human form he would scurry for his 
den. We used to watch him from the 
distance. He made a comical picture as 
he rolled and tumbled on the straw or 
chased himself around the stack. He 
looked promising. His mother kept him 
well fed. 
It was late in the spring before we 
could coax him to the house, and sev- 
eral weeks after that before we could 
touch him without feeling his sharp 
snapping teeth. We left him loose all 
summer to get acquainted with the 
world and gain more confidence in it 
and himself. By winter he could give 
a jack a mighty good workout, but he 
was overgrown and clumsy. While he 
already showed good stuff, he was too 
young to hit his stride. And it was not 
until the second winter that we gave 
him his chance to become a real dog. 
Reports came to us of a particularly 
bold coyote that had been marauding 
flocks of turkeys and chickens in the 
community a few miles south of us. It 
was said that he was big and daring 
and that while he was wise enough to 
stay out of gun range, he would not 
run from a dog. Consequently no 
ordinary farm dog would tackle him. 
At least not more than once. So when 
old Rover or Shep scented coyote in 
the vicinity they stayed close to the 
porch. 
We learned all we could about his 
habits and frequent haunts and made 
careful plans to show him a wild time 
when we should meet him. 
It was on a cold blustery day in 
December that we started out to look 
for him. We expected to jump him 
somewhere along a certain ravine, shel- 
tered by high grass and a grove of 
trees. We had paired Blue with Old 
Pat, veteran of many kills, who could 
usually be depended on to catch and 
hold any coyote until reinforcements 
arrived. Old Pat had the knack of 
catching a coyote by the hind leg and 
throwing it clear over him without 
slacking his speed. When they were both 
running it would result in a mean spill 
for the coyote, since it would be turned 
clear over in the air and hit the ground 
rolling. By the time it could get up, 
Pat would have circled and be ready 
for another chance. He was _ wise 
enough not to try for a hold when he 
was alone or the coyote on its feet. 
The other hounds were held at an 
advantageous distance to our left, so as 
to cover more territory. 
We had not yet reached the ravine, 
but were crossing’ a corn field in which 
was an old straw pile. Our coyote had 
been on this but he saw us first and 
made for the ravine. Blue was on the 
edze of the field when the old coyote 
broke for the open. The other hounds 
were not yet out of the stalks. We 
100 
slipped Blue and he tore out alone. 
Seeing only one dog, the coyote evi- 
dently thought it wasn’t necessary to 
run. That was what probably gave us 
our chance. As Blue got near him he 
turned and made a dash for him. It 
was hard to tell exactly what did hap- 
pen, only that there was a real mixup. 
And for a few moments you couldn’t 
tell dog from coyote. By that time we 
had gotten Old Pat out in sight and he 
lost no time getting in. His first 
maneuver was to catch and flip the coy- 
ote over in the air. Right then old 
Mr. Coyote decided to run. But he 
hadn’t decided soon enough. Before he 
got well started Old Pat flipped him 
again. This time the pup was there, 
too. They both got their holds and soon 
put an end to the career of a really big 
coyote. The pup came out with a badly 
bitten foot, but that hadn’t taken any 
fight out of him while the coyote was 
alive. That one kill, a hard and dan- 
gerous one, was the initiation and the 
making of Blue. He proved himself 
a real dog in many later hunts. But 
it was always comical to watch him 
keep his front feet out of the way when 
they had a coyote down. 
A. V. BYARLAY, 
Bala, Kansas. 
Dislikes Crows 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HERE has been a great deal said 
about crows, but no one has told 
us yet just how bad a crow really is 
so I thought I would try to give: my 
version of a pest. Being a taxidermist, 
I have spent a great part of my time in 
the field and woods and I have tried 
hard to learn all about birds and in 
mounting quail, I have weighed the 
crops of 30 quail and find that they con- 
tain from one ounce to one and a half 
ounces of seeds and my honest opinion 
is that 85 per cent of these seeds are 
ragweed, Indian cockrel and smart 
weed, three of the worst pests the 
farmer ever had to contend with. I 
will give the figures as I find them in 
regard to the crow. A mother crow 
lays from 15 to 24 eggs in a nest, an 
average of at least 15 birds per nest 
and a crow will eat and destroy every- 
thing as soon as he finds it and in so 
doing, he allows 344 lbs. of weed seeds 
to grow next year for the farmer to 
work out of his growing crops, just for 
one meal. For a crow, besides taking 
at least 15 quail from some man’s table 
(he does not stop at quail) robs song 
birds as well. In my estimation, a crow 
is a natural born thief and nothing else. 
He steals eggs, grain and even pulls 
up corn when it is growing in the field. 
So let’s kill all the crows we can and be 
friends to all real birds. 
B. H. PYLE, Elwood, Ind. 

Do not neglect the squirrels and birds in 
the winter 
Wants Sunday Fishing 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
HAVE read your magazine for the 
last few years and look forward to 
its coming’ each month. I would not 
be without it. The article “Game 
Breeding in America” is very instruc- 
tive as well as the article on “Hiber- 
nation.” I am not a big game hunter 
but like to shoot small game and I fol- 
low up those articles in your magazine. 
I am a member of the Berks County 
Rod and Gun Association and it might 
be interesting to you to know of the 
activities of this organization. We or- 
ganized a little over three years ago 
with about 20 members. Today we 
have a membership of close to 1,800. 
I believe we have the best club in the 
Oe 
Since we have organized, we have 
put practically three million fish in the 
streams of Berks County, including 
trout (brook, rainbow, brown), bass 
(large and small mouthed), and rock 
bass, cat fish, pike, perch and numer- 
ous other food fish. 
Last year we purchased 200 rabbits 
and have just placed an order for 300 
for delivery in January. 
We are fighting for Sunday fishing 
and hope to get it. I understand there 
are only two states in the Union that 

