GENERAL METHODS 5 



case where signs proved ineffective, and the owner published 

 a request or warning in the local papers. Next night all his 

 wire fencing around a large farm was cut and ruined, and 

 his whole season's work handicapped. People who resort 

 to such vandalism are in the class with the wild vermin and 

 should be treated accordingly. 



In another recent case, a country town in Connecticut, 

 Morris, was overrun by "sports" who came up in autos 

 from neighbouring cities, slaughtered the game and fish, and 

 defied every law. The local game-warden did nothing. At 

 last the farmers organized a Protective Association, posted 

 nearly the whole town, hired their own attorney, and 

 rigorously prosecuted every trespasser. After several in- 

 vaders had been heavily mulcted, the rest of them gave that 

 town a wide berth. Hunters deplore the closing of private 

 land, but it is often their own fault, and the innocent, un- 

 fortunately, have to suffer with the guilty. 



Protection from Vermin. A second line of protective 

 effort lies in the extermination of vermin. A separate chap- 

 ter will be devoted to this subject, but some things may 

 here be said about the problem. It is astonishing how 

 many noxious creatures there are upon the average innocent- 

 looking tract of land. Following is a list of vermin killed on 

 the Childs-Walcott estate in Norfolk, Connecticut, from 

 February, 1911, to September, 1913: 



Nine foxes, 24 raccoons, 159 weasels, 7 muskrats, 6 skunks, 

 81 domestic cats, 39 rats, 5 wildcats, 201 red squirrels, 9 

 large owls, 4 hawks, 81 crows. In this list the number of 

 hawks is unusually small, and I know a case where the num- 

 ber of domestic cats taken was considerably larger. On the 

 average wild tract, unless extermination of vermin is re- 

 sorted to, birds can barely hold their own. One of the most 

 necessary qualities of a keeper is that he be a good trapper 



