INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY EFFORT 293 



serves should not only appreciate their responsibilities, but 

 also their opportunities, and, as far as may be possible, a 

 constructive policy should be carried out in the matter of 

 game protection. It is not sufficient merely to pay periodi- 

 cal visits for the purpose of hunting and fishing, but every 

 effort should be made to increase the wild life and improve 

 the environmental conditions. 



An incessant campaign against predatory animals and 

 birds should be carried out; attention should be given to 

 available food suppUes and to their improvement, and the 

 conditions with regard to cover can frequently be improved. 

 In all such preserves the possibiUty of ground and other 

 fires should always be remembered, and every precaution 

 taken to prevent them within the reserve, or to check them 

 should they start outside. Fires are the most destructive 

 of all factors that adversely affect our wild life, inasmuch as 

 they destroy everything — ^breeding-stock, food, and shelter 

 — and a lifeless desolation remains. 



Throughout Canada there are many areas reserved by 

 clubs and individuals for duck-shooting. These reserves 

 usually include marshes and small ponds and lakes, or the 

 shores of lakes. Many of the areas to which I allude can- 

 not be classed as game or wild-life reserves in the true sense 

 of the word; on the contrary, they appear to be maintained 

 chiefly for the purpose of attracting and killing the greatest 

 number of birds with the least expenditure of trouble; the 

 only encouragement the wild fowl receive consists of the 

 grain that is distributed in order to secure larger bags, and 

 the only protection existing is the protection of the rights 

 of the owners of the reserved area. On the other hand, 

 there are numerous private reserves which have been estab- 

 lished chiefly for duck-shooting, in which every effort is 

 made to attract ducks by planting suitable food-plants, to 

 propagate them, and to protect them from their enemies. 

 Such reserves are rendering valuable aid in conserving our 



