The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-04-28
CROWS MENACE
TO GAME BIRDS

Emerald. N. D., April 2S.-The crow.
that earliest harbinger OF spring, is
again abroad in this land, locating the
nests of the prairie chicken.
No matter how remote from their
roosting places the chicken establish
es her nest. the crow hunts the prai-
ries and locates the nest OF the chick
en- and many Of our song birds, with
as much accuracy as the bird dog.
OF all rapacious birds, the crow
does by far the most damage. For il
Illustration: Last spring my %neighbor,
while blowing, ran onto a chickens
nest containing fifteen eggs. He sat
it over" onto the plowed ground and
| stuck a fork up near it as a guide for
| the boys who were doing the harrow
ing, and cautioned them not to destroy
the nest.
In the meantime they noticed sever
al crows flying to and from the local.
ty Of the nest. When they had worked
up to heal the nest they found every
egg had been carried away by crows
to the plum bush. where they had
young.
Our wild ducks are also rapidly be-
coming dismated by the ravages Of the
crow pest. The mallard, more than any
other of the duck family. seek the
stubble field for their nesting places,
where they become the easy prey of
crows. The teel. Widgeon, c~anVasback
and other varieties resort to the
marshes, where more secluded nesting
places are afforded by h heavy
growth of vegetation. .
Our prairie is now picturesque with
the numerous groves to be seen in eV-
cry direction, closely resembling thu
primitive forest. These groves OF ter
acres or more furnish the Matching
urn,,r1 for ornuyS Tho So1l10 fhlpkntS
along coulees and sloughs are also IA
vorite haunts during the nesting sea
son.
Excuses Fox and Skunk.
The skunk and fox do their share
but we can accept an excuse iron
the c~arniverous fur-bearing animals
as their skins help pay the freigh
and they do q good deal Of good Il
the destruction Of gophers and mice
but the crow has no right to a plac
among the nations Of h earth.
Game and Fish Board.
T am informed the cost Of main
tanning our board Of game and hs
control in 1910 was $4,000. I be
1ieve I am safe In stating tina
amount was more than $1,000 10
each game bird killed illegally an
$4,000 for every arrest and conVlc
ton for violation of the game law
, in 1910.
: Bounty on Grows.
:. I noticed recently some fellow on
west, a candidate for attorney gen
eral at u June primaries, mention
among several of his good plank
. he has fitted for his platform, on
, repeating our game warden office. t
!: have the county officials attend I
. that. III afrt .
= That proposition is a good on
: Then to have the bounty law now !
force for the determination OF wolve
> SO amended as to embrace crows ar
give a bounty OF 10 cents apiec
During the nesting season a ma
. can make good wages by visiting tt
groves and other hauntss
The money paid out OF u hum
4 ing license fund would moi amount
any more than he salary. paid to OF
81 chief game warden and let the ba
ance of our license fund be apple
in constructing good roads.
War on Crows.
T hope every sportsman intereste
in the perpetuation of our gan
birds will get a day off and he
H boost on annihilating crows and tn
at our next legislative session
bounty law on crows will be enactt
q which will embrace sufficiently Iii
IA eral terms to engage the attention
81 kids, to make crow hunting n
II only a pastinae but a money propos
#. M. Ardell.