The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1903-11-11
pepredators on EARNS.

this country, and yet It Is possiple
that the farmer himself Is at fault to
n certain extent by assisting In the
destruction of animals and birds that
would perform for him valuable ser.
vice If permitted Beasts and birds
OF prey are sufficient to prevent any
alarming increase of the birds that
are capable of doing harm, but near
ly all birds are carnlvorous to some
extent. as they can subsist on animal
food. Birds prey upon worms, anj
the natural increase of all kinds Of
insects would soon render the earth
unnhabitable by man but for the as
sistance given him by the creatures
which he SO ruthlessiy destroys with
out regard to future consequences.
| The carnivorous animals and birds do
not increase as rapidly as the kinds
upon which they prey and a single
lion or tiger may Gzfve to prevent a
district from being ovor.run with
graminivcrous animals. If such condi
ton did not exist the result would be
| famine. AS the forests are cleared
| the destructive animals and birds are
driven away or restricted in their ca
pacity 60 do harm, but man seems to
become himself beast of prey and
wantonly destroys fer the pleasure OF
SD doing. He considers certain an.
imals, such as the fox, hare, raccoon.
| opossum and mink, as game" the
hawk and owl being always regarded
as his foes. He adopts the dog and
| cat, the latter being more destructive
| to birds than any other animal, as II
Is not only active and somewhat noe.
turnal in habit. but also climbs trees.
| The fox, opossum and racccon are
among the most useful animals known
a9 they seek their food where flel,
mice and ground insects abound. The
| little damage done by them Is not
| worthy of consideration compared with
| the service performed The only apol-
ogy fer their destruction Is the occa-
sional loss of poultry, but no careful
farmer will leave his poultry unpro.
toctei frcm danger at night
The farmer has not yet discovered
method for preventing the destruc'
ton of his crops by field mice and in
| sccts, but he devotes more time to
seeking the lives OF his friends. the
owl and hawk, than he gives to the in
| sects which he cannot control. The
| damage to n portion of the corn and
| fruit by animals and birds is insig
nificant compared with the almost COM
plete destruction Of crops by insects.
| hn
simply does so while destroying grubs,
as moles consume them in large num-
bors. The quail, which is harmless
III forced by necessity in the fall and
winter to search for food under every
leaf and in every spot where an in
sect and worm can be found. during
which time so spent they destroy
| thousands of insects, but in some To-
| calities the quail has been almost ex-
| terminated simply for sport, which
| Is one of the most expensive luxuries
enjoyed by man II he only knew it,
! The birds that remain over winter, or
| which do not leave until late in the
fall, 10 appear early in winter, feed not
only on insects. but on the seeds of
many plants which tho farmer does
net desire in his field. and the reduc.
ton in the number of these birds is
! largely increased by cats, which feast
upon the young in the nests in spring
and which also destroy the eggs.
! This Is disturbance of the order OF
creation, and reduces the profits of
the farmer while destroying the guard
ians Of his crops. The English spar
row in the country could be easily
kept In check by the sparrow hawk
and the well-known screech owl, the
latter preying upon them at night and
the former during the day. especially
in winter. If the farmer would allow
them; but on the approach of his nat.
ural friends he seizes q shotgun and
puts an end to their usefulness. yet
deploring the damage to his grain in
| the growing season, which he protects
and allows TO multiply without hind
| rance.
The subject most % be considered
by farmers at their meetings is not
| so much the destruction of insects and
field mice as the protection of the
birds that destroy the pests. and this
| protection should be extended to the
owl and hawk. as well as 90 those an
imals which keep rabbits in check.
The loss of poultry cannot happen if
| such birds arc given the same care
and attention as other stock. AMI II
the farmer will consider the matter
carefully he will notice that he loses
/ but few chicks by the hawk compared
with those appropriated by cats, yet
he destroys the one and pets the other.
A single dog in community will do
more damage to sheep in one night
than all the wild animals in year,
but the losses to farmers from de-
predatlons OF foxes are so small as to
be hardly noticeable. The song
birds that are said to be driven away
by the English sparrow would return
II the hawk and owl were unmolested,
from the fact that the large majority
of birds migrate, the sparrow remain