Abilene weekly reflector., 1915-04-29

1 ~tOuTe u khfmctf hhuH SVes DAht
Sam asked.
..of course. kind Of one. But what
yosl askIn' that for?" Bin inquired. sur
| prised at the question. -. - -..le'
"well. a farmer ought not TO Kill
farmers friends. ought he?"
"sure. he onghtn'tr' George replied.
"well. you just take II from me that
those luails and nearly all the other
birds that live around here are good
| friends OF ours We ought not to Kill
them. and we ought not to allow 9th.
ers to come on our places to kill them
"why. I didn't think quail WIS any
good TO us except to eat" said Bill.
$50 far as any one knows" Sam ex-
planned, they're the only bird that de-
stroys the potato beetle. They eat all
they can find. and they do US a good
turn every time they gobble one. More
than that, every single quail eats thou
sands upon thousands Of boil weevils.
Some people used to argue that quaii
didn't eat anything except grain. But
we know better now. They eat In
sects Of all kinds. as well as weed
seed"
'Tf that's SO they ought not to b
killed." said Bill.
aOf course not" said Sam. I'VE
don't have any idea how much good
they do us. 1t ought to be against the
law to kill a quail at any time. As it
Is, they say insects destroy One-tenth
of all we produce. II we were to kill
all the birds there'd be such a plague
Of insects that they'd kill everything
all the trees and vegetation OF all
kinds"
Farther ON Bill saw a woodpecker
hammering Justify on dead tree. He
stopped and pointed with bis nnger.
"Bet could knock I'm or with rife
from here" he said. - g.
Don't ever do It." cautioned Sam.
"He's another friend"
"WhatT' exclaimed Bill. "A wood
pecker kills trees" #u: tt5
mo, he doesn't" said Sam. "He saves
trees. A woodpecker never bores a hole
in q tree for fun. He's after worms or
making himself home. and he makes
his home in dead trees. When he
bores into a green tree he's after a
worm every time. and he always gets
him. The hole the bird makes will
grow up. but II the worm stays it'll
kill the tree. One woodpecker will go
over 600 trees In "A day and examine
them for bugs. egg deposits and worms.
1t doctors the tree inside and out.
saw a woodpecker go over nearly ev-
cry tree in our orchard"
"WelI, now, didn't know that said
Bill. II been KNOWN woodpeckers all
my life. but never paid no attention
to 'em. Guess won't shoot no more
of 'em."
ITO tell the truth" Sam went on,
there are mighty few birds or animals
but what do more good than harm. I
believe the common old house cats kill
more birds and chickens than all the
varmints put together. think it's a
good deed to kill cat whenever you
find one. There are two kinds Of
cooper and the sharp shin
ned-that are bad to kill birds and
chickens. These two hawks look alike.
They are small The females are a |
mottled brownish color, and the males
are dull blue. It's a good thing to
kill them whenever you get chance.
The other hawks and owls don't do
much harm. and they do lots Of good
because they live mostly on rats and
mice and such things. Once in awhile
an owl will bother chickens, but it's
only when its regular food is scarce.
Its pretty much the same way
about the fox, mink. weasel and skunk.
Once in awhile one of these varmints