NATURAL HISTORY. 



When a bird or a wild animal is killed, that is the end of it. If ohotographed, it may still iive' 

 and its educational and scientific value is multiplied indefinitely. 



CORVUS AMERICANUS. 



The American crow has some good traits, 

 but many that are to be strongly con- 

 demned. In the Northern portion of North 

 Dakota where wild ducks, geese and other 

 waterfowl breed abundantly, crows are also 

 numerous in the timbered districts, and 

 their principal food, during the spring and 

 early summer, is the eggs of these water- 

 fowl and other game birds, such "as the 

 sharp tailed grouse. During a half dozen 

 years spent in studying the birds of this lo- 

 cality I have found hundreds of nests of 

 the many species of wild ducks which breed 

 here ; and fully Yz of the incomplete sets 

 found had been eaten by crows. I have 

 had many rare and valuable specimens de- 

 stroyed in this manner, and have found 

 scores of other nests in which the broken 

 egg shells and disordered condition told 

 of a similar fate. 



A flock of 12 to 20 crows may be 

 seen to leave the patches of timber where 

 they nest and generally roost. The flock 

 scatters as it reaches the fields and mead- 

 ows where the ducks and grouse rest, each 

 crow intently scanning the ground beneath. 

 Suddenly a crow wheels right about face 

 and retraces its course some distance, often 

 to alight and pounce on a nest, which 

 though it may have been well hidden, has 

 not escaped the keen vision of this vandal. 

 It greedily devours the eggs, sometimes be- 

 fore any others of the flock can reach the 

 soot. The hunt for more nests is then con- 

 tinued. Thus have I seen half a dozen nests 

 destroyed by a single scouting party, as I 

 have watched them through my field glass. 



The destruction of bird life occasioned 

 in this manner during a single season is 

 almost incalculable. Second sets are, no 

 doubt, often pilfered, and thus many pairs 

 of birds are prevented from raising broods. 



Those ducks which nest over the water 

 escape these depredations. The species 

 which suffer most are the mallard, gadwall, 

 blue wing feal, shoveller, pintail and lesser 

 scaup. The eggs of the grouse are also 

 eagerly sought ; but of all the prairie nest- 

 ing birds, the ducks suffer by far the great- 

 er loss. 



Nothing could be of more benefit to 

 the sporting fraternity and those inter- 

 ested in the protection of our game birds, 

 than the rigid enforcement of the game 

 laws of our State, especially in regard to 

 those birds which breed with us. A sub- 

 stantial bounty per head on all crows killed 

 during the nesting season would do much 

 toward the preservation of our fast disap- 

 pearing hordes of waterfowl. 



Chas. W. Bowman, Devil's Lake, N. D. 



THE SORA.— PORZANA CAROLINA. 



This toothsome little bird, known also 

 by the names of Carolina rail, ortolan, rice 

 bird and soree in various localities, is 

 comparatively little known among the hunt- 

 ers North of Mason and Dixon's line. 



On the Atlantic coast, however, in 

 Virginia and the Carolinas, this bird is re- 

 garded favorably by epicures and sports- 

 men. It comes early in the season and 

 in fact is the first game bird to make its 

 appearance at the opening of the fall shoot- 

 ing term. It is welcomed by the true sports- 

 man as offering a break in the long close 

 season. The sora is 8 to 9 inches long, is 

 olive brown, variegated with black and gray, 

 the breast being spotted with white. 

 ^ The sora feeds in the marshes of the 

 Southern States where wild rice grows in 

 great abundance. Were it not for the noise 

 these birds make in feeding, it would be 

 hardly possible to realize that hundreds of 

 them are sometimes concealed within the 

 range of one's gun. They are able to worm 

 their way in and out among the stalks of 

 wild rice and grass without moving the 

 stocks and are therefore very difficult to 

 find. 



They usually appear on the Virginia coast 

 about the 1st to 15th of September, and re- 

 main in one locality until the first frost 

 comes. Then they disappear as if by magic. 

 Like many other migratory birds, their com- 

 ing ana going are mysterious and bewilder- 

 ing; so much so, that many superstitions 

 exist among the negroes concerning them. 

 One of these is that the sora buries itself in 

 the mud of the marshes and is turned into 

 a frog. 



The hunting is done by having a man, 

 usually a negro, pole the boat over the 

 marsh at high tide. The birds are flushed, 

 and, as their flight is slow and short, they 

 are easily killed. Some alleged sportsmen 

 kill 100 to 200 birds on a single tide, but this 

 is simply slaughter and should be so re- 

 garded by all decent men. No, sportsman 

 should ever kill more than 25 of these, or 

 any other birds, in a day. 



The sora is a most delicious table bird, 

 especially in September and October, when 

 it takes on its golden fat, which seems al- 

 most to envelop the whole bird. 



A. C. R, Norfolk, Va. 



I have been a reader of your magazine 

 for some time, and have been interested in 

 the accounts of animals meeting their death 

 by being caught in natural traps. About 10 

 years ago I lived 5 miles out of Newark, in 



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