Bird Enemies. 
Of all the enemies that beset small birds, 
the small boys are the worst. And right here 
let me say that some who have reached mature 
years destroy, annually, more birds and nests 
than all other enemies combined. Do not let 
me be understood as speaking against “scien- 
tific collectors,” for they destroy but a small 
percentage of what are destroyed, for no 
earthly purpose but to take the sweet life that 
God has given. 
The law endeavors to protect the birds from 
being wantonly destroyed; how well it is 
enforced I am not to say. 
It is with the other enemies that I have to 
deal. The order of birds known as Baptores 
are freest from enemies of all the orders. But 
they, in turn, are great enemies of the smaller 
birds. Their depredations are confined mostly 
to adult birds, and cover all seasons of the 
year. 
The American Crow (Conus americanus) 
is among the greatest destroyers of small birds. 
He will not only catch and eat adult birds, but 
he will destroy every nest that lie may chance 
to see. In 1888, Mr. Walter B. Barrows, assis- 
tant ornithologist of the U. S. Bureau of 
Agriculture, undertook to find out the amount 
of this bird’s depredations. Of the three 
hundred and fifty persons who sent replies to 
Mr. B.’s enquiries, two hundred and seventy- 
eight attested to the vast work of destruction 
done by this bird. Over twenty-five species 
were mentioned as being subject to his attack, 
among these being the Blue Jay and Purple 
Grackle, birds, that in turn, destroy large 
numbers of small birds. The greatest depre- 
dations were upon the Thrush species, Robins 
in particular. 
The Shrikes are the most merciless of all the 
assassins bn! . thanks to the “All-wise Creator ” 
On March lo, 1887, we started on our first 
visit to see what could be found, and we had a 
long and hard hunt, but we got there at last, 
and secured two eggs, but it was a close call, 
for if we had been a few days later they would 
never have got into my cabinet. After a tedi- 
ous process, however, I managed to make 
good specimens of them. 
I visited the place during the following 
winter and hunted my best, but could not find 
the birds, and since that time I have not had 
the time to get there again until March 5, 
1891, when we paid them another visit. This 
time the nest was in the open woods and was 
not so hard to find, but the bird was very shy. 
On our visit to this place in early March we 
had found a nest of the Great Horned Owl 
and we had entertained a faint hope that she 
might possibly lay another set of eo-o- s but 
we were more particularly after a nest of the 
Bed-shouldered Hawk this time, for we had 
seen a pair of birds hovering around on our 
former visit, but the choppers had driven the 
nrds out of this place, and, although the birds 
were still around we were unable to find the 
nest; so had to return to our team, when after 
a drive of about half a mile, we left again for 
•v. ® n ® ther woods > and d W not have to hunt long 
before we discovered the nest. It was in a 
. chestnut about seventy feet high and on a limb 
projecting about ten feet from the body of the 
tree, with the female bird on the nest. It was 
7 « uite dai ' k and no amount of clubbing or 
shouting would persuade her to get off We 
determined to start her, so I raised my gun 
and shot one barrel close to the nest to start 
her, and off she jumped, I let the other! 
barrel go after her, but as I am no expert with 
a gun she continued on her way unharmed, so 
we were obliged to say good-by to her. Our 
next problem was, where is the fellow to climb 
the tree and get the eggs ? I certainly was 
not desirous of the job, and my companion did 
not seem to favor the plan of his doing it, so 
we decided to let her rear her brood in peace 
so away we started, and it was now getting 
pretty dark; and as we went stumbling aloim 
we suddenly came upon an old, tumbled-down 
stone fence. As I was in advance I put one 
Nest to be Identified. Albert H. Hawley, Garden 
City, N. Y., writes : “ While out after Crow’s Eggs, we dis- 
covered a large nest about thirty feet from the ground. IMy 
friend went up and pronounced it an old crow’s nest, but 
soon found an opening, and supposing it to be a squirrel’s 
nest, he removed from the top a pile of leaves and bark, 
finding at the bottom a white egg about the size of a hen’s, 
or a little smaller, and the same shape. It was fresh. The 
nest looked like an old Crow’s, inhabited by Flying Squir- 
rel’s. Can any one tell me what it is?” 
/fS^drir aaovluA ** 
O.&O. IX, Jun.1884. p.% ■ 
IS7 
