made out of light stuff that may easily be carried about. These may be placed before the residence of a rabbit or woodchuck for several days before the attempt is made to get a shot from beneath. A great deal of caution is sometimes necessary to get the subject accustomed even to a strange brush heap, so he will act naturally at the instant the snap is made.
Two young Englishmen made a mock tree-trunk of cloth, painted its exterior, cut holes in it for observation and for the camera, tricked it out with vines, spread it out on a light frame so they could set it up where they chose, and got so many beautiful and scientifically interesting views that they have written a book that has had a large sale. It is embellished with half-tone engravings made from their collections of photographs, and is a most delightful and useful addition to one's library. It is entitled "Wild Life at Home," and is published by Cassell & Company of New York. It has met with such popularity largely because it has appeared just at the time when so many young people are turning their attention from the killing of birds and animals to the more pleasing and humane business of catching their likenesses in their native haunts.