PESTS AND THEIR TREATMENT 125 



On the whole, this subject demands exact knowl- 

 edge, nice discrimination and judicial treatment. 

 Upon the very threshold of the subject, I wish to 

 impress most strongly upon the mind of every stu- 

 dent the vital necessity of evidence that can stand 

 the test of cross-examination. It is very desirable 

 that every person who may be called upon to deal 

 with wild life, and decide the fate of creatures that 

 are helpless in their own defense, should spend a 

 few days in a court-room, listening to the trials of 

 half a dozen cases of different kinds. A court- 

 room is the best place in the world in which to learn 

 what constitutes real evidence, and to learn the 

 imperative necessity of taking testimony on both 

 sides of a serious question. 



Let me cite a celebrated case bearing on this 

 point, to illustrate what easily becomes the wicked 

 folly of hastily calling a wild species a pest, 

 and condemning it to destruction on insufficient 

 evidence. 



For several years prior to the year 1900, the 

 fishermen of San Francisco had been complaining 

 that the sea-lions of the California coast were 

 devouring enormous quantities of salmon and other 

 valuable food fishes, and that they had greatly 

 diminished the annual fish supply. In addition to 

 this, it was claimed that the sea-lions caused great 

 damage to fishermen's nets and impounded fishes. 

 The fishermen formally demanded of the California 



