66 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
' '[Dec 26, igoj. 
crave the shelter of the farmers' bug-ridden hollow 
trees in the day and the privilege of destroying the 
.mice on the place at night, and yet the hard-hearted 
old yeoman is sure to lay at their door every missing 
chicken, duck or goose, overlooking the fact that only 
yesterday he saw a skunk run under the barn, and that 
the boys said that tbey had found the den of one of 
those bloodthirsty little thugs, the mink, down in the 
creek's bank. 
These owls are literally capable of no injury to .any 
one, and I would just as soon shoot a nuthatch, brown 
thrush or chewink as I would one of them. 
While the long-eared is a well-known species in many 
regions, he is but seldom seen out this way. They are 
great mousers, frequent meadow lands in preference to 
other lands and are beginning to be regarded with some 
favor. The short-eared owl, his first cousin, is much 
like him, only is even a greater mice exterminator. He 
is quite common in this State, nests out on the open 
prairie and shows a decided predilection for Uhe neigh- 
borhood of prairie dog towns. 
The barn owl is known the world over. ±Je rests 
inactive during the day, but comes forth in thv, gloam- 
ing and liunts mice with an industry that is truly com- 
mendable, but to expose himself recklessly near man's 
abode is to seal his own doom, for here is another in- 
stance where a useful and beautiful bird is hounded to 
death on account of idiotic tradition, dense ignorance 
and because it is an owl. 
So much for the owls — now for the crow. 
I am fully sensible of the fact that it requires con- 
siderable courage to champion the cause of the birds 
the whole world condemns, almost, but with me a uni- 
versal impression is not synonymous with a demon- 
strated truth, as many claim, and while the crow is truly 
as black as he is painted, this sable hue is only feather 
deep. Our farmers always see the crows when they 
are engaged in their deviltry, but never catch a glimpse 
of them when they are delving like Trojans in their in- 
terests. They feel the loss of the handful of corn he 
cost them yesterday, but have no thought of the dol- 
lars he will save them to-morrow in his destruction of 
ravaging insect life. 
The crow is a friend of man. He is one of the 
greatest insect destroyers that wears feathers, and it 
is high time his true worth was being heralded through- 
out the benighted regions. A flock of crows in October 
and November does not range from one end of 
our fields to the other for mere exercise. These birds 
do not roll over dead branches and good-sized stones, 
scatter the matted leaves and dead grass and harry the 
runways of mice and gophers for the mere sake of do- 
ing something. Kill one of these crows, thus engaged, 
and examine his stomach and be convinced of the 
knowledge of those who have conscientiously studied 
the subject. The damage the crows do is so complete- 
ly offset by the good they perform that statistics are 
not necessary. The part the ebony professors play 
as scavengers is almost entirely overlooked, and yet 
the part is played with the greatest of eclat, notwith- 
standing its minor standing in nature's ever enthralling 
drama. 
It is my honest belief that in just proportion as birds 
are protected, including hawks, owls and crows, the 
pursuit of agriculture becomes less onerous and the use 
of poisons as insecticides a supererogatory expense. 
For a hundred years or more nature's quota of native 
birds has not been allowed to freely roam the country 
over, and the difficulties of contending with the particu- 
lar foes of each crop have increased. 
Facts may be stubborn things, but they cannot with- 
stand the assaults of deep-rooted prejudice. A few 
cucumbers or a hill of corn destroyed, even if the crow 
is not the culprit, condemns the bird, and facts are 
no more regarded than idle words. Is not the crow 
black and does not that mean everything? Man ad- 
mits himself by acts if not by words, a victim of brutish 
unreason, and willingly clings to the folklore of an- 
tiquity, as if it were susceptible of mathematical dem- 
onstration. 
Elaborate argumentation is lost. 
I will admit the crow is very black, and not startling- 
]y graceful; he is anything but a musician and unfit for 
the table, but for all this we cannot afford to remove 
him from the landscape, from which all wild is too 
speedily vanishing. The sky grows weary when you 
gaze up into it with nothing to relieve its monotony, 
and whether one crow or a flock breaks in on the 
vision, it is a distinct gain to the outlook. 
