2o6 



Bird - Lore 



Hide the eggs where we will, the Crows always find and eat them, proving 

 equally their menace to poultry-raisers. This method would be unsafe in 

 any but land enclosed like the Sanctuary. We also trapped: Sparrow Hawks, 

 4; Red-shouldered Hawks, 3; Long-eared Owls, 2; Barred Owls, i; Screech 

 Owls, i; Sharp-shinned Hawks, 4; Cooper's Hawks, 3; Northern Shrikes, 

 14 (26 seen). (All birds of prey are caught in a trap with padded jaws, so that 

 harmless and protected species like the Owls may be liberated unhurt.) 



The Red- shouldered Hawks are always set free when caught, as the warden 

 finds them great destroyers of rodents, and has as yet failed to see them harry 

 the birds. 



A CHRISTMAS SHEAF FOR THE JUNCOS AND TREE SPARROWS 



The Northern Shrikes, next to the Sharp-shinned Hawks, have proved the 

 most ruthless harriers of our winter birds in the Sanctuary. They also gave ex- 

 hibits of their ' 'butcher bird" habits by impaling victims on the barbs of the fence. 



Valuable and precise data on the cat question has been collected during these 

 three years, when 107 cats have been taken in the enclosed grounds of Bird- 

 craft, 24 having worked their way between the barbs and over the top of the 

 "cat-proof" fence! While 50 of these cats might be classed as homeless wan- 

 derers, the others were well-fed adult cats in whom the bird-hunting instinct 

 was so dominant that they would take great risks to satisfy it. This type 

 of cat, together with Crows, we are convinced, causes quite as great losses to 

 poultry-raisers as all the Hawks combined. 



