relentless march of civilization, the wild
Indian, the bison and many of the wild birds must inevitably disappear.
We cannot change conditions that are as inexorable as death itself. The
wild life must either adjust itself to the conditions that civilized man
imposes upon it, or perish. I say "civilized man," for the reason that
the primitive races of man are not deadly exterminators of species, as
we are. I know of not one species of wild life that has been
exterminated by savage man without the aid of his civilized peers.

As civilization marches ever onward, over the prairies, into the bad
lands and the forests, over the mountains and even into the farthest
corner of Death Valley, the desert of deserts, the struggle of the wild
birds, mammals and fishes is daily and hourly intensified. Man must help
them to maintain themselves, or accept a lifeless continent. The best
help consists in letting the wild creatures throughly alone, so that
they can help themselves; but quail often need to be fed in critical
periods. The best food is wheat screenings placed under little tents of
straw, bringing food and shelter together.

In the well settled portions of the United States, such species as
quail, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, pinnated grouse and sage grouse hang
to life by slender threads. A winter of exceptionally deep snows, much
sleet, and a late spring always causes grave anxiety among the state
game wardens. In Pennsylvania a very earnest movement is in progress to
educate and persuade farmers to feed the quail in winter, and much good
is being done in that direction.

Mr. Erasmus Wilson, of the _Pittsburgh Gazette-Times_ is the apostle of
that movement.

_Quail should be fed every winter, in every northern state_. The methods
to be pursued will be mentioned elsewhere.

By way of illustration, here is a sample game report, from Las Animas,
Colorado, Feb. 22, 1912:

"After the most severe winter weather experienced for twenty years we
are able to compute approximately our loss of feathered life. It is
seventy-five per cent of the quail throughout the irrigated district,
and about twenty per cent of meadow-larks. In the rough cedar-covered
sections south of the Arkansas River, the loss among the quail was much
lighter. The ground sparrows suffered severely, while the English
sparrow seems to have come through in good shape. Many cotton-tail
rabbits starved to death, while the deep, light snow of January made
them ea