which we are daily losing through our carelessness and indifference,
even though he might put it to better use than we put it, there would at
once go up a great cry. We would raise an army and fight for our
property, and perhaps suffer great loss in defending it. But, day by
day, without making any serious objection, we are letting these natural
resources go to waste.
Perhaps in some far distant future, after we have used up the stores of
fuel in the earth, we may discover something to take its place; but wise
and thoughtful people should make the most of what they have.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
NEED FOR PROTECTION OF CREATURES THAT LIVE IN THE WATER
Perhaps you think it is absurd to talk about caring for the creatures
that live in the water, since they can so easily hide away in its depths
where we cannot follow. Perhaps you think that because the ocean is so
great it would be impossible ever to catch all the fish that live in it.
It is easy to understand how all the fish might be caught out of the
creeks, rivers, and shallow lakes, since fish are hungry and we put
before them such attractive bait; but with the ocean it seems different.
It stretches so many thousands of miles and is so very deep that there
does not appear to be any danger of exterminating the animals of the
ocean as we have some of those of the land.
Is it true, however, that all the vast waters of the ocean are full of
fish, or are they found only in certain parts? The fishermen can tell us
about this matter. They know where to set the hooks and nets, and where
they are most likely to get a good catch. They do not go far out where
the water is deep but seek, instead, the shallow waters near the shore
or about the reefs and islands. They know that the deep water of the
ocean contains very few fish and none that are of any value as food.
Each kind of fish has become adapted to certain parts of the ocean, for
both the food supply and the pressure of the water differ with different
depths. Fish caught in deep water are often dead before reaching the
surface, because of the decrease in the water pressure.
One reason why fish are not numerous far out in the ocean is because
there is little food to be had there. The reason no fish are found in
the very deep parts of the ocean is because the water there contains no
air particles. Strange as it may seem, although fish breathe water, they
cannot live unless it contains oxygen from the air.
The fish, then, that interest us because of their value for food, are
found only in the shallow waters usually near the shore and in the lakes
and rivers. Because of this fact it is possible, as we have learned from
experience, to set so many traps and use so many nets and hooks as
entirely to destroy certain species.
The fish have their natural enemies, and there is warfare among them
just as there is among the land animals. The larger and more powerful
live upon the smaller ones, but, seemingly to make up for this, Nature
has given the small fish quickness of movement--which the large fish do
not possess--to aid them in escaping. They have also the power of
increasing very rapidly. The little herring, which is the chief food of
many of the large fish, maintains its countless numbers against all its
enemies except the fishermen.
The Indians, with their crude traps, hooks, and spears, could obtain but
few fish at a time and did not reduce their numbers. But civilized man,
with his cunningly contrived hooks and nets, has the same advantage over
the fish that the hunter, with his repeating gun, has over the land
animals. Nature, not foreseeing how destructive man would be, has armed
neither the creatures of the land nor the creatures of the water against
him.
The fisherman does his work just as thoughtlessly as the hunter whose
business it is to supply the market. He seems to think no more about
the effect upon next season's supply, of his stretching a net across a
river and catching all the fish going up to spawn, than does the market
hunter who would, if he could, shoot the last duck. Is it not strange
that many fishermen will do anything in their power to evade the laws
governing the catching of fish when by doing so they injure their own
business?
[Illustration: _Edward S. Curtis_
A rocky island in the Pacific Ocean, used by seals as a sunning place.]
We have already nearly destroyed the mammals that live in the ocean.
Among them are the whales, which were once numerous in the arctic
regions. Few whaling ships now arrive with profitable cargoes of oil or
whalebone. The sea otter, the fur of which is more highly prized than
that of any other animal, and the walrus, valuable for its oil, are also
nearly extinct.
