Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1913-07-04
HOW ANIMALS DIE
Guns and Weather Responsible
for Most Deaths.
70 the Wild Things Of the Country
side Bitter Cold Spell Makes
All the Difference Between
Life and Death. =

biting weather makes In the country
side! To the wild things of wood and
garden and hedgerow 1t may make al
the difference between life and death
Especially to the birds which. de
prived of the natural yield Of the
land. are kept, as it were, stretched
upon the relentless edge Of hunger
unwarmed within, attacked from with
out by the biting cold. 1
Thus do we come upon strange
fockings, upon crowds of small birds
OF all kinds attracted pathetically te
some spot which has in the past OF
fered an easy meal. Last winter
a writer in the London Pall.Mall Ga
zette says, the farmer threw down q
load of damp barley chaf, "cavings.
as the countryman calls it, in the home
meadows. The best of the stuff
there never was much good in twas
picked out long since, yet the birds
are back here working (and fighting)
with desperate energy. They are bold
too. as they never were in fairel
times, and the farmers son has only
to walk carefully up behind the elm
rest his gun on the fence and empty
it into the feathered mass to secure 8
mixed bag of thirty or so. Sparrows
predominant; there are starlings, bull
flnches. q robin perhaps, but never 8
willy blackbird or thrush. And, Gu
riously enough-grim triumph Of hun
ger over fear--within q quarter Of an
hour, the whole lot are back again
upon the chaff.
1t is the farmers opportunity. &C
out into the fields and you will put uI
the same flocks from the fallow-and
you will fire right into them. killing
any number from three to bakers
dozen. So thick are they, SO near dc
they let you approach that you need
only aim to kill. Go to the oat stacks
where they were thrashing not SO long
ago. and you will find the same clus
tering wealth of bird life-here a few
missed thrushes and maybe a covey
of cartridges. 1t is warm at least
among the stacks.
That gathering into f1ocks, that fatal
boldness of hunger and its penalty, in
tensify as the days go by and the frost
holds But presently there comes an
other evidence of the inevitable work
of nature-when, going after break
fast into the keen morning air, you
find a redbreast lying on his back stiff
and utterly cold beneath the portu
guese laurel. Further afield you find
similar indications Of pervading win
try death. Here in the shrubbery, 8
couple Of blackbirds on the ground
among the dry, crinkly leaves, there
thin, wasted thrush under the holly
bush wherein he sang and roasted
and maybe you find-as did once-s
bluetit hanging head downward. -
One curious thing have noticed
during the days Of hunger and frost
The songs of robin, blackbird and
thrush seem louder, fuller, far more
cheerful and brilliant than in easier
times. It is assif the natural singers
were determined to suffocate care ant
pain in the glory of uplifting thei'
voices. .
But the birds are not the only sui
ferers this cold weather. All day Ions
the guns have been speaking intermit
tently out there on the hillside where
the rabbits, live. It is ideal ferretine
weather. Your English farmer loves
an occasic ual days sport. and so he
goes out now with his old hammer
lock, and his two sons bring out theil
/ fine new hammerless IL bores and the
spades and the line and the brace Of
white ferrets. No hanging about or
such a still, cold morning. The rab
bits jump out of the holes like race
horses of the mark. and instead Of
squatting or. lodging back, make
away at full speed to the nearest GOV
err. And this is how the old bucks
and the appallingly prolific does
which defied all attempts alta shot
back in the summer, meet their end
Only ferret and shot on frosty morn
, Ing will dispose of them. So whole
burrows-whole rabbit townships, yol
may say--are depopulated at this
time. You cannot blame the farmer
After frost, snow, and then the
! tragedies Of darkness are revealed
revealed in the, snow itself. A.. fo'
came by in the night and found the
cartridges bewildered. Further on {
! blood stain and shred Of rabbits
under fluff, deep claw marks in tx
virgin white: tell Of some. animals
sprjng-not fox's work. this. but Z
cats. .-.'- 49, -.ss. .-
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