Problems Confronting Beginners 263 



should be permitted to live on the wild birds 

 about them, any more than they should be 

 allowed to live on the crops and herds on the 

 nearby farms if there are any. In the old days 

 when there were no railroads and when game 

 was very plentiful, it was of course perfectly right 

 for pioneers of all kinds to live as best they could, 

 and to take the food which nature provided. 

 But now camps are too numerous to justify the 

 men in living off the country; and the game is 

 not sufficiently abundant to stand it. Moreover, 

 there are now ample markets for the purchase 

 of provisions of all kinds and in most places 

 ample means of transporting these provisions. 

 Save in very rare cases the feeding of the men is 

 a problem to be solved by the men themselves or 

 by their employer, and they should not be al- 

 lowed to solve it by stripping the country of 

 game, only a very small part of which may be 

 said to belong to them. 



How Farmers Can Help 



And the farmers, who more than any other 

 one class perhaps are directly benefited by the 

 birds should help with the work of protecting 

 them. They might begin by studying the birds, 

 at least enough to enable them to know their 

 friends from their enemies. For instance, every 



