Problems Confronting Beginners 239 



permitted foxes to destroy his hens year after 

 year without making an attempt to stop them; 

 and if a man were killed by a tiger which he had 

 refused to have killed, I'm afraid that some of us 

 would be rude enough to say, " Served him right. " 



Man's status upon this earth is based on the 

 assumption that he has the right to regulate 

 in so far as he is able, the status of every other 

 animal with which he has relations. Unless we 

 deny the right of this assumption and permit 

 ourselves to be dominated by the wild animals, 

 we must, to be consistent, protect the useful 

 birds from their, to us, less useful enemies. 



On large tracts devoted to the preservation of 

 birds, one way to get rid of their natural enemies 

 is to employ one or more men, part of whose duty 

 it should be to shoot and trap. Another way 

 is to give some local trapper the privilege of 

 clearing the place of vermin. Where traps are 

 used it. should be stipulated that they be visited 

 frequently. Such work should not be intrusted 

 to boys or to any but reliable men. 



On a small place one man with a gun, can, 

 without devoting much time to the work, do 

 a great deal toward keeping it free from bird 

 enemies. For example, I know one New Hamp- 

 shire man, who with a twenty-two calibre rifle, 

 has for years kept his home farm of a hundred 



