^54 



Bird - Lore 



from two enormous pepperidge trees that would otherwise have yielded our 

 native birds a month's rations. 



Shooting, at wide range, was too risky, so the warden soon put in use a 

 crude but effective trap — a large box with a hinged cover, held partly open by 

 a stick to which a stout string was attached. This string ran in through the work- 

 shop window. The trap was baited with garbage and the Starlings did the rest. 



The English Sparrows, with a longer criminal experience, were, of course, 

 more wary. We bought an approved Sparrow trap, baited it, and waited. It 

 was well that the Warden also watched, for an unwatched Sparrow trap 

 can inflict much misery and destruction upon its inmates, as the tempting 



NORTHERN SHRIKE AND TWO SPARROWS IT KILLED IN THE TRAP 



seed-bait lures both the just and unjust. Among the birds caught the very 

 first season were Song Sparrows, Juncos, Field Sparrows, White-throats galore, 

 as well as Towhees, and even a Thrasher. 



' For a few minutes the trapped bird is unafraid and engaged in feeding, but 

 as soon as there is a general fluttering among the inmates, the birds begin a 

 dash for freedom, and unless the trap is visited, the detrimental birds removed 

 and the rest set free, broken feathers and bleeding, battered heads result; and 

 an all-night neglect of the trap, in even moderately cold weather, will show a 

 pitiful array of little stark bodies next morning. At times such a trap is a 

 necessity, but at best it is one of the greatest responsibilities of the Warden. 

 For this reason the use of the trap in the new general experiment of bird- 

 banding should be very carefully considered. The banding of adult birds, if 



