SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT 



Address all communications to the Editor of the School Department, National 

 Association of Audubon Societies, 141 Broadway, New York City 



TWO PROBLEMS IN BIRD PROTECTION - 

 CATS AND CROWS 



"'TT^HE song birds are comparatively safe from men and boys, this spring," 



I wrote one of our most active game wardens last week, "but cats and 

 Crows form a problem that yet remains to be solved." 



Cats and Crows! I heaved a sigh, not of sentiment but of real despair; for it is 

 not only in wild woods and comparatively unprotected meadows and brush lots 

 that the wake of these two arch marauders is marked by empty nests. Here in 

 my garden, within twenty rods of the door, I had just found a Crow's nest in 

 one of the spruces, from which fortress, to break the tedium of sitting, the Crows 

 were making squab-hunting excursions in the garden, even venturing in earl\' 

 morning to rob a nest in the piazza vines, within plain view of my window. 



Crows are bird outlaws in all agricultural regions, and are nowhere protected, 

 even if there is no price set upon their heads. Why then are there Crows ? 



Because they possess cunning in proportion to the apparent stupidity of their 

 appearance, and they have learned the art of self-protection in the school of 

 adversity. As family birds and rulers of their own social communities, there is 

 much to admire in the Crow; l)ut, outside of this commune, they are utterly 

 objectionable. 



Their military tactics and scouting abilities are used to enable them to 

 place their bulky nests in the most invisible places; but you will, if you study the 

 matter carefully, find that the nest is most conveniently located near a song-bird- 

 squab market, where, the moment the parent Robin or Thrush leaves the nest, 

 the Crow's black shadow falls, and egg or bird are equally its pre\-. 



It should be the duty of every bird lover to search out the Crow haunts of 

 his neighborhood, and, if it is impossible to shoot the old birds, to destroy the 

 nest as soon as the eggs are laid. The male members of various bird clubs can 

 do a great service by watching Crow roosts at the s})ring break-up, and locating 

 the various pairs as they separate. 



As to the Crow's place in unnature in its dawn, I am not j)reparcd to argue: 

 but in our rural midst he becomes a tramp of l)irddom, and must be forcibly 

 requested to "move on." 



As to the other C — cats — the problem is infinitely more complex; for there are 

 many shrewd people who have not a word to sa\- in defence of the corn thief, 

 who will not hear a word against the cat, the bird Inintcr by heredit}', that even as 



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