283 
Sept. 23, 1905.] 
Evidence recently submitted to, and published by, 
Mr. C. A. Reed, editor of “American Ornithology,”* 
from correspondents in different parts of the country, 
indicates that the sparrow is still destructive to other 
birds. The sparrow is largely responsible' for the de- 
crease in swallows, martins and wrens. For more than 
thirty years it has driven these and other birds from 
their former breeding places, torn down their nests 
and killed them and their .young. The tree swallows 
and martins have been driven from the bird-houses. 
The nests of the cliff swallows have been torn down 
or occupied by the sparrows. .The barn swallows have 
been driven from the buildings they formerly occupied, 
and because of this persecution the wrens have actually 
disappeared from the neighborhood of towns and 
villages. If the sparrow is still increasing and spread- 
ing out, into the country, we may look for a continued 
decrease of swallows and wrens. 
Hawks, 
Every one will admit that hawks kill birds. Thirty- 
four observers consider them seriously destructive. It 
is to be noted, however, that, as in the case of the fox, 
the chief evidence is given by gunners. Nevertheless, 
it is probably true that, after man, the great bird de- 
stroyer, birds are among the greatest enemies of birds. 
No other animals can pursue birds through the air. 
No. others can follow them in their vast migrations, 
discover them so far off, or overtake and strike them 
so quickly. We must, then, look among rapacious birds 
themselves for some of the most potent checks to bird 
increase. 
The bald eagle feeds mainly on fish, and, has little 
effect on the numbers of other birds. The red-tailed 
hawk is not now generally common. The red- 
shouldered hawk seldom kills birds or poultry, but. 
living largely on field-mice, is believed to be a friend 
to the farmer; but the goshawk, duck hawk, Cooper 
hawk, and sharp-shinned hawk are all bird slayers. Of 
these four, the Cooper and sharp-shinned hawks, being 
most common, are most destructive. The duck hawk 
kills, like the cat, for the sake of killing. It pursues 
its prey on the wing, rapidly overtaking .swift-flying 
ducks. Mr. C. E. Bailey reports seeing a duck hawk 
overtake and strike three teal in succession, and then fly 
off, leaving its victims lying on the water. Fortunately, 
this hawk is rather rare in Massachusetts. The gos- 
hawk is. here occasionally in winter, but the Cooper 
hawk breeds here, and is still common, locally if not 
generally. This bird, which is sometimes , known as 
the partridge hawk or chicken hawk, is a feathered 
pirate. Swift, keen and daring, it is the terror of both 
birds and poultry. It is the one bird of all others to 
neutralize the local efforts of the bird protectionist. 
It is particularly obnoxious to the farmer, for, having 
once tasted chicken, it continues its forays until it is 
shot or the chickens shut up. It will sometimes kill 
full-grown fowls, but probably cannot carry them away. 
Its keen eye detects the mother bird sitting on the 
nest. At one swoop it snatches bird, nest, eggs and all 
in its powerful talons ; or it spies the nestlings, and picks 
them up as food for its own young. Conspicuous 
song.sters, like the brown thrasher, robin, wood thrush, 
rose-breasted grosbeak and scarlet tanager, are swept 
from their perches while in full song by this bold 
marauder, and borne to its ravening brood. Even the 
crafty bluejay does not always escape. As one of 
these hawks sweeps into a clearing and strikes its prey, 
every bird song becomes hushed. In a moment spar- 
rows, warblers, thrushes, titmice — all the loquacious, 
musical throng — find cover, or crouch motionless in 
their hiding places in silent terror. Grim death has 
been among them, and it is long before they dare 
resume their activities. The sharp-shinned hawk is a 
miniature of the Cooper hawk, although perhaps a 
trifle slimmer in build. It is widely known as the 
chicken hawk, and is strong and swift. It is nearly as 
dangerou.s.. to birds as its larger and stronger con- 
gener. , It breeds here, feeds its young on birds, and 
will kill birds as large as a jay. It is often mobbed by 
jays, but not infrequently strikes one of its tormentors, 
when all the rest fly off, leaving the hawk to finish its 
victim. 
