THE OOLOGIST 



157 



only an elderly couple living there and 

 they were positively sure that no one 

 had been around, as the closest neigh- 

 bor is over a mile away and they have 

 no children. 



The question now arises, Who is the 

 guilty party? I pay the Hawk, because 

 as I said before his reputation is bad, 

 very bad, and I positively know that 

 he steals several hundred dollars 

 worth of young chickens and turkeys 

 each season from the farmers in this 

 section. 



A farmer friend of mine called me 

 up just a few days ago and told me 

 he thought he knew where there was 

 a Marsh Hawk's nest, because he 



says, "These Hawks come and 



pick a chicken right out from under 

 our feet and they do it each day and 

 are absolutely not afraid to do it 

 either." Well, I went right out to 

 the farmer and he pointed out an old 

 straw stack about half a mile off and 

 said, "That is where they take my 

 quality Rhode Island Reds," and sure 

 enough there was the remains of sev- 

 eral chicks, a female Hawk over head 

 and a nice setting of five eggs not 100 

 feet away. 



Another farmer also called me up 

 some time ago and said he'd give any 

 man $5.00 who would go out and kill 

 the hawk that was taking an average 

 of ten nice young chicks each day. 

 Well, I went out, not for the $5.00 but 

 for eggs and sure enough found a nest 

 with a setting of five in a creek 

 bottom. I shot the female, and that 

 man hasn't lost a chick since, although 

 they did get some 40 out of his first 

 hatch. 



On June 9th I saw a Marsh Hawk 

 trying to steal a young turkey right 

 in the presence of the mother, who 

 made several attempts to lay out the 

 offender by jumping up 3 or 4 feet in 

 the air after it, but the Hawk was too 

 fast for her and when I ran up, flew 



away with empty talons. It took a 

 Scotch Collie and I, all we could do 

 to stop one of them from stealing a 

 pound chicken rot 100 feet away from 

 a. farm house last spring and if it 

 'hadn't been for the piece of poultry 

 retting that the chick ran under he 

 would have gotten him sure, regard- 

 less of my yelling and the dog bark- 

 ing, not more than 20 feet away. But 

 revenge was ours as his five young 

 ones paid the penalty in a clump of 

 willows a half mile away. 



The grand old Prairie Hen is just 

 about a thing of the past here and I 

 believe that the Marsh Hawk is just 

 as much and more to blame than the 

 Crow we hear so much about and offer 

 a bounty on. 



The Marsh Hawk may like mice but 

 he likes young chickens or turkey 

 much better. 



Elmer Langevin, 

 Crookstin, Minn. 



The Oregon Junco Near Salem. 



The Juncoes are with us again. The 

 Oregon is here in large flocks. This 

 fine Junco comes to us from the North. 

 The Schufeldt's Junco is with us all 

 the year. The Oregon is a strong, 

 hardy bird, flies swiftly, gleaning as it 

 goes. You may see a hundred or more 

 in a few minutes. They must pass 

 over many miles of country in a day. 

 The Juncoes had a hard time last win- 

 ter. The country was covered with 

 snow. I do not think the cold hurt 

 them, but they could find no food. 



I fed more than a hundred of them. 

 They seemed to thrive on corn meal. 



Who knows where they breed? Not 

 on our high mountains. I think they 

 go North early in the spring. While 

 here their ranks are thinned by that 

 freebooter, the Kennicott's Screech 

 Owl. 



Geo. D. Peck, 

 Salem, Ore. 