No more cruel hunting was ever carried on than was that of the seal
mothers in the open ocean where they go in search of food. When the
mothers are killed the young ones, left in the rookeries upon the
Pribilof Islands, soon die of starvation. The fur seal has thus been so
reduced in numbers that it was threatened with extinction. Now Russia,
Japan, England, and the United States have agreed to stop all killing of
the fur seal for a number of years.
As a result of the great demand for fish, and the careless methods used
by the thousands of men engaged in catching them, Nature unaided cannot
keep up the supply. For the purpose of assisting her, strict laws have
been passed in many states. These laws prohibit fishermen from
stretching their nets or weirs across the streams so as to block the
passage of the fish when going to their spawning grounds. They also
prohibit the taking of undersized fish and in some cases allow none at
all of some kinds to be taken for a given time. Our government is now
doing a great deal to save the food fishes of the country, but some
varieties are still decreasing.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
An Indian fish trap.]
The little herring is the most valuable of all the sea fish. Enormous
numbers are captured in nets, and still greater numbers form the food of
other fish. The herring has so many enemies that it must increase
rapidly in order to hold its place in the sea. Nature has arranged that
this fish should produce twenty thousand or more eggs at each spawning
season. It is thought that if only two eggs out of this great number
hatch and grow up, the supply of herring will be maintained. This
estimate does not, however, take into account the present terrible waste
of herring in the Chesapeake and other bays on the Atlantic coast,
where it is taken in nets and used for making land fertilizer. Is it any
wonder that the herring is now decreasing in numbers?
The oyster was once hunted so closely that it would have disappeared
from our coast waters if the young had not been taken and raised
artificially. Is it not interesting to know that we plant young oysters
on oyster farms, and raise oyster crops, all below the level of high
tide? The greatest oyster farms in the world are upon Chesapeake Bay.
There are also oyster farms in other bays upon the Atlantic seaboard,
and lately the oyster has been transplanted to the bays upon the Pacific
Coast.
The lobster was trapped so industriously that it also began to grow
scarce. Finally the government took up the matter of protecting it. The
eggs and the young were guarded, and now it is increasing in numbers.
Once the sturgeon was very plentiful in the lakes and rivers of our
country. For a long time it was thought to be of no value and was thrown
away when caught in nets set for other fish. Then it was discovered that
its flesh was delicious, and its eggs, known as _caviar_, became a very
fashionable dish. After this there followed a period of most destructive
fishing, and now sturgeon are quite scarce and high priced.
Herring, shad, and salmon are migratory fish. By this we mean that they
spend a part of their lives in the ocean but enter the bays and streams
at the spawning season. You can readily understand that if the bays are
blocked with nets the fish cannot reach the spawning grounds and their
numbers must decrease. Chesapeake Bay contains such a maze of nets, many
of them extending out ten miles from the shore, that it is a wonder
that any fish get past them.
[Illustration: _H. W. Fairbanks_
A fish wheel on the Columbia River, in which salmon are caught on their
way to the spawning grounds.]
The waters of New England were once filled with striped bass, smelt,
salmon, and shad, but now these fish are almost gone. The shad are
rapidly decreasing all along the Atlantic Coast. The nets in Lake Erie
extend out sometimes ten miles from shore, and the whitefish as well as
the sturgeon have been greatly reduced in numbers there.
When the Pacific Coast was first settled, the "salmon run" in the
Sacramento, Columbia, and other rivers was a wonderful sight. The waters
were fairly alive with these huge fish. Hydraulic mining so muddied the
waters of the Sacramento that their numbers greatly decreased. Then came
the fishermen and stretched their nets across the rivers, so nearly
blocking the channels that the salmon were rarely seen on their old
spawning grounds. Now salmon fishing is carefully regulated and salmon
are increasing.
The shallow waters of San Francisco Bay, the ocean for some miles out
from shore, and the waters about the islands of Southern California form
very valuable fishing grounds, which, if they are taken care of, will
furnish much larger supplies of fish than are now obtained.