Probably most of the birds now killed by hawks in 
Massachusetts are struck down by these two species. 
Sometimes in the fall these birds may be seen in great 
numbers migrating south. Mr. W. S. Perry estimates 
that he saw at least one thousand, mostly sharp-shinned 
and Cooper hawks, going south Oct. 10, 1892. He 
watched them flying all day. He estimates that each 
bird will, eat on the average two small birds each day, 
or seven hundred each year. At that estimate, the one 
thousand hawks which came within the range of his 
vision would eat seven hundred thousand birds a year. 
I regard these two birds and the goshawk as the only 
hawks that should be shot by gunners, most others 
being a positive benefit, or so rare as to do little harm. 
The pigeon hawk, also a bird hawk, is not common, 
and the sparrow hawk feeds chiefly on insects. The 
broad-winged hawk seldom kills birds, and the marsh 
hawk feeds mainly on mammals in most localities. 
The Bloejay. 
The bluejay, a smaller cousin of the crow, has a 
similarly unsavory record, and also merits it. It attacks 
the eggs of birds from the size of the smallest sparrow 
and warbler to that of the robin. The robins, if at 
hand, will successfully defend their nests; 'but the jay 
will watch, and sometimes eventually appropriates the 
eggs in the robin’s absence. The jay pays little atten- 
tion to the screaming and protesting vireos, but robs 
their nests as. unconcernedly as though the parent birds 
were not present. When jays have young in the nest, 
they sometimes watch the nests of the smaller bird.; 
very closely. Hardly is a clutch laid when it disap- 
pears, and most of the smaller birds lose at least one 
set of eggs. I am aware that many people find it hard 
to believe that such a pretty bird as the bluejay can be 
such a rascal; therefore, I will not ask belief for my 
own assertions without producing evidence to support 
them, for the mere fact that twenty-six observers be- 
lieve the jay to be a destructive ^nemy of the smaller 
*Vol. ' 4 , No. 5, May, 1904, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
birds may not be considered sufficient evidence on 
which to condemn the bird. , 
“Last spring I was disturbed several mornings by 
an outcry among the birds in the trees near the house. 
A pair of bluejays were on a marauding tour, and eggs 
were the morning’s bill of fare.” 
“The crows and jays are destructive to the sparrows, 
robins and vireos that build in our orchard beside the 
house, w.here I have a good chance to see them. I 
belie-ve t'.:e jays are about as bad as the crows. Several 
robins’ nests are broken up in this way every year, and 
always one, and generally two or three, of each of the 
others.” 
“I have a neighbor * * * who has shot one or two 
jays in the very act of robbing eggs from nests.” 
“I have seen bluejays repeatedly sitting on the edge 
of a nest, eating the eggs. This season I found a 
nest of a Vireo solitarius. I discovered a bluejay in 
the act of eating up the eggs. When I went to the nest 
there was only one left, and the shells of three others. 
I have had the same experience this year with the nest 
of Dendroica virens. I think jays torment these birds 
worse than any others. I am convinced that jays, dur- 
ing nest time, hunt for eggs with great skill and 
regularity.” 
Colonel Thayer alsO' writes of Mr. William Brewster’s 
experience. This Mr. Brewster has told me of person- 
ally. The methodical manner in which the jays investi- 
gated the nests of other birds day after day, and de- 
stroyed the eggs, has convinced him of their destruc- 
tiveness. He says: “I do not consider that owls, 
hawks (except the Cooper and sharp-shinned), squir- 
rels, weasels or even foxes do any serious harm. The 
bluejay does very much harm to the smaller birds by 
eating their eggs; and the crow is also harmful in the 
same way, but to a less degree according to my ex- 
perience.” 
Mr. S. J. Harris, of East Dedham, Norfolk county, 
speaks of his experience with jays as follows: “Of 
course the old robins would fight the jays away for a 
while, but they would come right back again. I have 
known of a bluebird’s nest with four, or five eggs in 
it being robbed by jays,, for I came along in time to 
hear the scrimmage, and, on seeing, the bluejay in the 
bluebird’s nest, with the bluebirds screaming and fly- 
ing at the jay, I went and found all the eggs broken, 
and the jay had eaten the insides.” 
