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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The present rapid consumption of the 

 herring has become doubly disastrous, 

 for it helps financially in maintaining the 

 fishing fleet during their concluding at- 

 tack on the lake trout, and then, with the 

 herring gone, any future effort to restore 

 the lake trout becomes increasingly diffi- 

 cult, as the hitter's main food supply is 

 thus destroyed. 



Would it he possible to imagine condi- 

 tions better adapted for the permanent 

 exhaustion of the game and commercial 

 fish in the finest and largest lake in the 

 world ? 



It has long been recognized that the 

 lack of cooperation on the part of the 

 States and Canadian provinces bordering 

 on the Great Lakes accounts for this 

 situation. With each acting separately 

 and each naturally disposed to have laws 

 equally liberal toward their local fisher- 

 men, it follows that the State or Province 

 spending the least money in fish culture, 

 or having the most improvident regula- 

 tions and the least efficient system of en- 

 forcement, sets the pace for the others, 

 while the governments of each country 

 must sit supinely by, because lacking any 

 authorized jurisdiction over international 

 waters in which their respective citizens 

 have a common interest. 



CANADA WILLING TO REVIVE THE TREATY 



It was to meet this unfortunate situa- 

 tion that the United States and Great 

 Britain negotiated and ratified a boundary 

 waters fishery treaty, but in 1914 failure 

 of the U. S. House of Representatives to 

 pass an enabling act, on account of minor 

 differences of fishermen in southern 

 Michigan and jealousy over the proposed 

 withdrawal of local regulations, has post- 

 poned indefinitely the operation of this 

 beneficent agreement. 



It is understood that Canada is still 

 willing to see the treaty revived by the 

 passage of appropriate legislation if our 

 country will now make a move in this 

 direction. 



By such coordination of authority and 

 cooperation in activities, the problem can 

 be readily solved ; for it is not a local 

 question in any sense, but one that is in- 

 terstate, national and international in 

 scope. 



That such a conclusion is reasonable 



and not speculative has already been es- 

 tablished by the Migratory Bird Treaty, 



under the recent operation of which our 

 wild-fowl are being rapidly replenished, 

 and the more valuable insectivorous birds 

 protected permanently in behalf of the 

 agricultural interests of each nation. 



CHAPTER VI 



TIIIC TIMBER-WOLF AN ANIMAL OFTEN 

 MISREPRESENTED 



From nearly every standpoint, the 

 timber-wolf is an interesting animal, the 

 only drawback to gaining an intimate 

 knowledge of its habits being the extreme 

 difficulty in finding any range where it 

 may be successfully studied; for to a 

 large extent its habits must be inferen- 

 tially determined, this prowler of the 

 night seldom coming under direct obser- 

 vation. 



No animal possesses greater sagacity 

 in avoiding its only enemy, man, and few 

 show greater cunning and persistence in 

 seeking their prey. If I were to be asked 

 to give a predominating characteristic of 

 the gray wolf, it would be its fear of 

 man. Accustomed from our early child- 

 hood to hear of its savage nature, and see- 

 ing frequently in the press the harrowing 

 accounts of men being pursued by these 

 bloodthirsty creatures and escaping only 

 by nimbleness in ascending a tree or per- 

 haps by barricading a wilderness cabin, 

 so conveniently at hand in such stories, 

 it is not strange that in the popular mind 

 the timber-wolf is still regarded as the 

 arch enemy of man. But there is the best 

 of proof to show that man has thoroughly 

 terrorized this animal. 



TWO GREAT CONTRASTS : THE WOLE AND 

 THE DOG 



The wolf and its descendant, the dog, 

 present the greatest contrast in their 

 respective attitudes toward man. One is 

 distrustful and cunning, skulking in the 

 shadows of the night, intent upon rending 

 to pieces any less powerful animal, but 

 having a dread of man so overpowering 

 that they often die of their overexertion 

 in desperate efforts to escape within a 

 few hours after being trapped ; and the 

 other affectionate, loyal beyond compari- 

 son, intent upon faithfully performing 



