497 
September, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
test against giving them up to the local interests that 
wish to make money from them. They should not so 
yield them, and we do not believe that they will. Y et 
the people who wish to acquire this power are wide 
awake and are working hard. . 
We have the greatest confidence m the ultimate 
common sense of the plain American people— a 
sleeping giant not easily aroused, but when aroused, 
irresistible. Yet even a giant, if he is too careless, 
if he sleeps too long, may be robbed of his power. 
Already efforts are being made m California to se- 
cure water power within the Sequoia National Park, 
and within the area proposed for the Roose\elt Na- 
tional Park. Local people wish to secure the water 
in the Falls River district, to seize the Yellowstone 
Lake to obtain power rights in Cataract Canyon, 
Grand Canyon National Park, and in other places. 
Whether or not they can get these depends on the 
people of the United States, who are free to express 
themselves in the public press and later through 
their representatives in Congress. What will they 
have to say about it? . 
If we are to save the parks, the first thing to be 
done is to see that they, the National Parks and Mob- 
uments, are excepted from the provisions of the r ed- 
eral Water Power Bill. This will require legislation, 
and legislation will take time. The danger is immi- 
nent. . „ 
“The Philistines be upon thee Samson. 
SLAUGHTER OF EAGLES IN ALASKA 
IN January, 1919, through the columns of Bird- 
1 Lore, the Audubon Association first advised the 
public of the nefarious bounty law in Alaska, which 
provides for the payment of 50 cents for every 
American Eagle killed in that territory. In the 
May-June issue of the same year there appeared an 
account of its efforts to secure, at the last session 
of the Alaska Legislature, the repeal of this law. 
The articles attracted the attention of many who 
in turn have voiced their opposition to the idea of 
Alaska seeking to exterminate these noble birds. 
The Association has put in motion certain move- 
ments which may, before long, result in the repeal 
of this law. In the meantime the slaughter of 
Eagles goes merrily on at the rate of 200 a month. 
The following extract from a letter, dated April 
22 1920, and written by the Secretary of the Alaska 
Fish and Game Club, to Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, Sec- 
retary of the Audubon Association, brings up to 
date the available information regarding the 
slaughter of these birds : 
“It is advised that the Territorial records show 
that since last reporting to you as of date December 
6 1918, bounty has been paid upon 3,256 Eagles or 
a total of 8,356 since the passage of the act and its 
taking effect. A vast difference is noted in the num- 
ber of Eagles in southeastern and western Alaska 
and it is a safe prediction that if the slaughter con- 
tinues for a few years longer the species will become 
practically extinct in this country. The number upon 
which bounty has been paid does not cover all which 
have been destroyed, for it is agreed by hunters that 
many a bird which has been shot is not recoveied. 
Various estimates have been made as to the propor- 
tion of those brought in for bounty to those de- 
stroyed, ranging from 25 to 50 per cent. It is be- 
lieved that out of every four shot, three are reported 
for bounty, the other is either lost in the woods or 
is seriously wounded and subsequently dies.” 
The National Association of Audubon Societies, 
1974 Broadway, New York City, is collecting reso- 
lutions from various organizations to file with the 
Legislature of Alaska on this subject, and all sports- 
man’s clubs and associations are invited to co- 
operate by writing to tee above address. 
STERN NATURE 
jWIOST of us, untrained to observe, think of Nature 
fVl as a kindly mother. We see how the wild 
things are fed, how they are taught to live their 
lives, and so to preserve them. All about us we be- 
hold the lavishness with which untouched Nature 
supplies the needs of plant and animal life. As we 
personify Nature we attribute to her the tender 
love that the animal mother feels for her offspring 
and her impulse to give them protection when they 
most need it. . . .. 
The figure that we use is charming, yet it is lar 
from true — a mere product of our sentiment. 
Nature is stern, uncompromising and relentless \ 
her rule is a rule of law ; about her there is none of 
the gentleness, the tenderness, the yielding of the 
animal mother, untiring in her efforts to care for 
her children. If the laws that Nature has laid down 
are transgressed, suffering and often destruction 
will follow. Some of these rules are known, very 
many are unknown, but whether the transgression 
be intentional or unwitting, the punishment follows. 
Often to our unintelligent judgment the punishment 
appears wholly causeless, wholly unnecessary. Yet 
it is as certain — and to our eyes as cruel — as when 
the little child strays on the railroad track just in 
front of the onrushing train and is ground to death. 
Along the northern border of its range the Vir- 
ginia quail may flourish for years, rearing its large 
broods, wintering in the swamps, coming out in 
spring with but little loss to still further increase m 
numbers. At last comes a winter of hard cold, of 
deep snows, and some night toward the end of the 
winter a heavy snow storm buries all the broods of 
quail over a wide district, and the weather turning 
warm and then freezing, a hard crust is formed, im- 
prisoning them, so that they cannot escape. 
In late May or early June, after song birds have 
come and mated and built their nests and are hatch- 
ing their young, a furious storm of wind and driving 
rain may overturn ten thousand nests and hurl eggs 
and young to the ground to die of cold. 
On the islands of the Gulf of Mexico where un- 
counted thousands of sea birds yearly rear uncount- 
ed thousands of young, there often come in the breed- 
ing season terrible storms, raising tumultuous seas, 
which at last sweep over the low islands where the 
birds have built their nests, chilling the eggs and 
drowning the young birds — destroying the increase 
for a year. 
We see these things happen constantly, but we 
do not know why they happen. Yet seeing them we 
are able to look a little below the surface, and to 
realize something of our ignorance of the immutable 
laws that govern the processes of life that are con- 
stantly going on about us. 
Civilized man — disturber of the balance of nature 
and destroyer of every wild thing which he can turn 
to his own advantage — is only now beginning to 
learn something of the inter-relations of wild life 
and the agriculture on which he depends. So far 
as in him lies, he should endeavor to mitigate the 
harshness of nature toward many of the useful birds 
and animals, whose old time refuges he himself has 
destroyed. He should do what he can to protect 
these little children of the wild from their natural 
enemies and from the hostilities of climate. 
