404 USEFUL BIRDS. 



other birds that nested near the house, the ground-nesting 

 birds, and those that bred in nesting boxes or hollow trees. 

 Crows and Jays were common, though not increasing rapidly, 

 and both Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks were present 

 (probably only one pair of each) . Squirrels of thi'ee species 

 were more numerous than I have ever seen them elsewhere. 

 Since that year the number of birds al^out the house seems 

 to have increased. This may be due in part to the fact that 

 the Cooper's Hawk no longer breeds on the place ; also, that 

 the squirrels about the house do not molest the birds much, 

 Avhile many birds have been attracted by food plants and 

 nesting boxes. 



When it is found, on prohibiting shooting within certain 

 limits, that the smaller Inrds are decreasing, we may infer 

 that they are preyed upon by creatures that were formerly 

 held in check by gunners. If this be true, then neither the 

 gunners nor the sportsmen need be looked upon as the un- 

 mixed evil that some of us have been inclined to consider 

 them ; and the farmer who has no time to protect birds may 

 safely allow honorable men to shoot on his land. Evidently 

 the bird protectionist may be forced to the conclusion that, 

 in order to protect birds, he must sometimes destroy some 

 of their natural enemies, even if among these he is obliged 

 to kill some birds. Hawks, Crows, Jays, and squirrels have 

 become so accustomed to the persecutions of the gunner 

 that they are able in a sense to persist in nearly normal 

 numbers in spite of him ; and when we eliminate shooting, 

 they may increase, to the detriment of the species on which 

 they prey. In a biogra})hical notice of the late Henry D. 

 Minot the following appears : " On the home grounds from 

 seventy-live to a hundred nests were built every spring, and 

 the broods therein successfully reared, for the birds were 

 carefully protected. Cats, Hawks, gray squirrels, Crows, 

 Jays, and snakes were summarily dealt with ; every note of 

 alarm was promptly answered with an efficient rescue, and 

 all the spring and early summer the air was filled with the 

 melody of happy birds." ^ 



* The Land and Game Birds of New England, by Henry D. Minot. Second 

 edition, edited by William Brewster. 