Owls. 
Owls certainly kill some birds, but. the number they 
take is ordinarily so small in proportion to the noxious 
mammals and insects they destroy that they are be- 
lieved to be among the most useful of birds. It is, 
however, rather amusing to hear one friend of the 
screech owl defending it from the charge of killing small 
birds, and asserting that it lives on mice and insects, 
while another says thp,t it is most useful because it 
destroys so many English sparrows. I have known a 
screech owl to kill a flicker, occupy its nest and make 
a meal of the owner. Owls kill many mice; shrews, 
squirrels, rabbits and other small mammals, and a few 
birds. The larger species probably, kill some game 
birds. The owls are not so destructive to birds as 
either hawks or crows. Were they exterminated, we 
should miss them sadly. The quavering wail of the 
screech owl at evening is one of the characteristic 
sounds of our orchards and woodlands; it is becoming 
altogether too rare in some localities. The booming 
hoot of the horned owl, now seldom heard, gives warn- 
ing of the approach of the most dangerous owl of our 
woods. It kills many hares, or so-called rabbits, mice 
and rats, and is in this respect a friend to the farmer. 
Weasels. 
Only seventeen people complain of the weasel, and 
much of the evidence against it is that of killing 
chickens. I have for years heard the statement made 
that weasels were very destructive to game birds. I 
have followed them for miles, and watched them when- 
ever I could. I have written many letters to people 
who regard them as destructive, but the nearest thing 
to evidence against them that has come to me yet is 
contained in the following notes: 
Mr. Thomas Allen, of Bernardston, says: “Weasels 
are too sly and quick in movement to be caught. The 
bird with small, clean-cut teeth marks in the neck or 
under the wing is proof of this enemy.” 
Mr. H. B. Bigelow, of Cohasset, writes: “Weasels 
kill some small birds, principally sparrows, along stone 
walls and hedge rows, where I havei found several car- 
casses, principally, however, English sparrows. In 
.Milton I saw a weasel stalk an English' sparrow along 
a stone wall. They are said to destroy some quail.” 
Weasels are remarkably savage and bloodthirsty 
animals, but seem to feed mostly on mice, shrews and 
moles, for which they hunt daily. When hunting they 
quarter over the ground much rnore closely than does 
the fox, therefore they are more likely to stumble on 
the nests of birds. An animal which can kill six fowls 
in a night, as I have known a weasel to do, would easily 
kill a sitting grouse or any smaller bird which it could 
surprise on its nest at night. 
The weasel is very brave and active. Weasels oc- 
casionally attack even human beings. There is an old 
story of an English girl who was found dead on a 
moor, her body partly eaten by a party of weasels. I 
was once, when a boy, attacked by ten of these 
creatures. They made the occasion quite interesting 
for me for some minutes, and by reason of their great 
activity all but one escaped unharmed. 
Mr. John Burroughs has observed that weasels can 
climb trees. t This makes them much more formidable ene- 
mies to birds than they otherwise would be, but, as 
their vision is not particularly acute, and as they rely 
largely on scent, they are likely to be often at fault. 
Fortunately, they are not common, but I have never 
seen any explanation for their comparative scarcity. 
They have many young and few enemies, although the 
larger hawks and owls get some of them. They can 
escape the fox by climbing or hiding. Weasels are not 
often shot, and traps are seldom set for them, but they 
are often caught in traps set for other animals. 
•j-“Squirrels and Other Fur Bearers,” John Burroughs, p. 
^he fennel 
— 
John Davidson. 
Dispatches in the daily press announce the death of 
John Davidson, at Monroe, Mich., on Saturday of last 
week. He suffered a brief illness. Death was caused by 
heart failure consequent to a severe cold contracted at 
1 oronto recently. He was seventy-eight years old. 
Probably no man was more widely known in the canine 
world than was John David.son. He was famous in both 
Europe and America as an all-round bench show judge 
and judge of cattle, a breeder and trainer of bird dogs, 
an expert field shot, and a writer of no mean attainments 
on such subjects of dog and gun as appealed to his fancy 
or interest. 
