cts, and happy should be that
farmer who can get them to come about his home. Can you find it in your
heart to shoot the father bird, as, perched upon some sightly point, he
watches for danger while the mother just off the nest with her little
brood feeds trustfully under his care?

The hunting of quail for market is now prohibited by law. But before
protection came market hunters were known to carry out the most cruel
methods in order to bag the quail in large numbers. In the drier parts
of our country, the springs where quail came to drink were covered until
the thirsty birds gathered in large numbers. In this way the hunters
were able to obtain all they wanted.

[Illustration: _Finley & Bohlman_
Gulls and terns on their resting ground.]

Let us henceforth show by our kindness and good will to the living
things around us that we are not merciless savages, thinking only of
something to eat, but rather that we appreciate their presence and the
great good that they do.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

HOW TO BRING THE WILD CREATURES BACK AGAIN

In the preceding chapters we have learned something of the destructive
warfare that men have carried on against wild creatures. We have learned
that some species are already extinct and that many others have been so
reduced in numbers that they are threatened with the same fate.

Nothing that we can do will bring back those that are gone, but we can
save those that are left. Throughout our own country as well as many
foreign countries, people are waking up to the necessity of protecting
wild life. Thousands of men and women are spending their time and money
trying to save birds and other animals. Among the things they are doing
is the establishing of refuges and game preserves, working for better
laws, and teaching boys and girls to be careful of life and not wantonly
to destroy it.

The most important thing that we can do to bring wild creatures back
again is to let them alone. Man is their worst enemy, and, if he can be
kept from hunting, nearly all will be able to take care of themselves
and increase in numbers. We can help Nature by supplying them with food
when it is scarce and by protecting them from a few predatory animals
and birds. The worst of these are the cougar or mountain lion, wild cat,
lynx, wolves, and coyotes; the blue jay, butcher bird, and several of
the hawks and owls. The cougar is the worst of all, for it has been
estimated that one of these animal