lyi Conservation Reader 



the world beautiful and attractive. Man is Nature's last 

 and most wonderful creation. He has learned to fly like 

 the birds, to swim under the sea like the fish, and to harness 

 Nature's forces and make them work for him. But man, 

 with all his wisdom, has too often forgotten that he is really 

 a brother to the lower creatures. The inhabitants of the 

 air, the land, and the water could, if they were able to 

 talk, tell the most pitiful tales of man's cruel treatment of 

 them. 



Of course we have to eat, as do all other living creatures, 

 but for thousands of years people have supplied their wants 

 largely from agriculture and from the domestic herds. 

 Although very few of us now have to hunt for our food, and 

 these few are those who live far out on the borders of newly 

 settled regions, yet we have not forgotten the hunting in- 

 stincts of our ancestors. 



Our ancestors of long ago, like the savages on the earth 

 today, seldom killed game unless they needed it for food. 

 We, who think ourselves far better than they, now kill 

 wild life for the pleasure of the chase. The professional 

 hunter who seeks the glossy coats of the fur-bearing ani- 

 mals or the beautiful plumage of certain birds gives no 

 thought to the wasted bodies that he leaves behind. 



Since men have become civilized and their needs have 

 become so many, Nature's arrangements have been seriously 

 disturbed. She has not armed the wild creatures against 

 men, who, with all kinds of marvelous weapons, are able to 

 take advantage of them. The wild creatures discover very 

 quickly that they can find little protection against this new 

 enemy, no matter how quick and sharp their senses are. 



The blue jay has only his sharp eyes to help him when he 



