and rats, we hesitate, and finally decline.

[Illustration: SHARP-SHINNED HAWK
A Species to be Destroyed]

SNAKES.--Mr. Thomas M. Upp, a close and long observer of wild things
wishes it distinctly understood that while the common black-snakes and
racers are practically harmless to birds, the _Pilot Black-Snake_,
--long, thick and truculent,--is a great scourge to nesting birds. It
seems to be deserving of death. Mr. Upp speaks from personal knowledge,
and his condemnation of the species referred to is quite sweeping. At
the same time Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars points out the fact that this
serpent feeds during 6 months of the year on mice, and in doing so
renders good service. In the South it is called the "Mouse Snake."

[Illustration: THE CAT THAT KILLED 58 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR
From Mr. Forbush's Book
Photo by A.C. Dyke]

* * * * *

CHAPTER IX

THE DESTRUCTION OF WILD LIFE BY DISEASES


Every cause that has the effect of reducing the total of wild-life
population is now a matter of importance to mankind. The violent and
universal disturbance of the balance of Nature that already has taken
place throughout the temperate and frigid zone offers not only food for