the rabbits around. 
from me. 
enlightening figures. 
from wild birds and their eggs. 
The U.S. Department of Agriculture 
has done much to ascertain the eco- 
nomic status of the crow and supplies 
us with some highly interesting and 
The Bureau of 
Biological Survey has found that only 
a third of one per cent of the annual 
food of adult crows and one and a half 
per cent of that of nestlings is derived 
What 
is more important is the large per- 
centage of noxious insects to be found 
in the stomach of the crow. The food 
of the nestlings comprise over fifty 
per cent insects, and May-beetles and 
their larva form an important item in 
this diet. 
Furthermore, is Mr. Pyle certain that 
“a mother crow lays from 15 to 24 
more than six eggs. 
eggs in the nest.” I have inspected 
many crow’s nests and never found 
The usual num- 
ber in N. Y. State is four or five. 
) against the crow. 
There is much to be said for and 
I do not maintain 
that he should be put on the protected 
fer from his depredations. 
list, but let the ones kill him who suf- 
We hu- 
mans are not so perfect that we can 
judge what is to be destroyed and that 
_ which we shall protect. 
WILLIAM J. HAMILTON, JR. 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
A Hint for Rabbit Hunters 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
T was just four o’clock in the morn- 
ing when I awoke, and going into 
my chum’s room routed him out. We 
dressed as quickly as possible, grabbed 
up our shotguns, called the dogs, and 
started for the swamps to hunt rab- 
bits. It was a long walk to the place 
where we were going, but the air was 
crisp and stingy and we hiked along at 
a good pace. 
We arrived there about 5.30 and as 
the dogs were eager to be off, we un- 
leashed them and away they went into 
the swamp. 
It was always my policy to get set 
in a good place and let the dogs work 
I took my stand 
on the north side of the swamp, and 
Bill stationed himself about 300 feet 
So we waited. 
Now, before we go any further into 
the story, I will tell you about my dogs. 
Old Bell, as I called her, was the best 
rabbit dog I ever saw. She was slow 
but sure, and had a wonderful nose, 
and if there was a rabbit anywhere 
around, she would soon kick him out. 
Old Jack was just the opposite; he 
was fast, could run like a’deer. These 
dogs were raised together from puppies 
and seemed to know each other’s ways. 
They would work around and finally 
Bell would start a rabbit. Then Jack 
would take it up and run him. It was 
just like team work with them. Well, 
it was not long before I heard Bell start 
to bay and then Jack’s voice join him. 
I could not see Bill from where I 
stood but soon I heard the report of 
his gun. I yelled to him, “Did you get 
him?” 
Bill hollered back, 
comes your way.” 
About half way to where Bill stood, 
I saw where the rabbit had gone back 
in the swamp. The dogs soon came up 
in full cry and continued back in on 
the track. I got to thinking that it 
would be a good scheme to get into the 
“No, here he 

Playing a heavy one 
swamp, so I worked my way clear into 
the center of it. 
It was pretty thick with bushes and 
brush in there but by kneeling down, 
I could see under them pretty well. 
I kept still and waited. I could hear 
the dogs coming nearer and nearer. I 
was all alert. Just in front of me, 
about forty feet was an old rotten log. 
I was looking at the log from where 
I lay, when all at once up jumped a 
rabbit on top of the log. I took aim 
and fired. 
Over he went. He was the one the 
dogs were after, for they came right 
up and sniffed at him a minute, then 
away they went again. 
In the meantime Bill had worked his 
way in where I was and we both lay 
still and watched. It seemed that every 
rabbit the dogs started all came down 
that same path because we lay right 
there and shot five more bunnies, mak- 
ing six in all. 
After waiting awhile and not hearing 
any more from the dogs, we decided 
that we had gotten all of them in the 
place, so we called the dogs and started 
out. 
It was getting along after noon and 
we sat down by a stump and ate our 
lunch, which we divided with the dogs. 
After we had a smoke and rested 
a while, Bill suggested that we had 
enough game, so why not work back 
towards home. I agreed, so we started. 
Our way lay across open fields. We 
had gotten about half way home when we 
sat down by an old rail fence to rest. 
The dogs lay at our feet and we were 
sitting there quiet and nice, when all 
at once Bill nudged me and whispered, 
“look there!” I looked, and there, not 
more than 100 feet from us trotted the 
prettiest red fox I ever saw, and I 
was so excited in grabbing for my gun, 
that before I could fire, my fox had 
dodged over the top of a ridge and was 
gone. 
“Oh, well,” said Bill, “he was too 
pretty to kill, anyway.” 
We arrived home pretty tired and 
hungry, but otherwise well satisfied 
with our day’s sport. 
C. UNDERWOOD, 
Detroit, Mich. 
Fishing and Hunting in Georgia 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
AVING read many interesting let- 
ters in your fine little magazine, 
I have finally gotten up nerve enough 
to write one myself, though on several 
different subjects. I have been going 
hunting and fishing whenever I got 
the chance, and would almost rather do 
so than eat. 
I live in south Georgia. In the early 
springtime when the “rock fish,’ or 
striped bass come up the creeks to 
spawn (they do not get far up the creek 
here at Albany for there is a dam about 
% to % of a mile from the Flint River), 
the faithful followers of Izaak Walton 
go out below the dam, and start cast- 
ing. Sometimes one will cast all morn- 
ing or all afternoon and not get a 
strike, but when a lucky fellow gets a 
strike he usually has something, the fish 
usually weighing from 10 to 35 pounds. 
Last year, not far from here, a negro 
fishing in a spring caught one that 
weighed either 60 or 65 pounds. So 
much for “rock fishing.” 
In the river, almost any kind of fish 
may be caught; pickerel (jack we call 
’em), trout, catfish and mud cats (I 
know of one man catching 406 channel 
cat in one morning), bream shell 
crackers, bass (we eall all bass 
“trout’”’), sturgeons, carp and eels. 
Most of all the trout and jack fish- 
ing is done by casting. The largest 
trout I have heard of is a 26 pounder 
(the “trout” was a large mouthed black 
bass) and the largest “jack” about 10 
pounds. While I am on the subject, I 
think that the little pike referred to in 
S. H. Gantt’s letter is the “red-fin 
pikie” for it hardly ever is over % 
pound in weight and is a game fighter, 
and Mr. Gantt describes them as good, 
in fact everything he says in his letter 
is true. That is all about the fishing 
part of it, except that there is good 
bream and perch fishing in the creeks, 
ponds and lakes. 
227 