He was a Scotchman by birth, and possessed many of 
the characteristics for which that race is famous — good 
common sense, a dry and sometimes caustic humor, the 
moral courage to utter his beliefs in the face of any oppo- 
sition and the physical courage to stand by them as long 
as need be. Many there were who thought that he had 
violent, unreasoning prejudices against what he did not 
approve and which they did approve; but there is no 
doubt in the mind of the writer — who- knew him well — • 
that his uncompromising attitude on many subjects was 
due to firm conviction that he was right. His acts were 
always consistent with his beliefs. There was nothing 
artificial about him, no affectation of manner nor frills 
of speech. 
While he was courteous of speech and manner, he pre- 
ferred to eschew all evasion, or insincerity or grand stand 
plays in business or pleasure. 
In the United States, among a large circle of admiring 
friends, he was known by the endearing soubriquet of 
“Honest” John Davidson. 
His experience in. field sports was broad and long. He 
was a practical spottsman years before the affairs of dog 
and gun v/ere taken up in this country in a systematic, 
intelligent manner. Field trials and bench shows owe 
much to him. He was identified with them from their 
inception. He judged at the show of the Illinois State 
Sportsman’s Association, held in Chicago, 111 ., June 4, 
1874, said to be the first bench show of record held in 
America. From that time till his demise, he was con- 
spicuously identified with the competitive features of the 
canine world. 
Concerning his official acts as judge, many anecdotes 
have been told of his sharp wit. One in particular, en- 
joyed by bench show devotees, has been cherished for the 
directness with which it closed an incident. After ever3^ 
breed is judged there are a few or more dissatisfied con- 
testants, known colloquially as “disappointed exhibitors.” 
They seek, as a rule, to interview the judge ostensibly as 
inquirers for information, but really to show him his 
error or to express their opinion of him. At such times 
“Honest John” would place his arms akimbo, look over 
the top of his nose phlegmatically and cynically at the 
disgruntled owner. Once on an occasion of this kind, the 
disappointed one, concluded by saying, “Well, I don’t 
think you know how to- judge.” “You don’t,” replied the 
judge dryh'-, “but that’s your think, and it’s my think that 
counts.” 
He was an excellent field shot, an accomplishment in 
which he took a just pride. Bad shooting on the part of 
others was sure to excite his derision. He fell into- a joke 
at the field trials of the Central Field Trial Club, at Lex- 
ington, N. C., which raised a laugh against him, an event 
which was very rare -indeed. He was acting as one of the 
judges. The handlers had been ordered to kill a bird, 
and, nevertheless, missed shot 'after shot. Finally, a fine 
point was secured in the open. The field trial party 
massed about, was watching with keen interest. “Honest 
John” ordered the dogs to be held a moment while he 
dismounted to show them how to kill a bird. He took 
the handler’s gun, flushed the bird, shot at it, and missed 
it entirely, amid , the acclamations of the delighted hun- 
dreds. He missed it, apparently — if was many years 
afterward that he learned that the gun was loaded with 
a blank cartridge. But of such incidents there were hun- 
dreds in his life, which his friends took pleasure in relat- 
ing — the light, humorous portrayal of his character in con- 
trast w'ith the rigid and the serious. B. Waters. 
National Beagle Club of America* 
Sept. 18. — Mr. Thomas. Shallcross, of Providence, R. 
I., and Mr. Thomas D. Griffith, of Redland, Md., have 
accepted the invitation of the National Beagle Club of 
America to judge at its sixteenth annual field trials, to 
be held at Stevenson, Baltimore county, Md., during the 
w'eek commencing Oct. 30. 
Stevenson is in Baltimore county, Md., about twelve 
miles from the city of Baltimore, and is reached from 
the Union Station, Baltimore, on the Green Spring 
Branch of the Northern Central Railroad, Baltimore Di- 
vision, of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 
Chas. R. Stevenson, Sec’y.. 
THE MAWT-USE OIE CO., N. Y. CITY, 
Will mail free sample. Thin oils not as good or sm?.—Adv, 
