I 
! ebruary, 1923 67 
tacked by coyotes and their number reduced to seven- 
en. A few young, born last spring, caused a slight in¬ 
ease, but this autumn the number estimated on the 
ange is only twenty-five. 
A similar misfortune overtook the antelope held in 
le Wind Cave National Game Preserve, which also 
ad its beginnings in two successive plantings of herds 
: antelope of thirteen each, donated by the Boone and 
rockett Club. This herd, which has always been 
ibject to losses from wild animals, numbered thirty- 
jur in the summer of 1921. During the winter ravages 
y bobcats and coyotes reduced these to fourteen, 
ome young were born in the spring and there are 
ow supposed to be twenty there. 
! ( 
It is said that during the past winter a large num- 
er of coyotes were trapped and killed on and near the 
lontana Bison Range and the Wind Cave National 
ame Preserve. This seems somewhat like an effort to 
>ck the stable door after the horse has been stolen, 
tit it is well to get rid of these destructive creatures. 
part of the duty of the wardens employed on each 
f these game preserves should be to spend a good 
art of the winter in looking after and destroying these 
nimals so dangerous to the antelope. 
This beautiful and unique species seems rapidly on 
le road toward extermination, and the places in the 
mited States where it may still be found are few in- 
eed. In Northern California there are a few, some 
i Oregon and Nevada, and some in Southern Idaho, 
dl these, however, are exposed to constant dangers 
■om thoughtless and uninformed hunters, as well as 
•om their natural wild enemies. The species cannot 
, e preserved for the United States until Congress is 
ufficiently interested in the subject to take action look- 
ag toward establishing a large reserve for their preser- 
ation, and Congress will not do this until the public 
i sufficiently interested in the matter to let our legis- 
itors know how it feels. 
Other animals kill a great many others while owls and 
hawks do a world of harm. 
If you do not help to conserve bird life you fail to 
encourage free labor, if you are a farmer and kill birds 
you rob yourself of money! You should not permit 
the burning over of brush lands where birds make their 
nests. They are your friends ! 
No one can fully state the esthetic value of birds but 
perhaps we may help to arouse to a certain extent the 
popular mind. Chickadees, juncos, snowbirds and others 
are with us always; the singers: the robin, the bluebird, 
the song sparrow, the rose-breasted grosbeak, bobo¬ 
links, meadow larks, mockingbirds, cardinals and a host 
of others in summer. 
Let no one imagine our birds are excelled as singers 
by the birds of any other land! The English poets 
sang of their songbirds, giving them a world-wide repu¬ 
tation. Milton wrote of the nightingale: “Sweet bird 
that shuns the noise of folly, most musical, most melan¬ 
choly” ; another of the skylark wrote: “Hark the lark 
at heaven’s gate sings,” and Tennyson added, “and lost 
in yonder living blue, the lark becomes a sightless 
song!” 
Our poets have written equally well of our song¬ 
birds. All who have, in the springtime around three 
o’clock in the morning, listened to the robin’s song, and 
those who are acquainted with the mockingbird, that 
“slim Shakespeare” of the woods, know full well these 
have no superiors! What would the country be like 
without a single songbird? The fields without a bird 
note, the forests silent, the orchards still and the front 
yards unvisited by a single singer? 
Birds should be attracted and protected. They should 
be studied and rigid laws for their protection passed 
and enforced. A number of birds that migrate would 
remain and aid the farmer if fed in winter and a shelter 
from the weather provided. 
II 
A BRIEF FOR BIRDS 
AN is the birds’ worst enemy but he should be 
their greatest protector and friend, because he is 
their greatest beneficiary. Birds should be pro- 
ected for esthetic and financial reasons, but as it is 
asier to convince one by showing him how to save 
ollars and cents, we shall discuss the latter first. 
, Over a half billion dollars worth of farm and forest 
roducts is destroyed each year by insect pests. Tim¬ 
ber interests lose a hundred million; cotton planters 
ixty million, and the grain crop suffers a loss of two 
| mndred million dollars. These are government figures 
1 nd demand consideration ! 
Birds can prevent this huge loss if given a chance. 
)ne insect-eating bird consumes at least one hundred 
Iff these pests daily. A chickadee averages more than 
00 insects a day, a tanager destroys large numbers 
>f gypsy moths, a night hawk kills over 70 grasshoppers 
n a night, many birds destroy the army worm, black- 
1 lirds average 35 cut worms daily and martins feed on 
housands of mosquitoes. A pair of brown thrashers 
vill destroy over 50,000 insects in a summer and a 
>air of cedar birds are estimated to have destroyed 
2,000 canker worms in three months’ time. 
One can see the economic value of insectivorous 
I nrds. If many could be persuaded to befriend the 
Lirds, life would be brighter and money saved as well. 
[But birds are being killed at an alarming rate! Cats 
ire the worst offenders. Snakes probably come second. 
LAWS RELATING TO FUR BEARERS 
HE legislatures which met in eleven States during 
1922 made but few and unimportant changes in 
the laws relating to fur animals. 
In Alaska shooting of fur animals is now permitted, 
but beaver houses or runways may not be destroyed. 
Foxes certified as disease-free by an official veterinarian 
of another country may be imported without quarantine. 
In Montana a person suffering damage from beavers 
may get a permit to take these animals on his own 
premises, but skins so taken must be cared for, prop¬ 
erly cured, and sent to the State game warden for 
tagging. A special permit must be secured in order 
to ship the skin out of the State. 
Evidence of illegal shipments of fur has been un¬ 
covered in the course of checking up shipments and re¬ 
ceipts of furs by the principal fur houses of the country. 
These cases have been prosecuted and fines and penal¬ 
ties totaling several thousands of dollars imposed. 
Not all States offer bounties for undesirable animals, 
although in most States where predatory creatures give 
trouble there is a price on the heads of wolves, moun¬ 
tain lions, bobcats, coyotes and similar destructive ani¬ 
mals. Sometimes the county or township pays the 
bounty. In Wisconsin the State treasurer duplicates 
all county awards. Seals are considered a pest in 
Massachusetts, as well as in the State of \\ ashington. 
Anyone who can catch a panther in New York State 
is entitled to $20 bounty. Bears in Pennsylvania have 
an open and closed season, although they may be killed 
at any time in defense of person or property. 