Take our great plains now, from which the bison 
has disappeared, and even the coyote is going, and you 
will find it very depressing looking forever in vain for 
solid, substantial assertive forms of wild life, and the 
crow is certainly one of these forms. The poetry that 
surrounds the raven is lacking, but the bird has charms 
all his own, although known to so few of us. Man has 
been judging the crow ever since the most ancient days 
and not yet begun to cultivate his acquaintance. When 
this is done all things corvine will not be considered 
unworthy of notice. Perhaps the invidious will say that 
I care more for birds than I do for business, for crows 
than crops, and I certainly do, and all they can say 
will not warp or vitiate my judgment. 
I am fond of the crow because he is as cunning as 
he is beautiful, and because he has often outwitted me, 
and I am his staunch defender because, with so much 
against him, _ he has defied mankind, and in its very 
midst often lives a long life in safety. Certainly there 
is no other bird that offers so fine an opportunity for 
the study of comparative psychology. He is a living 
contradiction that intelligence is greater in mammals 
than in birds, for no four-footed beast, not even the 
collie dog at his best, is the crow's intellectual equal. 
This will be disputed, of course, but the final disposition 
of the question does not alarm or annoy roe. 
Have you ever watched the evening flight of the 
crows in the bleak autumn time? If so, you will never 
weary of seeing the sight over again. There are thou- 
sands and thousands of crows here in Nebraska, more, 
I believe, than in any other State in the Union, and 
there is no other spectacle in nature that fits so com- 
pletely with the surroundings as the afternoon proces- 
sions above mentioned. In the morning the crows scat- 
ter «is so many individuals bent upon personal errands 
only; some hurriedly, many in a leisurely way; some 
garrulous, others moody. Comradeship is not desired. 
Before the morning is well advanced the neighborhood 
is deserted, and the cry of the ever disgruntled' jay 
seems but a mocking echo of the wild clamor that so 
lately resounded along the tortuous b3fAvays of tliis little 
wilderness; but as the day draws near its close, low 
down along the ambered horizon, we can, if watchful, 
mark the approach of the returning birds, and then for 
hours there passes overhead. an endless army of sable 
-forms, progressing with metbod, as well drilled troops 
rather than individuals, and- obedient to the orders of 
their appointed leaders. -■ ■ - ' . 
And in the sweet spring time, what' a •bdon to the 
lover of nature is the crow. Long before the' blue- 
bird's note is heard dropping from the skies, before 
the liquid trill even of the song sparrow ripples upon 
the air, before the soft breath from the southland 
enpurples the fields and fans the sweet anemone into 
color and starts the shrill orchestra of the hylas in the 
wet meadows, he forms the vanguard of the" glorious 
vernal season. 
If there are any readers of Forf.st and Stream 'who 
think I have fallen short of what I have underta-ken 
to do, to defend these miscalled birds of prey, all I 
can add is that it will be wise to prove beyond all doubt 
the desirability of rendering extinct any 'foittl of 'life 
before the act is done. ' 
We, unfortunately, have no resurrect'ive power. 
In conclusion, 1 will say that I consider it dowiiright 
culpable to find an experienced sportsman at this late 
day who unblushingly asserts that he has given the 
subject of birds of prey in relation to our feathered 
game long and careful study, and yet urges the indis- 
criminate and persistent slaughter of the former, and 
claims that the ever increasing scarcity of the latter 
is due to the former. The investigations made by the 
Department of Agriculture, as long back as 1893, should 
forever set at rest all doubt as to the true economic 
value of hawks and owls. These investigations, which 
involved a critical analytical examination of the stom- 
ach contents of 3,000 hawks and owls, showed that 
among this enormous number only two hawks and one 
owl are appreciably injurious to agriculture. 
Sandy Griswold. 
Omaha, Neb. 
Grizzly Bears and Othefs. 
