Wild Fowl and Men 273 



statements. The restoration of some northern nesting areas 

 has been well done, but the area reclaimed is so small a pro- 

 portion of the total that the effect is almost negligible. Drain- 

 age, ditching, pollution, and dams make great changes. It is 

 certain that land devoted more and more to the use of man 

 cannot be expected to raise waterfowl crops as it did when 

 it was in its natural state. 



In the meantime, what about the pintails? I can merely 

 speculate on their progress. And yet it is of the greatest im- 

 portance that enough of them and those in other flocks get 

 through. In their successful passage lies the future of the 

 species. Without them there will be no activity in the nesting 

 grounds. The winter will still be ahead of them and it too 

 will take its toll. Only a small fraction of the millions of birds 

 which winged south in fall will be left to begin the migra- 

 tion in spring. 



Even without hunting the trend of wild fowl is downward. 

 Steady decrease must be expected. Everybody who has 

 studied the disappearance of once-plentiful forms of wildlife 

 recognizes this. The predation of man increases this cer- 

 tainty, for it is different from the predation of other mam- 

 mals. It is well recognized that the relation between wildlife 

 predators and the preyed-upon tends to become stabilized 

 so that the latter continues to exist. When the preyed-upon 

 are greatly reduced in numbers, the predators lack sufficient 

 food and must leave or die. Either result reduces the pressure 

 on the prey and enables them to increase in numbers again. 

 But there is no such relief from the pressure of the predator, 

 man. The condition continues, unless man has the foresight 

 to realize the position in which the victim is placed. 



Man seldom has displayed this foresight. Natural causes 

 finished the heath hen, the great auk, the passenger pigeon, 

 the Eskimo curlew, but it was man who so reduced them in 

 numbers that the species fell easy prey to catastrophes which 

 it might otherwise have met without difficulty. 



