302 



RECREATION. 



shield of this great nation, and command 

 the respect of the world. If that is not 

 utility enough for one bird, then the 

 American people are indeed hopeless 

 sentimentalists. 



Mr. Fisher replies as follows: 



It is remarkable how prejudiced many 

 sportsmen are in certain lines of thought, 

 especially if we consider how many ad- 

 vantages they enjoy from opportunities 

 of travel and association with fellow men 

 which ought to make them unbiassed and 

 broad minded. Without question, 10 

 years' imprisonment is a severe penalty 

 to impose for thoughtlessly killing an 

 eagle; nevertheless, the man who upsets 

 the balance of nature by systematically 

 killing the birds of prey is doing far more 

 injury to the community at large than 

 the one who robs a bank. The man who, 

 through ignorance, shoots nighthawks or 

 bullbats because they are supposed to 

 kill his chickens is hardly less benighted 

 than the one who kills the majority of 

 hawks and owls for the same reason. 

 Comparatively few of the rapacious birds 

 molest poultry or game except in extreme 

 cases, when their normal food is tempo- 

 rarily withheld on account of storm or 

 other conditions. Even at such times 

 the victims secured are usually sickly 

 or crippled birds, which, owing to their 

 disabilities are unable to escape, and 

 their removal prevents the breeding stock 

 from deteriorating. Usually it is those 

 people who allow their poultry to shift 

 for themselves or leave their herds un- 

 housed that complain most of the inroads 

 of predaceous birds and mammals, for 

 the thrifty farmer who protects his poultry 

 and sheep at night has no occasion for 

 condemnation. 



Many ranchmen realize the value of 

 coyotes and birds of prey and will not 

 allow them to be molested on their lands; 

 consequently rabbits, ground squirrels, 

 gophers, rats and mice are kept in check, 

 and a full harvest is the result. 



If the advocates of spring shooting would 

 curb their unseasonable inclinations, and 

 sportsmen at large would be satisfied 

 with a reasonable bag there would be 

 plenty of game for all, and it would not 

 be necessary to lay the blame for the 

 scarcity of game on the birds of prey. 



BIRDS, BUGS AND BOYS. 



Sidney, Ohio. 

 Editor Recreation: 



Prof. Bruner, in his " Plea for the Pro- 

 tection of Birds" in December Recrea- 

 tion, like most bird lovers, is able to see 

 but one side of the question. Those who 

 have given the matter most careful inves- 

 tigation, are in great doubt as to birds being 

 a help to agriculture and horticulture. 

 Our Agricultural Department is now work- 



ing on the theory that injurious insects 

 can best be controlled and exterminated 

 by insects that prey on them. It seems 

 that birds are not fond of our most injuri- 

 ous insects, and it is feared they are too 

 fond of those which are beneficial. 



Prof. Bruner says , " Birds, like all other 

 animals, feed on that food which is most 

 readily obtained; hence, they destroy 

 those insects which are most, numerous, 

 the injurious species." This is not true 

 of either animals or birds. A rabbit will 

 pass tons of grass or weeds to get to clover 

 or peas, and will even choose certain va- 

 rieties of young apple trees in preference 

 to others in a nursery, after passing by the 

 cherry, plum and peach trees. Chickens 

 will chase grasshoppers many yards 

 through a potato field where there are 

 thousands of potato bugs, but never a po- 

 tato bug will they eat. And it is so of 

 every animal and bird. Prof. Bruner says 

 101 potato beetles have been found in the 

 stomach of a single quail. I do not know 

 who is authority for this statement, but I 

 can not believe it. 



A writer in a farmers' paper some years 

 ago, condemned the killing of quails, and 

 said he had seen a flock feeding on the po- 

 tato bugs in his field, and that they would 

 take a certain number of rows across the 

 field, and repeat the operation until the 

 field was cleaned of the bugs. He claimed 

 too much, and simply lied. In "Birds of 

 Village and Field," Florence A. Merriam 

 tells a story of a quail getting into a lo- 

 cality in New York where quails were un- 

 known, and when he whistled "Bob 

 White" the dogs of the neighborhood ran 

 thinking they were being called. 

 * Those who write books should not be- 

 lieve all that is told them. If quails were 

 not killed, and should breed at the rate she 

 claims they do, there would be no room 

 for anything else in a few years. She says 

 they increase 20 to 90 fold a year. 

 Now, if we count an increase of only 9 fold, 

 or one brood of 18 to each pair a year) 

 their progeny in 10 years would number 

 20,000,000,000. That number, packed 

 like sardines, 100 to a cubic foot, would 

 cover a farm of 10 acres 46 feet deep. 



Our injurious insects are not relished 

 by birds or poultry. As a rule they are 

 unfit for food, even for a chicken, which 

 will eat almost anything. Potato bugs, 

 squash bugs, curculio, tomato and tobacco 

 worms! Would any self-respecting bird 

 eat anything so foul? 



I have never succeeded in getting a 

 chicken, young or old, to eat even a cab- 

 bage worm, though the birds were' con- 

 fined, and could get no other worms or 

 bugs. Some years ago I kept 3 quails in 

 a cage several months, and while they 

 would eat grain and weed seeds, I never 

 could get them even slightly interested 

 in any kind of bug or worm 



