The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-30
SOME WINTER ENEMIES OF BIRDS


 Winter is hard time even for the stout-hearted birds which remain in the north to face it. At this season, their everyday enemies are reinforced by hunger and cold, which, working hand-in-hand, can often overcome the Ibravest thing that wears feathers. ofI the two, hunger is the more dangerous; even a very low temperature can be- withstood by birds which are well fed. A birds digestive apparatus is a fur mace which, when supplied with plenty of fuel (food), gives the body warmth, which is retained by the non-condlct- ing coat of feathers, But at this cold season there is more fuel required and less to be had thanat any other time Of the year, and as a consequence, many <of the little, furnaces go oIit--the birds have starved to, death. The last two winters have been unusually severe, and tremendous loss of bird life has been the result Death is often has, tened by severe storms of snow or sleet which literally bury alive birds previously weakened by sufficient food. During the winter of 1903-lS04, when the ground was covered under several feet of snow for months at a time, and when the trees were often sheathed in ice, many birds perished, especially in the northern and eastern states. It Was estimated by the state ornithologist perished that winter owing to the se- that between ninety and ninety-fiye per cent of all the quail of Massachusetts verify of the weather. They were found ,, poor things. by those who tramped the woods in little fiocks of a dozen or more, frozen stiff beneath the surface of the snow. Often it could be seen that they had wandered far in search of food, and in at least one case a num- Der were found dead in the midst of plenty, having been too weak to eat the food which they had finally reached too late.
 But birds have many other naturall enemies besides the weather, to con tend with in winter. The cold which increases their own hunger, also sharp ems the appetitiess of the. creatures which prey upon them. Among these we must of course tinclude the birds of prey, for there is no hour of the day or night but some of them are abroad. hunting for food, be 1t furred or feath- cred. During the day the hawks swing in broad sircles, high above the earth, watching the smaller birds which fit across the snow fields or which gather in fiocks among the evergreens. At night the owls pass softly overhead now stopping on rloiseless wing to snatch a sleeping crow from his perch, now striking grouse, as she crouches in the snow. Of the nocturnal owls the great horned Is one of the most destructive of birds, not only because he is large and powerful and requires more food than the smaller species, but because he seems more partial to feath- cred prey He can kill crow, or even a domestic hen, with a grasp of his powerful foot. He has been known to kill a huge tomcat in open fight, and any bird which can do that must haveI something more than strength.
 It is surprising how destructive even a small bird can be when equipped by Nature for the work of killing. Last winter a Mortimer shrike came into my garden and played havoc with a flock of tame chickadees which frequented our lilac bushes. His hawk-like bill looked no more formidable than those of a robin. But he killed several of my chickaGses before caught him at it; after that he killed no more. Swiftly but silently he worked, in pursuit of a single chickadee, The latter seemed to realize his danger fully, and, ,scolding necessarily fitted from pont to pont, followed by the shrike, who paused on branch for a moment after each swoop, and then darted again like lightning. But by and by the chickadee became so excited that he left the cover of the bushes and flew out across the open. The shrike was after him in stantly, and, after some doubling and