WINTER MEETING. 169 



HOt do the same thing for ages, and birds were plentiful, much more 

 plentiful than now, when these same hawks are becoming scarce 

 through constant persecution f 



It is indeed not so much the farmer as the hunter who sees in 

 every hawk a chicken thief, and it is simply a case of envy; he would 

 not care so much about the farmer's chickens if the hawk did not once 

 upon a while tackle a little of the game, which he thinks belongs to 

 him alone. It is obvious that the hawks do not, as a rule, capture the 

 mobt active, the most vigilant, the swiftest individuals, and they seem 

 to serve a purpose by weeding out the weak and the sick; and when- 

 ever I see an old sick hen sitting around, perhaps suffering pain, I 

 really wish some kind-hearted hawk would take pity on her. 



Then there is another thing to be considered : Suppose the bird 

 reared in the solitude of the forest, marsh or mountain had no enemies 

 at all in those regions; would they not grow up in a state of the most 

 stupid and dangerous confidence! The first step into the haunts of 

 civilized man, with his army of prowling cats 'and cruel boys, would 

 bring disaster, and the slaughter, already great enough, would be im- 

 mense. As it is, through the kind co-operation of these much-maligned 

 hawks, even the fledglings, as soon as they leave the nest, are taught 

 by their parents the unremitting vigilence, without which they could 

 not successfully perform their annual migration. 



Man is much too short-sighted to see into all the details of cause 

 and effect in nature's wonderful household, and until we have learnt d 

 more of them it will be best to disturb the existing equilibrium as lit- 

 tle as possible. 



It is strange that with all our boasted civilizatioa the destructive- 

 ness, a remnant of the savage animal nature in man, has not been 

 more subdued. I regard it as a deplorable deficiency in our education 

 that the churches and schools do not teach the sacredness of life. 

 They preach love, several kinds of love, and lots of it, but none for 

 the birds: they preach love for God, but none for His works, which 

 we see and admire. They preach pity, and all claim to be pitiful, 

 but how can a human being with pity in his breast kill an animal for 

 the sport that is in it ? 



It is true that organic existence is a conlinual war; one life rises 

 from the death of another; one organism feeds upon another; the 

 smallest as well as the largest are in constant warfare, and man him- 

 self is forced to kill for the sake of self-preservation. But if he siands 

 as high above the animal as his superior reason, his sympathy for his 

 fellow -creatures, his pity, his sense of justice and his magnanimity 

 claim for him, he should be careful to take no more life than he can 



