388 READINGS IN BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE 



doors which, while purporting to glorify nature, never forget the sources 

 from which come their advertisements.- 



The Game and Fish Departments of various states also stimulate hatred 

 toward many wild creatures. This is done in order to curry favor with the 

 sportsmen and trappers, for the money paid for licenses supports the game 

 departments. Nature lovers are taunted with the fact that they contribute 

 no state or federal funds for wild life protection; but officials generally 

 turn an ear of stone to any proposal that would admit the general public, 

 and especially the women, to a share in wild life protection. 



The shooter of upland birds is the relentless foe of the small animals of 

 field and woodland. Any bird or animal that might under any circum- 

 stances take a game bird, or the egg of a game bird, comes under the ban 

 of extermination by "sportsmen." The ignorance betrayed by the propa- 

 ganda of "sportsmen" and game-officials is profound. Ignorance may be 

 understood, though not excused, in game-officials; they are political ap- 

 pointees, and in many instances have had no training in biology. The honest 

 ignorance of an honest official can be enlightened; and many game-officials 

 are now numbered among the more intelligent conservationists. But what 

 hope is there of enlightening the "sportsmen," often college graduates, who 

 cannot grasp the fact that game and predators lived side by side on this 

 continent in untold abundance until the coming of man; that game has 

 disappeared not because of bird and animal predators, but because of the 

 unbridled predaciousness of men, of "sportsmen" — of themselves. 



The emotions of the farmer are played upon with skill. Rodents and 

 insects are the enemies of the farmer — every child knows that; but the 

 farmer is persuaded to kill the very animals that would destroy for him the 

 pests that.^ost him the greatest loss. First the skunk must be killed, and the 

 farmer is told that the skunk habitually steals the eggs of poultry. He may 

 do this — but rarely. There are "rogues" among all creatures; an egg-stealing 

 skunk may easily be caught in a box-trap, and destroyed. Why kill every 

 skunk? A dog may be found killing sheep, but a farmer would not be 

 justified in killing every dog. Skunks eat mice, and the skunk that is seen 

 about the poultry yard may be mousing. Large insects, crickets, beetles 

 and grasshoppers, serious pests of the farm, are the chief food of the skunk. 

 "Sportsmen" accuse the skunk of eating the eggs of game birds. At the 

 season when game birds are nesting, insects are plentiful, and the skunk 

 rarely seeks other food; often game birds are known to nest close to the 

 den of a skunk without being molested. The University of Michigan exam- 

 ined the stomachs of 1700 skunks, and found not a trace of a game bird 



2 One notable exception is Nature Magazine. It does not accept advertisements of 

 merchandise destructive to wild life, and its editorial policy courageously demands the 

 protection of wild creatures. 



