THE EXTENSION 11 
Survey in discussing the law passed, but soon repealed by 
Pennsylvania providing a bounty on hawks and owls. ‘‘On 
the 23d of June, 1885 the Legislature of Pennsylvania past 
an act known as the “‘sealp act,’’ ostensibly for the bene- 
fit of agriculture, which provides a bounty of fifty cents 
each on Hawks, Owls, weasels and minks killed within the 
limits of the state and a fee of twenty cents to the notary 
or justice taking affidavit. 
By virtue of this act about $90,000 has been paid in 
bounties during the year and a half that has elapsed since 
the law went into effect. This represents the destruction 
of at least 128,571 of the above mentioned animals, most 
of which were Hawks and Owls. 
Granting that 5,000 chickens are killed annually in 
Pennsylvania by Hawks, and Owls, and that they are worth 
twenty-five cents each (a liberal estimate in view of the 
fact that a large portion of them are killed when very 
young) the total loss would be $1,250 and the poultry kall- 
ed in a year and a half would be worth $1,875. Hence it 
appears that during the past eighteen months the State 
of Pennsylvania has expended $90,000 to save its farmers a 
loss of $1,875. But this estimate by no means represents 
the actual loss to the farmer and the tax payer of the state. 
It is within bounds to say that in the course of a year every 
Hawk and Owl destroys at least a thousand mice or their 
equivalent in insects, and that each mouse or its equivalent 
so destroyed would cause the loss of two cents per annum. 
Therefore, omitting all reference to the enormous increase 
in the numbers of these noxious animals when nature’s 
means of holding them in check has been removed, the 
lowest possible estimate of the value to the farmer of each 
Hawk, Owl and weasel would be $20 a year, or $30 in a year 
and a half. 
Hence, in addition to the $90,000 actually expended by 
the state in destroying 128,571 of its benefactors, it has 
incurred a loss to its agricultural interests of at least 
$3,857,130, or a total loss of $3,947,130 in a year and a half, 
which is at the rate of $2,631,420 per annum. In other 
words the state has thrown away $2,105 for every dollar 
saved. And even this does not represent fairly the full 
loss, for the slaughter of such a vast number of predaceous 
birds and mammals is almost certain to be followed by a 
correspondingly enormous increase in the number of mice 
and insects formerly held in check by them, and it will 
take many years to restore the balance thus blindly de- 
