Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-04-26

TN TIE land where I live the little section
| of meadows, brooks, small ponds. woods
and mountanSde, we have all varieties OF
Huns, just as cruel, just as relentless, just
as crafty and, one must admit, brave. we
have submarines. bombing airplanes, JhlallS.
After all, the best man can do is but TO copy
Nature. The mice in my meadow, the ducks
I'm my neighbor's pond, the grouse and pheas~
ant in the woods, the rabbits and even the
skunks live under Cor over) the constant
menace of cruel and crafty foes.
CONSIDER the ducks. My neighbor's pond
y was made artifcially by dammng noun
tain brook just where it flowed out over the
plain. After the pond filed my neighbor
stocked it with thousands of three-inch trout
The water was clear and cold; it all came In
from above, where no fish had ever been
seen except trout. The dam was over six
feet high, with a straight fall Apparently
here was little pond where trout would
find paradise. For the next two or three
years they did. Never was better fishing
outside a hatchery. Then the picierel came,
and the slaughter began. How did the pick
eral get there? Nobody knows but they did,
and in a few years they were caught TO the
size of six pounds, while the trout had almost
disappeared. The lake was drained and in
the process twelve carloads Of suckers
were taken out, along with almost as many
piCkerel. Only the trout were put back. But
in another year the pickerel were once more
the job
AFTER that, my neighbor gave up his
n dream of trout, and presently he pro-
cured fine flock of ducks to swim on the
pond. It was then that the submarine mem
ace became apparent. The ducks began to
disappear-"spurlos gesunkt" Investigation
was made and It was found that in way
mysterious as the growth of the pickerel
menace the pond had become full of huge
swapping turtles. These creatures would swim
under a duck wait till 1t dived. grab it by the
throat and hold it under till it was dead
All efforts. to eliminate the turtles failed, and
my neighbor finally gave up keeping ducks
Yet his little lake, full of spring water
under the forest wall Of the mountain, is a
jewel of crystal peacefulness. Nature never
looked kindlier than here.
TODAY I sat on one of my old rail fences
i down by the lower field and watched a
marsh hawk following its patrol over the
meadows The marsh hawk "a smallish
hawk which may be distinguished by the
white patch on its upper tail fcathers) is less
like an airplane in flight than the big red
tailed hawk which scars in great circles on
lazy motoness wings. The marsh hawk
flies more like a pigeon. But the citizens Of
London have less to fear from the putput-put
of the motors overhead than the meandering
meadow mouse has TO fear from the hawk s
| sudden shadow over him. The bird l watched
a,
| slowly, his head and eyes down. Suddenly
| he almost stopped, hovered. rose six feet or
| more and then dropped like stone to the
| earth. He came up almost instantly-and
| there was something in his talons probably
| a mouse He Immediately flew off towaI d
| the trees by the brook and consumed it.
| NEW people are aware, fancy. how many
! il birds of prey there are In our eastern
! States Even the bald eagle is still here and
nests in certain regions such as the Appa-
| lachians, Catskills and White Mountains A
| bald eagle was shot in Massachusetts last
| December as he was eating a pig he had
| killed The worst bird of prey we have,
! however, is the goshawk, a large blue-gray
| hawk, which nests in the far north, but de-
| ecends upon New England and New York in
| the winter, and this past season even went as
| FAR south as Pennsylvania He kills for the
! pure lust of killing. He is the most Prussian
of birds. Last winter knew Of ono which
| carried off a large Plymouth Rock rooster
| before the farmer could get shot at him. OF
| another which killed seventeen pigeons before
| he was driven off, Of two others which were
| seen In the fields killing pheasants.
| The duck hawk breeds with us also. He
| breeds on rock cliffs, from the southern high
| lands north. He pounces down upon his prey
| while Il Is on the wing and will eat or feed
| 10 its young anything from full-grown NAL
lard duck TO a chickadee or a goldhneh. The
duck hawk Is 10 all intents and purposes the