52 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



escaped the hunter's onslaught upon them, and we can get an approximate 

 estimate of their helpfulness in protecting our forests and agricultural 

 interests. 



Ants do a great deal of mischief sometimes. A brood of partridges will 

 eat up a whole hill of them in a day, but the hunter does not hesitate to 

 shoot the last partridge even when rearing her young. 



FOREST ZOOLOGY. 



OUR GAME ANIMALS. 



Except where the law defines when men may or may not trap and kill 

 them, no provision has been made by the state to protect, much less 

 propagate, our valuable game animals, such as the moose, the deer, the 

 otter, the beaver, the bear, the fox; and such prohibition is generally a 

 nullity when the hunters get into the woods. They pay no regard whatever 

 to the preservation of any such animal. They like to kill the wolf because 

 there is a bounty on it. They are more likely to let the lynx live, though 

 he is said to kill more young deer than the wolf. Like the angler and the 

 axman, they take the last of the best, caring nothing for the needs of the 

 future. 



Our moose, once quite common, are nearly extinct. The law now forbids 

 shooting them at all, but this makes no difference with the hunter when he 

 gets a chance to shoot one. Our deer are lessening. The slaughter of 

 them is by the wholesale. A few years ago the beaver and otter were 

 numerous; now and then a solitary one is found, and that is trapped. The bear 

 is meeting the same fate, and so the fox and the mink. In a slight degree 

 our laws do check the spoiliation, but in the main they are inoperative. 

 Our game animals they are going with our native woods. What an utter 

 absurdity to pass laws regulating the shooting, and yet do nothing to save 

 the forests in whose fastnesses they seek a refuge and find a home! 



marsh hawk, Circus Hudsonius . 



This hawk, common in our woods and prairies, lives on crickets, lizards, 

 frogs, snakes, small wild birds, and domestic chickens when the shepherd 

 dog is not around; but does not kill a tenth part as many of the latter as 

 the skunk, that is pursued with less onslaught. Mice and gophers consti- 

 tute a major part of the hawk's food. Valuable as its service is, most 

 everybody tries to exterminate this "warrior of the skies." 



