In the Hunter's Moon 277 



we spoiled the plan of nature when we at- 

 tempted to exterminate any of them. 



He greatly astonished me one day by say- 

 ing that there were not twenty-five per cent, 

 as many song and game birds as there had 

 been twenty years before, and that it was 

 costing the government and the farmer nearly 

 a billion dollars a year in loss of crops, fight- 

 ing insects that had multiplied 'so rapidly 

 since the birds had been depleted and could 

 not longer keep these pests down. 



" Hunt vermin, Harry, if you must hunt," 

 he would say, " and let the rest of God's crea- 

 tures alone." 



One autumn the raccoons became so plen- 

 tiful and did so much damage upon my 

 father's farm, that old Ben declared them ver- 

 min for the time being, and we had some fa- 

 mous hunts, although we got but one raccoon 

 all the autumn. 



We did not so much mind if the raccoons 

 did make holes in the sides of the pumpkins, 

 scooping out the seeds and eating them, or if 

 they came into the garden and made sad work 



