58 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 4 



Bird Enemies. 



Of all the enemies tliat beset small birds, 

 the small boys are the worst. And right here 

 let me say that some who have reached mature 

 years destroy, annually, more birds and nests 

 than all other enemies combined. Do not let 

 me be understood as speaking against "scien- 

 tific collectors," for they destroy but a small 

 percentage of what are destroyed, for no 

 earthly purpose but to take the sweet life that 

 God has given. 



The law endeavors to protect the birds from 

 being wantonly destroyed; how well it is 

 enforced I am not to say. 



It is with the other enemies that I have to 

 deal. The order of birds known as Raptores 

 are freest from enemies of all the orders. But 

 they, in turn, are great enemies of the smaller 

 birds. Their depredations are confined mostly 

 to adult birds, and cover all seasons of the 

 year. 



The American Crow (Corvns a7)tericanus) 

 is among the greatest destroyers of small birds. 

 He will not only catch and eat adult birds, but 

 he will destroy every nest that he may chance 

 to see. In 1888, Mr. Walter B. Barrows, assis- 

 tant ornithologist of the U. S. Bureau of 

 Agriculture, undertook to find out the amount 

 of this bird's depredations. Of the three 

 hundred and fifty persons who sent replies to 

 Mr. B.'s enquiries, two hundred and seventy- 

 eight attested to the vast work of destruction 

 done by this bird. Over twenty-five species 

 were mentioned as being subject to his attack, 

 among these being the Blue Jay and Purple 

 Grackle, birds, that in turn, destroy large 

 numbers of small birds. The greatest depre- 

 dations were upon the Thrush species, Robins 

 in particular. 



The Shrikes are the most merciless of all the 

 assassins but, thanks to the "All-wise Creator,"" 

 he has kept them from this vicinity almost 

 entirely. 



Red Squirrels are often great thieves, 

 destroying nests and eggs of all orchard birds. 

 The grays also take some nests, but, as they 

 are more shy than their red brothers, they do 

 but little damage. 



The Weasel does but little damage beyond 

 catching an occasional young Field Sparrow. 

 The Mink does some damage to birds that 

 nest near water courses. 



The feline tribe destroys many birds during 

 the course of the year, but we could not well 

 dispense with the house cat. 



tender young birds and often go to a great 

 expense to feast themselves upon a rare nest. 

 I shall never forget my experience years ago. 

 I had clmbed into the very roof of an old barn 

 for a nest of IJarn Swallow. I put my hand 

 into the nest, but drew it out more quickly 

 than I placed it there, for a huj^h adder 

 followed out and dropped to the floor beneath. 

 A stick of timber was handy; this I pushed off, 

 and, as it fell, it pinioned his snakeship fast to 

 the floor. He measured four feet. The nest 

 was entirely empty. 



I have gone over a few of the worst enemies, 

 and I hope some one may find a remedy. It 

 behooves every ornithologist to destroy these 

 enemies and thus protect the small birds. I 

 would say to them, make your collection as 

 full as possible of the Raptores and Crows, 

 kill all the snakes that come in your way, and 

 you will see the effects in a few years. Every 

 Crow killed, I estimate, ensures the lives of at 

 least ten small birds. 



Wallace E. Lawrence. 

 Somewhere. Me. 



Our Feathered Enemies. 



We have read countless articles on "Our 

 Feathered Friends," and there are many of 

 them. Still I think that among the large 

 number of birds which inhabit this country 

 we may find some which may be rightly classed 

 as enemies. We will at least glance over the 

 list and see. 



First of all, in order to treat the subject 

 more fully, we will divide them into classes. 



Class I. Birds injurious to agriculture. 



Class II. Birds injurious to poultry. 



Class III. Birds injurious to game birds. 



Class IV. Birds injurious to beneficial birds. 



Class I. Contains the Crow, Bobolink, Yel- 

 low-headed and Red-winged Blackbirds, Purple 

 and Rusty Grackle and the English Span ow. 



We will place the Crow at the head of the 

 list, as its well-known habit of devouring seed 

 corn is known by all, but the corn is not its 

 only food. In the West they do considerable 

 damage to other cereals, such as oats, wheat, 

 r-ye and barley. They are also fond of fruit, 

 such as cherries, strawberries and raspberries. 



However, it is only occasionally that they 

 attack our fruit, as they generally find an 

 abundance of wild fruit. There is still another 

 way in which the Crow lias proven itself an 

 enemy to the farmer, and that is by the dis- 



