NATURAL ENEMIES. ^g^ 



eight months of the year, it is necessary to consider 

 certain minor causes of destruction which formerly 

 were not worth thinking of. 



The fable that wildfowl eggs were gathered for com- 

 mercial purposes undoubtedly had its origin in the fact 

 that Indians collect the eggs for food. From time im- 

 memorial the Indians and Eskimos who dwell in the 

 country where the ducks breed have collected for food 

 quantities of their eggs, and during the moulting sea- 

 son great numbers of young and of adult birds. They 

 do so still ; but, as the population of the North is very 

 sparse, they cannot destroy any considerable numbers. 

 Beside this, it may be said that in many places the In- 

 dians and the Eskimos are disappearing more rapidly 

 than the ducks. These savage peoples are to be counted 

 as the natural enemies to the wildfowl, and the destruc- 

 tion which they cause is, perhaps, no greater than that 

 caused by other natural enemies — the wild animals and 

 the rapacious birds which feed on the fowl or their eggs 

 when they can. In comparison with the other causes 

 already enumerated, the destruction caused by the na- 

 tives is absolutely inconsiderable. The true reason for 

 the decrease of the birds is the spread of civilization 

 over the continent, which means their destruction by 

 civilized man ; and every attempt to cover up this truth 

 and to lay blame elsewhere is a real injury to the cause 

 of game protection. 



