Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-02-04
Tarmers' Club.

Jan. "a, 1897. The Britton's Neck
Farmers Club met at the home of Mr..
Leo N. Wathen with quorum present.
The proceedings of last meeting were
read and approved.
On motion of Mr.. Wathen, a resolu-
tion was rendered congratulating Messrs.
Abel and Yates on the happy union of
their families in the marriage of their
children.
Mr.. Wathen read the following paper
on the subject, "What birds are the
friends Of the farmer"
Mr.. Pesident I'm considering what
birds are the farmers friend can have
no better guide than my own experience,
having been both farmer and hunts
man for thirty years. Nature, however
has furnished US an infallible guide in
most cases.
Those birds having small, soft bills, or
beaks, are always insect eaters, and
therefore are friends to the farmer.
This, however, does not apply to the wood
pecker family, all of which can be dis
tinguished by their stiff tail feathers.
These without exception are the friends
OF the farmer, as are, indeed, most of the
birds that nest with Us. There are some
exceptions, such, for instance, as the blue
jay, whose chief fault consists in the des-
truction of the eggs and young of the
insectivorous birds. The English spar
row should find no quarters with us. as
he has nothing to recommend him.
The red wing startling will destroy
grain both in the sprout and ear, but as
he is a great insect destroyer it is hard
to say IL he Ii not our friend.
The bee martin or king bird is of very
doubtful habits, as he lives almost ex-
clusively on the highway seeking flies
and bees, as is proven by the flower in
In the top Of his head, with which he at
tracts his prey. Those flies and bees are
the farmers friends, fertilizing the bloom
OF most all trees, plants and vines.
have but little to say in favor of the So
called game birds, their chief food be-
ing grain and the larger seeds, both of
which would be better left on the ground.
OF the owl family there is but one that
Is not decided friend Of the farmer.
This is the large cat owl, that destroys
chickens, turkeys, and is very destruct-
i've to young geese and ducks. have
known them to tear out parts of tobac-
CO stick coop in order to get them and
have caught them in steel traps in the
act. They not unfrequently kill full
grown turkeys from their perch in a tree
or roost at night.
hardly know what to say of the hawk
kind. Literally speaking there are but
three hawks that damage the farmer d.
rect, but the small birds they kill make
it doubtful IL they are of any good. The
meadow or marsh hawk, whose chief
food is mice and other small animals.
has much in its favor. OF the three that
should be destroyed shall take them &C.
cording to size. The red tailed buzzard
or hen hawk often kills grown hens, but
their chief damage is to young turkeys.
climbed TO q nest, after having shot
the old hawk, in which the young were
in few days of flying, and found two
young turkeys, one partially destroyed,
the other untouched. The other, n small
er hawk of the same kind, lives almost
entirely on young hares in the summer,
but doing little other damage. In one
Of their nests found part of one of those
animals and any quantity of fur And
now for the last and most villainous of
ell the hawks, namely, the blue back fall
con hawk. The damage of this hawk is
hard to estimate. His courage, strength
and rapid flight renders him the terror
OF all that comes in his way. Without
hesitation he attacks and kills old hens
and hares, and the partridge chased by
them with few exceptions die, either
from fright or from the conclusion of
their hastily alighting But these are
small faults compared to the damage to
young chickens, carrying away entire
broods from half the houses in a radius
Of miles around, and as they nest with
US there is always one near enough for
every house to suffer. A small estimate
would be OIL for each chicken raiser,
and as there is about 400 of these in the
third district, fair estimate would be
$4,000 for the county annually.
l had nearly forgotten the partridge
hawk, for while he does the farmer no
direct harm he destroys more small birds
than any and should be killed wherever
found.
And now for the crow, the sneak thief
OF all our birds, combining oil the bad
habits of bird and hawk. OF these there
are two kinds. One I shall call the egg
crow, from his fondness for them. This
crow Is much larger than the corn crow