Whatever may be said in favor of bounties on the larger beasts of prey, those on hawks, owls, and the smaller fur-bearing animals can not be justified. Payments of this sort should cease, and laws should be enacted to protect species which careful investigations have shown to be mainly beneficial. … The payment of bounties on hawks of any kind is open to the objection that officials hardly ever discriminate between the harmful and the useful kinds, even when the statutes do so. … The bounty on owls is still more reprehensible, since owls are a more decided check to rodent increase.