BY THE WAYSIDE 
11 
BIRDS WISE AND FOOLISH 
John Watkins, Calumet, Mich. 
* Last, winter 1911-1912, warnihg 
came from Jefferson Butler and the 
National Association of Audubon Soci¬ 
eties of the danger of birds starving as 
a result of deep snow and unusually 
cold weather, but I had seen many cold 
winters and was not anxious for the 
birds of my neighborhood; for I felt 
I confident the ruffed grouse would come 
; through safely if the owls, hawks, 
skunks, and poachers were not too 
numerous. 
Chickadee, redpoll, snowflake, pine 
siskin, I knew defied the cold; and the 
enormous yield of seeds of the cedar, 
spruce, mountain ash and birch, the 
chosen food of the crossbills, pine gros¬ 
beaks and jays, together with a good 
crop of hazel nuts for red squirrel, 
would, I knew, keep our wards in this 
snowy region well supplied, since na¬ 
ture has not been robbed as it has been 
farther south of that natural protection 
of the wild—the woodland. 
I am of the opinion that the pine 
grosbeak was reported as a “winter 
Robin” by many who should have 
known better than to have seen Win¬ 
ter Robins” in flocks and reported the 
same from different parts of the north- 
ern states. 
But to return to my subject: There 
| came soon after January 1st, reports of 
ducks freezing and starving on the 
shores of Lake Superior, a surprise to 
me and to many others who had not 
known of such a fate before. During 
the few years that I spent in Dakota, 
all kinds of ducks and geese, except 
tame ones, left as soon as the north 
winds were cold enough to freeze still 
water and returned again with the 
warm south winds of March or April. 
I had never looked up the subject be¬ 
fore ; but on referring to books, I find 
there are some kinds that do not mi¬ 
grate;—well, they made good fare for 
the wolves that followed the lake shore 
and picked them up. 
The question came to my mind, were 
these ducks driven away from marshes 
and inland lakes by new settlers clear¬ 
ing and draining land? If so, their 
doom is sealed; for it is not practical 
for any protector of birds to feed and 
take care of them in the deep snow on 
the shores of the large lakes. Those 
that came through the winter will 
have to become the progenitors of a 
race hardy enough to withstand the 
storms and cold of the winter, or else 
change their habits and seek safety in 
a warm clime. 
I did not find any evidence of other 
birds freezing or starving, and the ruf¬ 
fed grouse is holding its own, although 
it, and the red deer are the most perse¬ 
cuted of game animals and birds in 
these regions. This is what I do Ini* 
the grouse: I do not allow dogs to 
run through the woods in the breeding 
season; then before the hunting season 
begins, whenever I see the birds, I fire 
off cheap cartridges to get them wild 
and on their guard; I also scatter brush 
and lop over brush and small trees that 
are dead or of no account,—this bothers 
both dogs and hunters, while the birds 
can “skidoo” through it. A few 
brush-piles, I think, are a good thing 
to make in the woods in autumn. 
(Continued on page 14) 
