33o 



THE GUIDE T< ) NATURE 



PLANTS MADE INTO FIBROUS FORM (LIKE OAKUM) FOR NESTS BY THE MUSKRATS. 



That year there was a repetition of 

 what had occurred the preceding au- 

 tumns, and to add to their troubles a 

 family of mink settled -in the village. 

 Of the family I succeeded in trapping 

 five, the female, and three of her young. 

 The male member of the family, I am 

 positive was the one whose photograph 

 appeared in The Guide to Nature last 

 spring, and who was a record-breaker 

 as to siz.c. 



For three years I watched tneir va-. 

 liant fight for an existence against 

 overwhelming odds, but the end is in 

 sight, and this little village of wonder- 

 ful workers will soon be but a memory 

 of the wonders of the out-of-doors. 

 That they have so long staved off total 

 annihilation is due but to a few simple 

 factors — to provide for the future, in- 

 dustry and perseverance. 



The Crow. 



BY FRANK C. PELLETT, ATLANTIC, IOWA. 



Desiring to know the truth, I have 

 made a specialty of observing carefully 

 those species which are persecuted by 

 common consent, and have met with 

 some surprises in studying them. I 

 am willing to risk the loss of poultry, 

 or eggs, on my small farm, in order 



to know the real habits of predaceous 

 birds and mammals, and so make every 

 inducement to attract them to my 

 vicinity. At present a pair of hawks 

 have their nest in our front yard; wild 

 hawks, by the way, which came of 

 their own free will and were not rear- 

 ed in captivity. In the past, at differ- 

 ent times, owls, crows, skunks and 

 weasels have been about the place. 

 We make no effort to protect our fruit 

 from birds, or nuts from squirrels. All 

 this that we may learn to know inti- 

 mately our backdoor neighbors. There 

 are many things that I would like to 

 write about the various birds and ani- 

 mals whose acquaintance I have 

 formed, but will endeavor to confine 

 myself to the crow, m order to comply 

 with the editor's injunction to '"'Hit 

 something." 



For a number of years the crow has 

 been of special interest to me. In the 

 wooded regions they are in disrepute 

 because of their habit of pulling up 

 sprouting grain. Some also accuse 

 them of injury to melons, and a scare- 

 crow of some sort is a common sight. 

 Here in Iowa he is maligned as an 

 egg sucker, and accused of catching 

 young poultry. The grain fields are 