The interesting discovery has been made that the waters around the
islands of Santa Catalina and San Clemente form important spawning
grounds for many food fish, including the great tuna. These waters were
fished so destructively that many of the fish were found to be
decreasing. This has led to the establishment of a fish preserve for
three miles about Santa Catalina Island. Within this area no fish are
allowed to be taken except with a hook and line. Some of the most
valuable fish, which were almost gone, are now becoming more numerous.
The fact that the fish stay close about the island where the water is
shallow makes the establishment of the preserve possible.
The salmon and halibut fisheries of the Alaskan waters have long been
the source of much profit. This region, owing to the many bays and
islands, fairly swarms with fish of many kinds. Protection will soon be
needed here if this great storehouse of fish is to be kept filled.
The cod fisheries of the Newfoundland banks are among the most valuable
in the world, and are almost the only ones where fishing has long been
carried on and where the supply is not decreasing. The "banks" are
formed by a great flat reef four hundred miles long, over which the
water is shallow enough to offer a fine home for cod.
Hatcheries have been established in many parts of our country for the
purpose of collecting and hatching fish eggs. These are used for
restocking those waters that have been fished out. After the eggs have
hatched and the young fish have reached a certain stage, they are
shipped to the streams where they are needed. The United States fishery
on the McCloud River, California, has distributed rainbow trout all over
the United States. Shad and striped bass have been brought from Eastern
fisheries and planted in Pacific Coast waters, where they are now
rapidly increasing.
Thus we learn that valuable food fish live within certain narrow bounds
instead of being distributed all through the waters of the globe. It is
as easy, with our many ingenious devices of net and weir, to destroy the
inhabitants of the water as it is to destroy those of the land with
guns.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
MAN MORE DESTRUCTIVE THAN THE OTHER ANIMALS
We have learned something about the struggle among the plants and
animals for food and for room on the earth. We must not think, however,
that this struggle is at all like the war that is carried on between
different nations. Wars are usually unnecessary and do more harm than
good, for they result in the loss of the strongest and best men. But the
struggle among the animals and plants has resulted in good, for it has
crowded out the weakest and those less fitted to live.
The struggle among all living things for food and a share of the
sunshine has covered the earth with a far greater variety than there
would otherwise be. Because so many more are born than there is room
for, they crowd and elbow each other. Many are forced to make their
homes in regions which they would not have chosen if they had been free
to do as they pleased. It is partly because of this crowding that some
of the animals which once lived on the ground became changed into birds
and made their homes in the trees. A number of the mammals found more
freedom in the water and finally became whales, seals, and walruses.
Many moved into deserts and, in learning to live with very little water,
developed curious bodies and habits. Some have found a home in the cold
North, where they have become suited to a climate which would quickly
kill those which had held their ground in the warm and moist tropical
regions.
Nature has thus filled the earth with an infinite variety of living
things, each of which is doing its part in making the world beautiful
and attractive. Man is Nature's last and most wonderful creation. He has
learned to fly like the birds, to swim under the sea like the fish, and
to harness Nature's forces and make them work for him. But man, with all
his wisdom, has too often forgotten that he is really a brother to the
lower creatures. The inhabitants of the air, the land, and the water
could, if they were able to talk, tell the most pitiful tales of man's
cruel treatment of them.
Of course we have to eat, as do all other living creatures, but for
thousands of years people have supplied their wants largely from
agriculture and from the domestic herds. Although very few of us now
have to hunt for our food, and these few are those who live far out on
the borders of newly settled regions, yet we have not forgotten the
hunting instincts of our ancestors.
Our ancestors of long ago, like the savages on the earth today, seldom
killed game unless they needed it for food. We, who think ourselves far
better than they, now kill wild life for the pleasure of the chase. The
professional hunter who seeks the glossy coats of the fur-bearing
animals or the beautiful plumage of certain birds gives no thought to
the wasted bodies that he leaves behind.
