Stories from Birdcraft Sanctuary 255 



carefully done by responsible people, and the traps often emptied, is in no wise 

 detrimental. We never band nestlings; it is not our idea of perfect bird pro- 

 tection to in any way tamper with young birds. Our Warden has banded adult 

 birds without causing them to become even disturbed. In one day he caught 

 one Junco seventeen times and a Tree Sparrow seven times — the trap seeming 

 to have a hypnotic effect upon them, for there was plenty of similar food out- 

 side. But this indicates a very careful watching of the trap, and here is another 

 side, showing what could happen in an unwatched trap. 



Shrikes were very plentiful in the Sanctuary last winter, eighteen having 

 been shot by the Warden, in every instance taken in the act of harrying a song- 

 bird. In March, the Warden being at work in his shop, saw the shadow of a 

 Shrike dash by. Seizing the gun kept for the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's 

 Hawks and going out, he saw the Shrike make a lunge at a Sparrow in the 

 trap. Before he could reach it, the Shrike had entered the trap, killed a Junco 

 and a Sparrow before he could be taken and would have doubtless made short 

 work of the other eight imprisoned birds. Shrikes had harried birds all winter, 

 chasing a Chickadee round about the bushes, in and out of the shelters, one 

 coming into the Warden's hands by striking the fence wire, but the invasion 

 of the trap seems the last word in daring. 



The two bad Hawks, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's, always make a spring 

 drive, and last year a baker's dozen of Sharp-shinned were taken. The Crows 

 are perennial, but only to be disturbed in the season of eggs and squabs; a 

 poisoned egg well secured in a dead tree is one remedy — a just sentence for 

 egg-thieves — for whatever virtue the Crows may possess in the wide open 

 spaces — and they have a certain picturesque beauty in the autumn and winter 

 landscape — in the garden, or bird-refuge, the birds themselves will tell you, 

 in no uncertain way, how they are feared. 



More than once I have had a poor mangled Robin squab, fall, upon my 

 head, from the beak of a startled Crow. When we attempt to cooperate with 

 nature, and no less interfere with her processes, we assume a wide responsibihty. 

 A bird sanctuary is certainly cooperation, and as surely a responsibility, for 

 even with the greatest care we sometimes seem to bend the axle of the great 

 balance-wheel and something is upset. 



Friends, do not undertake the making of bird-refuges unless you are pre- 

 pared to do more than post a piece of land and scatter a little food, once in a 

 time! Also do not put out Sparrow traps either for purposes of banding birds 

 in general or catching English Sparrows unless someone can watch them con- 

 stantly, and someone who knows the species of Sparrows apart. Better it is to 

 let the aHen Sparrows fight it out with their kin than that they should all die 

 in a trap, for, at the worst, the Sparrow menace is lessening and the sturdy 

 little brown gamin is following the horse toward the setting sun! 