Montana in his story of "Grizzly Bear Bottom" in a 
late number mentions the grizzly and brown bear and 
seems to think that the brown bear is also a grizzly. I 
had been taught that tlie big brown bear often met on the 
upper Missouri was only half a grizzly, a cross between 
a grizzly and a black bear. How is it? 
I have met but one real grizzly, and cannot claim to 
have met him; I got out of his road and let him keep on 
to wherever he was going. I only had a Spencer carbine 
and thought I had not lost any grizzlies ; I was not hunt- 
ing them, and he did not hunt me. Since then I have 
often thought that I was a fool for letting him go; I 
might have turned loose on him with the carbine, then 
when he came for me, as he no doubt would when I had 
hit him, I still had my pistol to fall back on. 
There is hardly any doubt now that the real California 
grizzlies (and this one I met was one of them) are not 
half so eager to attack a man now as they were before the 
advent of the magazine gun. They have learned to fear 
him. 
The big silver-tip of Arizona is only another type of the 
grizzly. I have shot him, but I had a good rifle when I 
did it, else I probably would have let him go also. 
Cabia Blanco. 
[There is no reason for supposing that the different 
species of bears hybridize, any more than do the different 
species of deer. The belief is more or less common, but 
is shared by no competent biologist, so far as we know. 
Except under domestication, such crossing is, we believe, 
absolutely unknown among mammals. On the other hand, 
it does occur — and not very infrequently — among certain 
groups of birds, e. g., among ducks, and perhaps very 
rarely among other birds.] 
Birds of a Maryland Farm. 
Undei? this title. Dr. Sylvester D. Judd, in Bulletin 
No. 17 of the Biological Survey, gives us a local study of 
economic ornithology which is very interesting. While 
the Biological Survey has long been engaged in investi- 
gating the food habits of birds by the examination of the 
contents of their stomachs, this investigation while very 
useful so far as it goes, yet leaves much to be desired. 
Little or nothing may be known of the conditions under 
which the birds live whose food is examined, and this is 
an important part of any such inquiry. With a view of 
settling this part — for a limited territory — Dr. Judd made 
an investigation of the bird life of a certain farm in 
Maryland by frequent visits between July 30, 1895, and 
July 24, 1902. Thes,e visits included every month of the 
year except January. In order to obtain an idea of the 
available food supply, the insects, berries, and seeds found 
on the place were collected. The conditions of the crops 
and the insects feeding on them were noted. Observa- 
tions of the birds' food habits were made in the field and 
in the stomachs of nearly 700 birds collected and 
examined. 
In this Bulletin of 116 pages, which is illustrated by 
seventeen full-page plates and forty-one figures in the 
text, there is thus .a vast amount of information given 
concerning _ our familiar eastern birds. The topography 
of the territory under observation is described, the dis- 
tribution of its birds, their insect, vertebrate, fruit, grain, 
and weed seed food catalogued, and finally the species are 
enumerated and the food of each given, as determined 
by this long period of observation. 
Dr. Judd's conclusions are that on this particular tract 
the English sparrow, the sharpshinned and Cooper hawk 
and the great horned owl are injurious and should be 
killed at every opportunity. The sapsucker is also harm- 
ful here on account of its injury to. the fruit trees. 
The crow cloes more harm than good, while the crow 
blackbird is rather a beneficial species. Practically all the 
other birds are useful rather than harmful. 
A very important service, according to Dr. Judd, is the 
wholesale destruction by birds of weed seeds. If they 
were useful in no other respect the preservation of these 
birds would be desirable for this reason alone. Among 
the most active weed destrtjyers are the quail, dove, cow 
bird, red-winged -blackbird, meadow lark, and a number 
of species of our native sparrows. 
A. A. A. S. Meetingf. 
The fifty -third annual meeting of the American Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Science is to be held in St. 
