The Policemen of the Air 



91 



no purpose in their ears but to indicate 

 the whereabouts of their victims. Hunt- 

 ing small birds with them is a passion. 

 Unless speedy cognizance is taken of the 

 tendencies of this rapidly increasing class 

 of immigrants, some of our most valua- 

 ble song and insect-eating birds will be 

 in danger of extermination. 



It should arouse a feeling of pride in 

 Americans that our Republic has taken a 

 foremost place among the nations that 

 care for and protect birds. Much has 

 already been accomplished in this country 

 in the cause of bird protection, but much 

 still remains to be done. So long as 

 dead birds for hat gear are valued at a 

 higher rate than living birds, and so 

 long as game birds count for more in the 

 way of sport and food than as active 

 working friends of the farmer, so long 

 will there be missionary work to do for 

 such organizations as the Biological 

 Survey and Andubon Societies. 



MANY OF THE SMALL MAMMALS BECOMi; 

 PESTS 



The relations of mammals to agricult- 

 ure are very different from those of 

 birds. Most birds, as has been shoWn, are 

 beneficial, even those with injurious hab- 

 its, as a rule, compensating in whole or in 

 part for the damage they do. Such is 

 by no means the case with mammals. As 

 a result of the investigations of the 

 Biological Survey, some of our common 

 mammals indeed have been found to 

 perform valuable service to man. To 

 this class belong the bats, moles, and 

 shrews, which are insectivorous ; the bad- 

 ger, which is an indefatigable mouser 

 when it cannot find larger game in the 

 shape of prairie dogs and similar rodents ; 

 and the skunks and weasels, which de- 

 stroy vast numbers of insects as well as 

 mice. The fox, wild-cat, ring-tailed 

 civet, and opossum also are believed to be 

 useful in the main, as they eat many in- 

 sects and small rodents and by no means 

 destroy as much game as is popularly 

 supposed. Reynard's raids on the poultry 

 yard are not common, and they are so 

 easily guarded against that they should 

 count but little in the scale against him. 



Even coyotes when they follow their 

 natural bent perform an important ser- 

 vice — they keep down the number of 

 rabbits, which constitute their natural 

 prey. Unfortunately, however, the coy- 

 ote early contracted a taste for mutton, 

 and in some regions successful sheep- 

 raising is practically impossible because 

 of its destructive raids. Experiments are 

 being made by the Biological Survey 

 and Forest Service to discover a cheap 

 method of fencing by means of which dep- 

 redations on sheep may be prevented. 

 Effective fencing of sheep against cey- 

 otes will compel these animals once mere 

 to rely for food chiefly on rabbits, prairie 

 dogs, and other destructive rodents. 



When all has been said, however, the 

 list of our wild mammals that are of 

 essential service to man is comparatively 

 small, even if we include in it a number 

 which are harmful and beneficial by 

 turns, like minks, coyotes, foxes, and 

 others, compared to the army that are 

 always and everywhere injurious. 



WOLVES CAUSE MILLIONS OE DOLLARS OF 

 LOSS YEARLY 



It was predicted that the extermina- 

 tion of the buffalo would be followed by 

 that of the big wolf, so intimately asso- 

 ciated were the two in the days when the 

 wolf used to prey on the young, the 

 aged, and the crippled buffalo ; and for a 

 time after our largest native mammal 

 succumbed to the robe-hunter it seemed 

 as if the prediction was likely to be ful- 

 filled, so scarce did wolves become. But 

 the old buffalo ranges soon filled with 

 cattle, and the wolf took on a new lease 

 of life, and in some localities now 

 threatens to become as numerous as in 

 former times. The value of the cattle 

 destroyed annually by wolves amounts 

 to millions of dollars, and this despite 

 the payment of large sums as bounty for 

 wolf scalps. After investigation the 

 Biological Survey has recommended 

 measures which it is believed will pre- 

 vent the greater part of the damage. The 

 most important of these are the sys- 

 tematic use of poison and the destruc- 

 tion of the wolf pups in the breeding 



