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who were well acquainted with the birds of the region passed 

 much of their time in these Fells. In 1891 the land was owned 

 mainly by individuals, and was a great resort for gunners. 

 Hares and grouse were rare. Crows and jays were not exceed- 

 ingly common, and the smaller land birds were found in such 

 numbers as are usual about our cities. Within two years after 

 the Metropolitan Park Commission took the land, and stopped 

 gunning, trapping and snaring by a remarkably efficient sys- 

 tem of police protection, hares, grouse, jays and crows became 

 much more numerous, but many of the smaller birds which 

 breed in the Fells decreased somewhat in numbers. Our ob- 

 servers found that the eggs and young of these birds were being 

 destroyed mainly by crows and jays, which were often seen 

 during the breeding season searching the woods for them 

 and destroying them. 



Most farmers know the bird-nesting habits of the crow, 

 how it sneaks about the house and orchard in the early morning 

 hours, stealing eggs and nestlings from the nests of robins and 

 other small birds. Similar habits of the jays are also notorious. 

 Still, it is not so very often that these birds are actually seen 

 in the act of eating the eggs of small birds. Crows may com- 

 monly be seen to destroy the eggs of herons or sea birds, when 

 these birds are frightened from their breeding places by the 

 approach of men. In their eagerness to secure the eggs or 

 young before the return of the parents, crows sometimes become 

 quite daring. This trait of their character I have observed often 

 when in heronries or on the rocky islands of the coast, where 

 sea birds breed; but it is far more difficult to catch them in 

 the act of robbing the nests of small birds, which are scattered 

 singly in woods, groves, orchards and undergrowth, where the 

 crow or jay can readily keep in hiding behind the foliage. 



When we first occupied the farm in Wareham, two pairs < of 

 jays were breeding in the "robin roost," but no crows bred in 

 the woods about the place. Both crows and jays were very 

 shy. Crows seldom came into the "robin roost," nor were they 

 troublesome about the farm. Under such protection as we 

 were able to give, the jays increased so that by January, 1902, 

 there were at least fifteen pairs in the "robin roost" and about 

 the farmyard. They had become so tame by this time that they 