Since men have become civilized and their needs have become so many,
Nature's arrangements have been seriously disturbed. She has not armed
the wild creatures against men, who, with all kinds of marvelous
weapons, are able to take advantage of them. The wild creatures discover
very quickly that they can find little protection against this new
enemy, no matter how quick and sharp their senses are.
The blue jay has only his sharp eyes to help him when he seeks the
cunningly hidden nest of another bird with the hope of being able to
dine upon eggs. The breakfast of the wolf depends alone upon his
quickness in catching a rabbit. The mountain lion depends upon his
stealthiness when stalking a deer. The Indian relies upon his skill in
imitating the call or the appearance of an animal when he tries to
approach near enough to use his bow and arrow. Civilized men have lost
much of the keenness of sight and hearing they once had, but they have
far more than made up for this through their ingenuity in making deadly
weapons.
We depend no longer upon the hunt for each day's supply of food. But the
instinct to hunt which still remains we use to amuse ourselves while
upon our camping trips. Some people even made a living by hunting for
the market, although, fortunately for the wild creatures, little of this
kind of hunting is now permitted.
The desire to get out of doors and live for a time each year among the
wild mountains is another instinct which comes to us from our savage
forefathers. This is a beneficial instinct, for life in the fresh air
gives us new strength. The hunting instinct is not wrong in itself. It
is the manner in which we hunt that is wrong. But how much finer it
would be if, instead of using an outing as an excuse to destroy the wild
creatures, we should use it to learn about them and their curious ways.
How much more real pleasure there is in studying the habits of the
denizens of the woods and fields than there is in killing them!
Many a boy wants to carry a gun, because he has read lurid stories of
Indians and robbers, or of hunting in the jungles where lions and tigers
abound. This often leads to the killing of harmless birds for the lack
of bigger game. Boys should be taught either at home or in school the
sacredness of life, and a feeling of pity and love for the wild
creatures that are surrounded by enemies on every side. They should be
taught that animals have feelings and that they want to live. They
should be taught how wrong it is to destroy life uselessly. The nest of
eggs or helpless young left to their fate through the thoughtless
killing of a mother bird is a sight which must arouse the sympathy of
every boy who has been taught what it means.
[Illustration: _Eastman Kodak Company_
The only right way to hunt birds' nests--with a camera.]
The killing of the mothers is the surest way to destroy a species. The
laws in most of our states now regulate hunting during the breeding
season and limit the number of wild animals or birds that may be taken
in a given time. Whenever the numbers of any species become so reduced
that it is in danger of extinction, all hunting of that species should
be prohibited for a number of years.
We should feel sorry for those men who live in a civilized land and get
the benefit of its advantages and yet are worse than savages at heart.
If these men who are so wasteful of wild life could be stripped of their
destructive weapons and sent into the wilds to make their living as
savages do, they would soon learn to be more careful.
The animals prey upon each other because it is their nature to do so and
because their lives depend upon it. Savages hunt because they must have
food. We do not need to hunt, but, because of our higher intelligence,
our hunting methods are far more destructive than are those of either
animals or savages.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE ANIMALS AND BIRDS
Nature has done more for our land than for almost any other. She has
given it vast forests, fertile soil, favorable climate, enormous water
power, many minerals, and a wonderful variety of animal life.
During all the centuries that the Indians lived here before the coming
of white men, wild game furnished them their chief food, but in spite of
this, the amount of game was not decreased. When our forefathers landed
upon this continent, it fairly swarmed with animals and birds. With the
clearing away of the forests and the settling of the prairies men could
not help depriving many wild creatures of both their shelter and their
food, but this was not the chief cause for their rapid decrease in
numbers. Hunters followed them persistently into the wilder hills and
mountains, and many, not needed for food, were killed for their furs.
[Illustration: "There is no recovery of an extinct species. Conservation
or devastation--which shall it be? Common sense demands the regulation
of hunting in such a way that our wild life will persist as a permanent
asset." _Western Wild Life Call_, published by the California Associated
Charities for the Conservation of Wild Life.]
