WINGED ENEMIES OF WILD FOWL 83 



protection is to kill the crows. There are many methods 

 of doing this. Poisoned entrails and poisoned eggs can be 

 used to advantage, where this is lawful, and trapping can 

 be done to baits as described for hawks. Trapping in the 

 snow by means of blood spilled on the snow and a steel 

 trap placed nearby, destroying the nests in the breeding 

 season, waiting for the crows with shotguns as they 

 come in to roost, all are effective methods of destruction. 

 The watchword when crows are about is, keep killing 

 them, especially where the flocks run up into the thou- 

 sands."^ 



The crow does a good part of his nefarious work very 

 early in the morning, when he seems to know that peo- 

 ple are abed. His hunt at such times is a still hunt, and 

 he comes close to buildings where he would not venture 

 later in the day.^ Mr. Judd describes a crow which came 

 daily into a barnyard and sat on a fence, evidently wait- 

 ing until a hen had laid an egg, when at once he made off 

 with it.3 



The Hawks. — It is admitted that there are good and 

 bad hawks, but even some of the good ones will require 

 watching, since they readily acquire a fondness for game 

 and eggs when they are abundant and easily obtained. 

 The worst enemy of the ducks among the hawks is un- 

 doubtedly the Peregrine falcon, or duck hawk. This 

 bird, like some other hawks, seems to hunt for pleasure 

 and often kills more ducks than it can eat. 



I have shot them on many marshes where they were 

 thus engaged. Upon one occasion Mr. George Shiras, 3d, 

 went with me to the preserve of the Ottawa Club, near 



1 The Amateur Sportsman, June, 1910. 2 lb. March, 1910. 3 Bulletin, 

 "Birds of a Maryland Farm." TJ. S. Dept. Agr. 