_ Louis, Mo., from Dec. 28, 1903, to Jan. 2, 1904. At the 
:same time there will be held meetings of various 
affiliated societies, among them the American Anthropo- 
logical Association, the American Chemical Society, the 
American Mathematical Society — Chicago Section — the 
American Microscopical Society, the American Physical 
Society, the American Society of Naturalists, the Ameri- 
can Society of Zoologists, the Association of Economic 
Entomologists, the Association of Plant and Animal 
Breeders, the Astronomical and Astrophysical Society of 
America, the Botanical Society of America, the Central 
•Botanists' Association, the Geological Society of America, 
'4.ttd others;' 
Special rates will be given over most of the railroads 
from different points in the United States to St. Louis. 
' During the meeting excursions will be made to the 
World's Fair grounds, where the progress of the work 
bdng done may be inspected. ' ' 
North Carolina Audubon Society* 
The wardens employed by the Audubon Society of 
North Carolina continue to make seizures of partridges — 
commonly known in the North as quail — which are being 
shipped out of the State. At Greensboro, December 7, 
71 birds which had recently been seized were sold at auc- 
tion. The work of game protection now being done in 
North Carolina offers an example which all the Southern 
Slates and many of those in the North might very well 
follow. 
« fit 
Take inventory of the good things in this issue ^ 
^ of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was ^ 
jjf given last week. Count on what is to come next 
week. Was there ever in all the world a more ^ 
5tt abundant weekly store of sportsmen's readingf 
» ^ 
'^Wf^ ^nd ^ntu 
All communications intended for Foxut and Stkxam should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
The Game Laws in Brief 
is the standard authority of fish and game laws of the United 
States and Canada, it tell* everything and gives it correctly. 
See in advertising pages list of tome of the dealers who handle 
the BricL 
Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock* 
Hyde Park, Vt., Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In response to your request for members of "the family'" 
to report to you as to the number of grouse and wood- 
cock in their localities this season, will say that I have 
hunted this section more or less each fall, for the past 
twenty years and never found grouse so scarce as at 
present. The season of 1902 we considered very poor, 
attributing it to the unusually wet spring. My total bag 
was about thirty birds. This season I have shot about a 
dozen, hunting practically the same covers. A month or 
two before the season opened the prospects seemed very 
good for a fair crop of birds. While out walking a 
number of broods were flushed, and in one case a flock 
of fourteen or fifteen birds. This covey I naturally tried 
to keep track of. They were located late in August, but 
on opening day (September i) an hour's hunt in the rain 
failed to raise them, A day or two after I found them 
and secured two. They were then very wild, though I 
doubt if they had been shot into by anyone else. On 
dressing these two birds they were found to be infested 
with white worms about an inch and a half long, pointed 
at each end, which I suppose are the intestinal worms 
which attack the grouse. Although this same cover and 
the adjoining fields were thoroughly worked over by a 
pointer and setter at least a half dozen times later, these 
birds were never found together again, and only a very 
few scattering birds were raised in the whole piece of 
woods. For no better reason I attributed the disappear- 
ance of this covey to the intestinal worms, and of the 
dozen or so birds shot all but one were found to contain 
more or less of the parasites. 
Another reason for the scarcity of birds this year I be- 
lieve is the lack of food. In this locality there were no 
blackberries or nuts of any kind, and there have been no 
beechnuts, which are the staff of the smaller wild life in 
this section, for a number of years. I do not remember 
-of seeing a chipmunk in all my fall's hunting. There 
were a few reds and verjrfew grays. In seasons of plenty 
of food every stump and log will have its striped in- 
habitants. If the scarcity or abundance of food affects 
other wild life to such an extent, it must somewhat affect 
the grouse; and I believe that in this land of snows the 
Fish and Game Commission might do a more foolish 
thing than to attempt to provide feed for our native birds. 
How this could be accomplished is certainly a problem. 
A friend has suggested sunflowers as a possible solution, 
as they would grow on most every soil and hold their 
.seed-laden heads above the snow. Grouse have alreaidy 
been budding here for more than three weeks, and their 
diet of birch buds will have to continue for three to four 
months more. 
I therefore think that a number of conditions covering 
the past two or three years is responsible for the scarcity 
of grouse in this section. There is the undeniably poor 
