THE OREGON SPORTSMAN iy | 
by members of their own families as well as friends in the village, and 
the defendants vowed that if ever they heard of a violation by one 
of these jokers they would notify me and take me to the scene in 
order that they might get the revengeful laugh on their tormentors. 
On the morning ot February 14, the boys plead guilty and_ paid 
$25 fine each and costs and forfeited their rifles and hunting priv- 
ileges. They thought that I had apprehended them without any assist- 
ance from anyone and gave me much more credit for the work than I 
deserved. However, I could not corect them in this error to any 
great extent as I did not want them to suspicion the men who had 
helped me. I simply told them that their trip had been reported to 
the main office at Portland by some party unknown to me and that I 
had worked on orders from there. GEORGE TONKIN, 
Deputy Game Warden. 
OLD JIM CROW 
(From the American Field) 
Just a few lines in regard to Old Jim Crow: I have read quite a 
number of articles in the American Field about vermin and the harm 
they do to our small game, but never have I seen a word about the 
crow. 
Now, brother sportsmen, here is what I know about the crow as a 
game destroyer: ‘they eat eggs and young birds of all kinds, catch 
young rabbits and young squirrels and even rob the nests of wild 
dueks. This much I know they do, for I have seen them do all of this 
except to rob the nests of ducks, while I have been told by others that 
they watch the mother duck and when she leaves her nest they roj it. 
Ducks seldom nest here, and that is the reason I have never seen them 
rob a duck’s nest, but the rest of this I will make oath to, for I have 
seen them at work and found where they had robbed game birds’ nests. 
I found a pheasant’s nest one day containing fourteen eggs and I 
watched this nest very closely, though I never disturbed the old bird. 
It was close to where I lived at that time and near an old woods road 
in the timber. I visited the nest quite often, and one morning when 
I was about twenty-five yards from the nest up went an old crow from 
the spot where the nest was. I went to the nest and every egg was 
gone except two and these had holes in them and everything inside the 
shell had been consumed. Well, I tried to find that crow’s nest, but I 
could not. Right over the hill was what is known as the ‘‘hanging 
rock,’’ and it was a good place for a crow’s nest, but I could never find 
a nest there. 
I know that the crow destroys more small game than any other 
enemy of the game bird. There are a hundred crows to every hawk 
and when one of them finds a good feed it will caw, caw, caw, until a 
dozen others are drawn to the same locality. I know what I am talk- 
ing about, too, for I hunt and trap from the time the season opens until 
it closes, and I am also in the woods a great deal all through the year. 
Brother sportsmen, I think we all should get busy and see if we 
cannot get a law passed paying a bounty on all enemies of game and 
game birds. If the bounty is small on crows there are plenty of them, 
and a man could make wages hunting them, and if we, by any method, 
ean rid our state of these black rascals, I know we will very soon see 
a great increase in our game and game birds. 
I shall be pleased to hear the opinions of others on this question 
and also, as to whether it is thought possible to get our legislature 
to enact a law paying a small bounty on crows and other enemies of 
game, CHARLES SHELLHAMMER. 
