16 THK 2420 (Do BON; 2B, DA aie 
such baleful creatures as the wolf or the rattlesnake, but the views of the 
well meaning but misinformed man who advocates the extermination of the 
lesser native natural enemies of birds, or even their general and indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter, should be given no serious consideration.” 
The killing of hawks in migration for sport or bounties, when many 
hundreds are killed in a day as they were at Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania, 
before the Emergency Conservation Committee took over the control of the 
present sanctuary, should be prohibited, for some of these birds are essential 
to the general welfare. Discrimination should be used as it is unsafe to 
deplete too far the numbers of any but the most powerful and dangerous 
predators. 
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A Visit with a Woodpecker 
I can recall an orchard gnarled and old 
Where round plump pippins showed their cheeks of gold 
Amid the leafage one ripe autumn day. 
A crooked lane had led my steps that way, 
And scaling the low barrier of a stile 
I wandered down the deeply-fruited aisle. 
There was no voice to cry me yea or nay 
Till suddenly, as I strayed on, I heard 
A most insistent tapping overhead 
As though “Who comes? who comes?” some one had said. 
I paused and listened. Was the sound a bird? 
Yes, for I saw above me on a limb 
A crested woodpecker all trig and trim 
Who craned his neck and cocked a gleaming eye. 
“Don’t be afraid!” I called, “it’s only I!” 
He seemed quite satisfied with my reply. 
“All right!” he tapped. We visited, and he 
Showed me odd things I had not dreamed to see; 
Firs store of grubs, his lodging for the night, 
His treasure there—four eggs of snowy white; 
And then we parted. ... Memory avers 
That I learned much about sleek woodpeckers. 
—CHARLES COMMERFORD. 
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ANIMALS KNOW what they have to know in order that the species may 
continue, and they know little else. They do not have to reason because 
they do not progress as man does. They have only to live and multiply, 
and for this instincts suflice them. Neither do they require any of our moral 
sentiments. These would be a hindrance rather than a help, and so far as 
I can see, they do not have them.—John Burroughs. 