Now we may travel for days through the remote and still unsettled parts
of our country and see very little life of any kind except birds and
the smaller animals, such as squirrels. Occasionally we may start up a
deer that flees away from us like the wind. Still more rarely we come
upon a bear and are fortunate if we get even the merest sight of him
before he is gone.
The fear of man has spread among all the wild creatures. There is good
reason for this fear, because man has completely exterminated some
species and so reduced the numbers of others that careful protection
will be needed to save them. Travelers tell us that in those lands where
man rarely goes the wild creatures have little fear of him.
[Illustration: _L. A. Huffman, Miles City, Mont._
Why the buffalo have nearly disappeared from the land.]
The story of the slaughter of the buffalo is known to us all. Once this
noble animal roamed from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains.
Countless thousands were killed merely for their hides, and other
thousands were killed for sport. Finally, when they were almost gone,
people awoke to the importance of saving them. Several small herds, not
more than a few hundred in number, that had escaped the hunters were
placed under protection and now they are slowly increasing.
[Illustration: _American Museum of Natural History_
A group of Roosevelt elk.]
The grizzly, king of bears, was once abundant in parts of the Rocky
Mountains and upon the Pacific slope, but now he is found only in the
Yellowstone Park region. The man who killed the last specimen in
California is proud of his great achievement.
Of all the elk which once spread over the western part of our country,
only a few remain outside of the Yellowstone region. A protected herd
exists in the San Joaquin Valley, California, and another small herd
roams through the wilder parts of the northern Coast Ranges. The
antelope, so common on the plains only a few years ago, are all gone
except for small, scattered herds in the more remote parts of the West.
Of the many fur-bearing animals which once inhabited the Northwest,
beavers were the most widespread and abundant. Their pelts were so
valuable that they were used as money. For many years the trapping of
these little animals was an important industry, until at last they were
practically exterminated in every stream throughout the western half of
the country. A few beaver are known to remain in the Yellowstone Park,
where they are of course carefully protected. In Oregon a few escaped
and have been carefully protected for some years. In certain places they
are now quite abundant. In parts of New England and Canada they are now
increasing under the protection of the game laws.
The sea otter, now extremely rare, is so highly valued for its fur that
it soon may become extinct, although completely protected by law.
[Illustration: _New York Zooelogical Society_
A beaver and its lodge.]
The passenger pigeon, whose flights almost covered the sky at times not
more than forty years ago, and whose numbers seemed so great that no one
believed it possible of extermination, is now gone forever. The
extinction of these birds was due chiefly to their being slaughtered at
their roosting places.
The California condor, one of the largest of birds, is almost extinct.
The prairie chicken has disappeared from the prairies and plains.
Certain species of grouse, and especially the sage grouse, mountain
quail, and others, which inhabit sparsely settled regions, are thought
to be still holding their ground, but should be more carefully
protected. The valley quail is, however, much reduced in numbers; while
ducks, geese, and smaller shore birds are decreasing with each
succeeding year.
Even in the jungles of far-away Africa, where we would think the animals
are exposed to little danger of extinction, some of them, such as the
elephant, are in urgent need of protection. In the far North the great
polar bear will not long survive unless rigidly protected.
What terrible scourge has so suddenly come upon the birds and animals
that once adorned our country? How is it that in the short space of
fifty years many of them have almost disappeared from their ancient
haunts? We feel like hiding our faces in shame, for it is the same man
scourge that for many hundreds of years has been destroying the forests,
the animals, and the birds of many other countries.
[Illustration: _Finley & Bohlman_
A California condor.]
The helplessness of all the wild creatures before man's destructive
weapons should arouse our sympathy, if nothing else does. Leaving out of
account a few predatory animals that destroy large numbers of other
animals, we should most earnestly try to protect those that remain.