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Prodigal — and Ruthless 
By C. O. DECKER 
NATURE IN ITS EFFORTS to perpetuate the many species that have evolved 
is most prodigal; but in failing to provide sustenance for the in some cases 
enormous increase of these various forms, and in its efforts toward achieving 
a balance between the species, it is equally ruthless. 
Predation, which is generally thought of as something unnatural and 
reprehensible, as a source of food and as a measure of control to keep the 
species within proper limits, becomes necessary and right. We commonly 
think of predators as being confined to animals or birds that prey upon 
other animals or birds, but the practice is much broader than that and there 
are predators throughout all nature. 
Insects prey upon each other; fish prey upon insects and upon each 
other; birds prey upon insects, fish, small mammals and each other; 
mammals prey upon all other forms and each other; and all levy tribute 
upon the products of plant life for some of their sustenance. Mankind, 
not the least among the predators, is the only one that has placed plant 
and animal life under control for his own benefit and adapted them to his 
uses. Excess production of plants, insects (for example, the bees), 
mammals and birds, more than is necessary to maintain the species, becomes 
food for mankind, and thus we rank high on the list of predators. 
Among plants the tendency to excess reproduction is very marked. 
Take, for instance, the common Dandelion. If all or any large proportion 
of the seeds were to germinate the outlook for the world would be decidedly 
yellow. But here enters the ruthlessness that keeps them in check. After 
a part have furnished food for the sparrows, goldfinches, buntings, and 
others, and other parts have been destroyed by various means, the portion 
left to continue the species is still adequate, and large enough to make 
plenty of work for those who have a pride in their lawns. 
Suppose our waxwings, robins, etc., were to forget their taste for the 
wild cherry for a few years and all the seeds were to germinate. What a 
forest of wild cherry we should have. The same condition applies to all 
plant life and it is only by the most ruthless destruction that nature keeps 
it within bounds. . 
Coming up a step to the insects, we find much of the same situation. 
One form of beetle has been known to produce 6,000 eggs, and the great 
swarms of locusts have become periodical pests. Here again only ruthless 
destruction holds them from devouring every green plant and thus bringing 
about not only their own end but that of all other life on earth. Were it 
not for the fact that much of our birdlife depends upon insects for food, we 
should certainly be hard pressed to exist. Few know or realize how much 
we owe to our warblers, creepers, nuthatches, bob whites, meadowlarks, 
and all other insect eaters—which last includes some mammals and fish. 
It is in the fish that nature has shown possibly its greatest extravagance 
in the effort to increase the species. The common mackerel will produce 
from. 430,000 to 540,000 eggs, and is still a piker compared to a variety of 
