74 THE NATURAL ENEMIES OF GAME 



"ever so little" we must expect the number of the species 

 to decrease, and the proposition has been proven in 

 America as conclusively as Darwin's statement has been 

 proven in England. Our game has vanished because we 

 have added an important check to its increase — shoot- 

 ing — without first removing some of the natural checks 

 to its increase to make a place for the shooting. The Eng- 

 lish gamekeepers have removed the check to increase — 

 vermin — as far as possible, and the guns shoot thousands 

 of birds every year without causing a diminution in the 

 number of the species. 



The English sportsmen leave a remnant of game every 

 year to restock the fields, just as vermin, under natural 

 conditions, leaves a remnant for restocking, but in 

 America we shoot the remnant and wonder why our 

 thousand or more game laws don't work. 



When any species of game becomes reduced in num- 

 bers and its natural enemies hold their own or become 

 more numerous, the last named, evidently, are super- 

 abundant when compared with the game, and as a result 

 of such conditions the game must decrease in numbers, 

 even in the absence of any shooting. It survives with 

 difficulty if it survives at all. The birds which survive 

 often change their habits and become extremely wary, 

 and they may, in time, show an increase, since it is a diffi- 

 cult matter absolutely to destroy any species. Ruffed 

 grouse and quail have responded to laws prohibiting 

 shooting for a term of years, and they have increased in 

 numbers in many localities, but not in all. It is evident 

 that the laws cannot restore them in counties where they 

 have become extinct. It also is evident that they must 

 again become scarce when shooting is resumed. The 



