Cbe ^luDubon ^octette^ 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by ALICE HALL 'WALTER 



Address all communications relative to the work of this depart- 

 ment to the editor, at S3 Arlington Avenue, Providence, R. L 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES 



In a recent bulletin entitled Animal Communities in Temperate America, 

 as Illustrated in the Chicago Region,"* a study in animal ecology of practical 

 interest to the general nature-lover as well as to the student, man's relation 

 to nature and his conduct toward animals are frankly discussed and criticized. 



The writer makes a strong plea for "a. consideration of wild nature as it 

 really is," instead of a sentimental conception of the relations which bind 

 together all forms of life. He draws a vivid picture of the conditions of prime- 

 val nature w^here the struggle for existence goes on uninterrupted or unhindered 

 by man, and of what he styles "a man-made nature from which the con- 

 spicuous animals and their deadly struggles have been eliminated." 



We are living to-day very largely in this man-made nature, a nature which 

 is constantly changing by reason of man's acti\dties and which is often unduly 

 influenced for better or worse by man's legislation. In advocating a broad 

 and thoroughly sane study of past and present natural conditions, the author 

 of this instructive bulletin warns against a biased or narrow field of vision. 

 "With some people," he says, "birds obscure all else in the animal world. 

 . . . Why protect birds? Is the present attempt justified? . . . All other 

 things being equal there are but two more reasons for special measures for 

 the preservation of birds than for the preservation of reptiles, amphibians 

 or insects. First, birds are subject to destruction by reckless gunners. Second, 

 they are less dependent upon natural conditions on the ground and are better 

 able to sur\dve after land has been put under cultivation than some other 

 groups. Many other animals whose diets are varied have been exterminated 

 or will be so by agriculture, leaving the birds at the most easy point for pro- 

 tective effort. The protection of birds should not be urged at the expense of 

 the extermination of other animals because of their alleged occasional attacks 

 upon birds. (Squirrels, for example.) The great danger of acting on partial 

 truth regarding animal interdependences makes societies for the protection 

 of birds alone scientifically and educationally unjustified. The protection of 

 all groups should be urged, in particular through the preservation of the natural 



*Bulletin No. 5, Victor E. Shelford, Ph.D., of the University of Chicago, pub- 

 lished by the Geographic Society of Chicago. 



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