The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-12-14

abandoned villains as many other birds
 which have not their reputation. May
 not something be said for that dashing
 hawk, the peregrine? The falcon is an accommodating bird of prey. feeding on grouse, plover, ducks and pigeons in the highlands; on sea birds. such as the
 smaller guIls and guillemots, on the is lands; and, further soutIA on cartridges, with some liking for the young of tie domestic fowl. But, on the moors. it
 may be doubted whether it is not. after
 all, something of an advantage. It cer- tainly destroys at least a brace of game
 birds g day. but even many sportsBen agree that by selecting the diseased and weakly birds, as it invariably does, it strengthens the beats, rendering the
 survivors strong on the wing and alert. ISt is certainly much less an enemy to the ground than the gray crow, which, not excepting the kite, is the worst yer min game preserver has to deal with.
 In the spring they can be seen quarter ing the ground like setters. They are
 such abandoned rogues, too. Carrying l the eggs to an elevated spot they suck 1 1AASAA- HAL+L Glt4AlEs Sit&N litter the shells in a heap to draw at teEtion 10 their bad deeds and raise the ire of the preseryer. The black crow, ] with which the grey crow will frequent | ly pair lthough their habits arc some what differen9 is equally fearsome fowl. The Cervidoe are sinners, every one; though the rock is perhaps less of
 g rogue than any of the family. A fest
 of eggs is as likely to be destroyed by a
 rock as by that Bell-knoWn robber, the crow: as a general rule, however, it is safer to term it, with Linnaeus, fruge-
 hgas, than, with other naturalists, pre- datoriils. An egg is a bait the jay can
 never resist, and the jackdaw is also a
 sprightly but misehieyous depredator.
 In the shooting season ravens are not
 So much terror to the preserYer. for
 by feeding on the wounded game, which
 might otherwise escape ana rear a
 weakly progeny, their presence is rath-
 CT beneficial than otherwise; file havoc, however, they make among ptarmigan 1 renders them no fayorites of the keep
 CT. Altogether, the crow family levy a
 larger tribute OF the preserVer than all
 the hawks put together
 1 Still, it is the hawk that is the pet
 aversion of the preserver. Even the
 cuckoo which is a bird stupid and yi-
 cious, is killed down reHlerseIessly be-
 cause it has the misfortune to resemble 1 Ia hawk and suck eggs to make it's
 voice clear" The charge is, of course, absurd; there is, however, the likeness
 to hawk, and all hawks are rogues l ineorrigible, The sparrow hawk, which 1 the silly cuckoo so we'll initiates is a. bad character; yet many esteem him a lesser robber than the peregrine, which
 those interested in faleony do not deem l a very abandoned sinner. No one has
 a good word for the sparrow hawk; liwke the humble sparrow, he has no ! friends. and probably deserves none. l Despite the e6iiet of exteFmination l which has gone forth the sparroW-haWk
 is fairly plentiful, and would become a l very numerous species if allowed the \ least latitude or consideration. With the merlin and the l1estre) the reputa- 1! ton commonly the property of the l hawk tribe is undeseryed. The true
 home of the dashing little merlin is the land of the heather and mist, and by ! all keepers he is regarded as desperate character. It has been a frequent hab- \ it of naturalists to examine the nests
 of the merlin, and it is rare if anything larger than a dunlin is found, which, with larks, pipits and egger moths,
 malSs up the diet of the merlin family. l This hawk is, therefore, a martyr to livery, like the poor cuckoo. The kes- trel is the most numerous of the hawk l family, and, though not commonly so
 regarded, is an ally of the preserver. l The rats along that these birds destroy eshould earn for them the gratitude of f the farmer and keeper, The kestrels 1 seemingly have more faith in the keep 1 CT than the keeper has in them; one of i them was seen sitting on three eggs in
 a shepherds shealing on Ben Allsky, in Caithness, some years ago, It may be doubted whether hawks do tithe of l the harm of birds with not a half of their evil reputation. The depredations of the lesser blaek-heak gulls must be very considerable. They have deci- | ded partiality for eggs in the breeding 1 season, the loss to game preserves on numbers of meors in this way being im-
 nense. The herring gull can also
 swallow young birds, as was proved by a specimen in captivity devouring a ,eouple of blaekbirds and a water rail, to say nothing of numerous sparrows, I The great blaek-back gull during the summer months is likewise no friend to 1 the preserver, making short work Of the young game. Shepherds declare they not unfrequently kill siekly lambs, and at times even the ewes. Yet this rapa- cious bird has not the reputation of the hawk. It is difficult, it must be con- fessed, to make out defense for the hawk, which certainly does finger about preserves with a most suspicious poach- er-like air; nevertheless, the mischief he does is not as gpeat, as that of other ibirds,-London Standard.
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 NoRsEMEN FOR THE SOUTH.