The Destructiveness of Man .173 



seeks the cunningly hidden nest of another bird with the 

 hope of being able to dine upon eggs. The breakfast of the 

 wolf depends alone upon his quickness in catching a rabbit. 

 The mountain lion depends upon his stealthiness when 

 stalking a deer. The Indian relies upon his skill in imitat- 

 ing the call or the appearance of an animal when he tries to 

 approach near enough to use his bow and arrow. Civilized 

 men have lost much of the keenness of sight and hearing 

 they once had, but they have far more than made up for 

 this through their ingenuity in making deadly weapons.-; 



We depend no longer upon the hunt for each day's supply 

 of food. But the instinct to hunt which still remains -we 

 use to amuse ourselves while upon our camping trips. Some 

 people even made a living by hunting for the market, al- 

 though, fortunately for the wild creatures, little of this kind 

 of hunting is now permitted. 



The desire to get out of doors and live for a time each 

 year among the wild mountains is another instinct which 

 comes to us from our savage forefathers. This is a bene- 

 ficial instinct, for life in the fresh air gives us new strength. 

 The hunting instinct is not wrong in itself. It is the man- 

 ner in which we hunt that is wrong. But how much finer 

 it would be if, instead of using an outing as an excuse to 

 destroy the wild creatures, we should use it to learn about 

 them and their curious ways. How much more real pleas- 

 ure there is in studying the habits of the denizens of the 

 woods and fields than there is in killing them ! 



Many a boy wants to carry a gun, because he has read 

 lurid stories of Indians and robbers, or of hunting in the 

 jungles where lions and tigers abound. This often leads to 

 the killing of harmless birds for the lack of bigger game. 



