162 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



that must be held in sul)jection for the good of the for- 

 est. No doubt squirrels, rabbits, mice, rats and some 

 other rodents when in small numbers may be beneficial 

 or at least not injurious to the forest, as both squirrels 

 and mice are natural tree planters, but if any of these 

 rodents become too numerous, they immediately become 

 (kstructive to the trees. Squirrels, rats and climbing 

 mice reduce the friendly birds by destroying their eggs 

 and young. Also, squirrels and mice, if too abundant, 

 eat practically all the tree seeds, leaving almost none 

 for propagation. Mice and rabbits kill young trees by 

 gnawing oflf the bark in winter, thus gixdling them. 

 Therefore, hawks, owls and other predatory birds that 

 kill rodents and so tend to hold their numbers down per- 

 form an inestimable service in the forest. Most of these 

 birds nest in the woods, and although they hunt much 

 for field mice in the open, they feed also on squirrels, 

 wood mice and rabbits. They kill some birds, but as 



muscled, its great talons contract by means of powerful 

 tendons which slide easily through grooves in the tarsal 

 bones and draw over the bended joints so that the full 

 weight and strength of the bird sends them through the 

 shrinking vitals of its prey. Its face appears satanlc 

 with its horn-like crests, cruel beak and great glaring, 

 yellow eyes. Its wierd voice when heard in the stillness 

 of the night strikes terror not only into the breasts of 

 the timid ones on which it preys, but often into human 

 souls as well. Primitive people regard it as the very 

 personification of Satan, and name it "The Evil One." 

 It is said that certain tribes in the West were so super- 

 stitious regarding this bird that they believed that if 

 one alighted o nthe roof of a man's lodge, that man was 

 doomed to die, and such was the grip of this belief upon 

 them that the doomed man actually pined away and died 

 that is, if he saw the bird alight on his domicile. Or- 

 dinarily the call of this owl is a deep booming whoo hoo! 



FLEDGLING MAGNOLIA WARBLERS 



Photpgraph by Cordelia J. Stanwood. 



Foci by their parents on forest insects, they will thrive and wax fat and eventually fill their places in the protective army of 



beautiful birds guarding our forests. 



compensation for this they protect birds by destroying 

 their enemies skunks, weasels, mice, squirrels, etc. 

 Squirrels become tree planters largely through the 

 agency of hawks and owls. The squirrel buries nuts, 

 acorns and other tree seeds in the leaf mould on the for- 

 est floor that he may unearth his treasures in the lean 

 days of late winter and early spring. A squirrel killed 

 in winter by hawk or owl has planted a hickory wood 

 or a lot of pine and other trees for all creation. The 

 Broad-winged Hawk and the Great Horned Owl shown 

 in our illustrations are useful as forest birds, although 

 this particular owl is an enemy of game birds. Most 

 of tht hawks and owls feed much more upon destructive 

 insects and rodents than upon birds or game. 



Tlu" (Ireat Horned Owl, a ty])ical woodland bird, is 

 l)crhai)s the most powerful of them all, only inferior in 

 strength and fierceness to the eagle. Ponderously 



hoo-zvhoo! hoo-whoo! varying somewhat in order of 

 syllables and depth of tone with different performers, but 

 it has a great variety of wild cries, among them a high, 

 startling, clearly enunciated zva 'hoo or zvaugh 'hoo, the 

 first syllable with a rising or interrogative inflection, 

 the second a falling note, but often followed by a variety 

 of others, thus waiigh ooo oo oo oo oo-ooh, or ivaugh 

 00 000 000 oooh 00 oo ooo, or wu imi wu imi waugh 

 -i^'augh. This owl has a piercing scream or yell, also a 

 long series of gabbling notes. I well remember one even- 

 ing, sitting alone in William Brewster's cabin in the Con- 

 cord woods and hearing many strange sounds which I 

 attributed at first to a child trying to imitate a baying 

 hound, but as the sounds came nearer they were recog- 

 nized as notes of the Great Horned Owl, and for some 

 time that owl and I held quite a conversation by moon- 

 light. The owl, however, would never shine in society 



