22 



farmers' bulletin 932. 



good than harm. As a matter of fact many of our fur animals are 

 an asset to the country, equally as valuable as our game, and expe- 

 rience has often proved that their destruction is no real help to game 

 conservation. 



Birds of prey, including eagles, hawks, and owls, may be included 

 in the list of flesh-eating animals that on the wdiole are more useful 

 than harmfid, because their chief economic function is to destroy 

 noxious rodents. A few species of hawks that feed mainly on small 

 birds should be considered noxious, but this should not lead to war- 

 fare against hawks as a class. In almost every instance of depre- 

 dation on poultry by either bird or mammal, the individual and not 

 the species is the offender. Punishment should, therefore, be directed 

 against the individual. It is within the law in many States for the 

 farmer to kill an animal that destroys his property; but it is unjust 

 to carr}^ on an offensive campaign against all hawks or all minks 

 because one has been a marauder on poultry. The payment of 

 money from the public treasury in a general warfare against certain 

 hawks or owls is especially open to danger, in that the public does 

 not distinguish between species, and the useful ones are often the 

 ones to be destroyed. 



Snakes also are extremely useful in controlling the numbers of 

 rodents. That very few snakes are venomous is too often forgotten, 

 and all species are wantonly destroj^ed. People throughout the 

 country should acquaint themselves with the habits of snakes and 

 learn the folly of killing them; farmers, especially, should do all 

 in their power to protect the harmless kinds. 



COOPERATION IN-^CONTROLLING RODENTS. 



Any farmer may by care and industry free his own premises of 

 harmful rodents, but he is helpless to prevent an early recurrence 

 of the trouble unless he can secure the active cooperation of his 

 neighbors.^ Only by unity of effort can an entire county or town- 

 ship be freed of any kind of rodent that may inflict losses on crops 

 or other property. By combining to hire labor and purchase poison 

 the cost of treatment may be materially reduced, and when perma- 

 nance of results is considered there can be no question of the economy 

 of such cooperation. It is urged, therefore, that wherever possible 

 the destruction of rodent pests be made a community undertaking. 



In the past, individual efforts, often supplemented by the payment 

 of bounties by State, county, or township, have accomplished so 

 little to reduce rodent depredations that other methods are now re- 

 quired. In many western counties the sum paid out in a single year 



1 Cf. Separate No. 724, from the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1917, 

 entitled " Cooperative Campaigns for the Control of Ground Squirrels, Prairie-Dogs, and 

 Jack Rabbits," by W. B. BelL 



