490 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



to man that once again he had made a fool of 

 himself. 



In the southeastern part of Scotland the farmers 

 killed off all the native hawks and owls and the 

 field mice, freed from all their enemies, increased 

 and multiplied until, like the hordes of grasshop- 

 pers in Kansas, they destroyed all vegetation upon 

 hundreds of acres of farm land; this the mice did to 

 show man that he must not "monkey with nature's 

 buzz-saw," but we have not yet learned the lesson 

 and are at this present moment introducing the 

 stupid brown trout into streams once occupied by 

 our brilliant game native brook trout. We are ex- 

 terminating our prairie chickens and ruffed grouse, 

 both of them magnificent game birds, and intro- 

 ducing in their place the long-tailed Mongolian 

 pheasants. Evidently we Americans believe that 

 the great Creator did not know His business when 

 He peopled this continent. 



But fortunately there is a strong and growing 

 sentiment among cultured people which endorses 

 all efforts to restore to us our native birds, which 

 have all but been exterminated in the last thirty or 

 forty years. 



The only martin's house inhabited by martins 

 that I have seen lately is one in Branchville, New 

 Jersey. 



Before the War of the Rebellion there existed 

 very few farms or suburban residences which did 

 not own a martin house of some sort. In the South 

 it was often a long pole surmounted by a lot of 



