284 



RECREATION 



this kind of a side hunt and am rather sur- 

 prised that you should term it disgraceful 

 when you stand for game protection. 



I have grown up in the country and have 

 seen crows under all conditions, and I have 

 yet to learn their good points. The farmers 

 about here, and I am one of them, are not 

 exactly of the backwoods type, and I think 

 they will all uphold me in saying that the 

 crows do more harm than good. Crows are 

 active all the year round. In the spring they 

 begin on the newly planted corn, beans, peas, 

 squash, and other seeds, pulling them and 

 causing the farmers no end of trouble. This 

 year I have discovered that crows are very 

 fond of strawberries and are especially fond 

 of the largest and best ones. , I have seen 

 them eat them, and could hardly believe this, 

 not having seen such things before. 



When corn gets fairly ripe the crows are at 

 it again, and from this time on the crows are 

 at the corn until it is put in the barn. Last 

 winter I could see from my house over ioo 

 crows who lived on a neighbor's corn stock, 

 which he could not take in. 



I place the above habits of the crow in the 

 small side of the scale and put down against 

 him his worst habit of bird-nest robbing. 

 Have you ever seen the crow pursued by a 

 small bird whose cries attract other small 

 birds until there, are a whole flock in pursuit 

 of the flying crow ? Did it ever occur to you 

 just why these small birds were chasing the 

 crow ? I can tell you that the crow either has 

 an egg or a young bird to take to his young- 

 sters. A few years ago I was awakened a 

 number of mornings by a crow in the elm tree 

 directly in front of my house ; the time was 

 about 3.30 a.m. Finally I mustered up cour- 

 age after he had been there two or three 

 times, to get up and watch him, and this is 

 what I saw : A robin had built her nest in 

 one of the crotches of the elm, right in front 

 of my window, and in the early light of the 

 morning I saw one crow up on top of the 

 tree keeping guard, while the other was down 

 at the robin's nest tearing it to pieces. I sup- 

 pose he had eaten the eggs, as there were , 

 none left and we had seen the bird laying 

 for several days. It appeared to me that the 

 crows had come on previous days and had 

 found eggs, but on this last day when no eggs 

 could be found he had torn the nest to pieces. 

 I quietly got my gun and since then we have 

 not been troubled with crows breaking up our 

 birds' nests about the house. 



One of my men, who is quite a lover of 

 birds, found a quail's nest on the edge of a 

 field he was ploughing. He left plenty of the 

 soil undisturbed, and the quail kept to her 

 nest. When one day as he was approaching 

 the field a flock of crows flew up from the 

 part near the quail's nest, he went over, and 

 there was the poor quail fluttering about in 



a most distracted manner, and the nest com- 

 pletely ruined, the eggs broken and partly 

 eaten. Needless to say, the quail left for 

 parts unknown. 



The crow has no natural enemy who can 

 keep it down, therefore I say we have got to 

 keep it down, and the disgraceful side hunt is 

 a good means for so doing. I am not saying 

 a word about" hawks, you will notice. 



I am very much interested in your maga- 

 zine and should like to hear more on this sub- 

 ject of the crows. One of your contempora- 

 ries praises the work of the farmer in a cer- 

 tain western state for killing 1,200 crows in 

 one day. Evidently there are differences of 

 opinion. 



Wilfrid Wheeler, Concord, Mass. 



Yes, I have watched crows rob birds' nests 

 — saw one this spring on a practical cruise 

 among the red-winged black birds in the cat- 

 tails, and if you will re-read my notes you 

 will see that I did not refer -to the crow, 

 but to birds of" prey, meaning the hawks and 

 owls, but I still think a few crows are good 

 for a country, although I must confess that 

 where they exist in great numbers they are 

 capable of doing much damage. — Editor. 



'Toucha" is a pet fox which was captured 

 near Descubridara, Mexico, in May, 1903. 

 Some Mexicans killed the mother and one 

 of the pups as they emerged from their hole. 

 One of the two remaining pups died a few 

 days after capture. The surviving pup was 

 given to an American located at Descu- 

 bridara at that time. 



The Mexicans claimed she was a young 

 coyote, and as such she came into my pos- 

 session the following Christmas. Although I 

 had a doubt of her being a coyote I was not 

 certain in the matter until about a year ago, 

 when she lost her baby fur and acquired a 

 beautiful coat of grey and red. I have failed 

 so far to learn of what species she is. Her 

 back, tail and face are grey, similar to the grey 

 fox; the ears, limbs and sides are reddish, 

 somewhat like the color of the swift. The 

 under portion of body is white. The tail has 

 a black spot close to the body; is also tipped 

 with black. She has been very tame, and a 

 great pet ever since her capture, when about 

 two weeks old. The photograph of her 

 chained will give a fair idea of her appear- 

 ance. The second photograph was taken 

 while she was running at large among the 

 foothills of Mt. Franklin, near which we re- 

 side. She seldom wanders far and always re- 

 turns when tired of playing. She seems very 

 bright, and as quick to learn as a dog. There 

 are many foxes and coyotes among the foot- 

 hills and mountains, but she has shown no 

 disposition to assume wild habits and join 

 them. A. F. Young, 



El Paso, Tex. 



