ill
fail altogether unless man returns to it in one form some of the
richness he expects to get from it in another. Now, exploited wild
life fails even faster under wasteful treatment; but, on the other
hand, with hardly any of the trouble required for continuous farming,
quickly recovers itself by being simply let alone. So when we consider
how easily it can be preserved in Labrador, and how beneficial its
preservation is to all concerned, we can understand how the wanton
destruction going on there is quite as idiotic as it is wrong.

Take "egging" as an example. The Indians, Eskimos and other beasts of
prey merely preserved the balance of nature by the toll they used to
take. No beast of prey, not even the white man, will destroy his own
stock supply of food. But with the nineteenth century came the
white-man market "eggers", systematically taking or destroying every
egg in every place they visited. Halifax, Quebec and other towns were
centres of the trade. The "eggers" increased in numbers and
thoroughness till the eggs decreased in the more accessible spots
below paying quantities. But other egging still goes on unchecked. The
game laws of the province of Quebec distinctly state: "It is forbidden
to take nests or eggs of wild birds at any time". But the swarms of
fishermen who come up the north shore of the St. Lawrence egg wherever
they go. If they are only to stay in the same spot for a day or two,
they gather all the eggs they can, put them into water, and throw away
every one that floats. Sometimes three, four, five or even ten times
as many are thrown away as are kept, and all those bird lives lost for
nothing. Worse still, if the men are going to stay long enough they
will often go round the nests and make sure of smashing every single
egg. Then they come back in a few days and gather every single egg,
because they know it has been laid in the mean time and must be
fresh. When we remember how many thousands of men visit the shore, and
that the resident population eggs on its own account, at least as high
up as the Pilgrims, only 100 miles from Quebec, we need not be
prophets to foresee the inevitable end of all bird life when subjected
to such a drain. And this is on the St. Lawrence, where there are laws
and wardens and fewer fishermen. What about the Atlantic Labrador,
where there are no laws, no wardens, many more fishermen, and ruthless
competitive egging between the residents and visitors? Of course,
whe