40 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



the killing of these birds, except the incorrigible 

 six, and any other individual caught red-handed in 

 the act of stealing poultry or game. A few States 

 have already put some birds of prey upon the pro- 

 tected list, and the next decade probably will see 

 the entire Union falling in line. The bounty 

 system of paying for the killing of hawks has 

 virtually everywhere been discontinued. The 

 country has thus been saved millions of dollars 

 both in bounties and in crops. The people are no 

 longer willing to pay cash for what really amounts 

 to increased destruction of their own farm prod- 

 ucts. They have learned through observation, 

 research, and experience that a reduction in the 

 number of raptorial birds is invariably accompa- 

 nied by a wave of noxious rodents. 



Destruction of Fruit and Grain 



Now to the shady side of birds in their effect 

 upon agriculture. Many persons have awakened 

 on a June morning to find their pet cherry-tree 

 stripped clean of its fruit ; perhaps they have not 

 yet even tasted a cherry of the year. Some have 

 suffered the loss of a fine crop of strawberries; 

 others have entered the garden to pick raspberries 

 and found to their chagrin that there were none. 

 They have every right to feel injured, robbed. 



