WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 79 



that it is not necessary or desirable to destroy them all. 

 They should be controlled only so far as is necessary to 

 permit the game to increase in numbers rapidly. In 

 some places certain feathered enemies of game are not 

 sufficiently plentiful to require much attention. Pre- 

 daceous birds, however, are known to gather where 

 food is abundant, and gamekeepers should not be 

 prevented by law from controlling them when it be- 

 comes necessary to save the game birds on the rearing 

 grounds. 



The Eagle. This magnificent bird of prey has been 

 so nearly extirpated in the Eastern States that he does 

 very little damage, and in places where it is rare no one 

 should think of killing it, unless it does much damage. 

 I would be inclined to let an. eagle have a number of 

 ducks, and I may say as much for several other pre- 

 datory creatures when they are not numerous enough to 

 do a great amount of harm. 



I saw an eagle not long ago which was killed by the 

 gamekeeper on a New Jersey preserve when it attempted 

 to take his ducks, and on an adjoining preserve the 

 gamekeeper has a mounted eagle in his cottage which he 

 shot when it was preying upon his pheasants. 



In certain parts of the West eagles are fairly abundant, 

 and a number of eagles should not be tolerated in the 

 vicinity of a duck pond any more than a pack of wolves 

 should be tolerated in a sheep fold. Laws intended to 

 protect vermin for sentimental or for economic reasons 

 should not apply, as I have said often, to the breeders or 

 preservers of game. 



In most parts of its range the bald eagle feeds more 

 largely on water fowl than on any other kind of birds. 



