Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-06-17

hawk, great horned owl, great S'a'
owl, and snowy owl.
The skunk, mink and raccoon, which
admittedly do great damage 20 game
bras and poultry, are omitted T. n
this list because the legislature has
ruled that their value as fur bearers IS
of greater Importance than their depre-
dations as vermin. 1t has granted
them protection for the greater part of
the year, except in the case OF skunks
which are actually injuring property
Among the quadrupeds just enumer-
ated foxes, weasels, red squirrels, and
house cats have the sinister distinction
of blacklist of their own. The pam
phlet quotes DR.. Frank M. Chapman OF
the American Museum Of Natural His
tory as saying that there are not few
er than 25,000,000 cats in the United
States-perhaps twice that number
and that practically all Of these cats
gain part of their livelihood by hunt
ing. "Vagrant cats" says Clinton G.
Abbott, the editor of the pamphlet,
abandoned cats, surplus cats, and
cats gone wild. form probably the most
dangerous destructive force. when their
numbers are considered, that insectiv-
orous and game birds have to cope
with"
The New York state ''cat law" OF
1918 provides that "any person over
the age of q years who is the holder
If valid hunting and trapping license
may, and it shall be the duty of
protector or other peace officer to, hu-
namely destroy cat at large found
hunting or killing any bird protected
Dy law or with a dead bird of any
species protected by law in its posses
sion: and no action for damage shall
be maintained for such killing"
Under the provision of the New
York conservation law and the Federal
migratory bird law one may kill at any
season in this state, as harmful birds,
only the English sparrow, starting,
crow. hawk snow owl, great gray owl,
great horned owl, and kingisher. The
conservation commission places the
row at the head of the black list of
birds, quoting a bulletin of the Penn
;ylvania board of game commissioners
20 the effect that he destroys indivi-
lually more birds Of all kinds. more
birds eggs and young poultry than any
other bird that ever tapped wing"
AS a means of bringing crows within
easy gun range the use of a stuffed
owl (crows delight in mobbing owls
which they find abroad by daylight is
recommended, as we'll as "crow call"
whistle, which may be bought at sport
ng goods and hardware stores.
The great horned owl is the worst
If the owl family as a destroyer Of
game and poultry. He even extends his
Expectations to rabbits and other fur
bearing animals, and if he discovers
he sleeping place Of covey OF quail
ne will clean them up to the las bird.
or hawks, between which the COM
mission notes with regret that the
state law makes no distinction, Coop
RS and the sharp Skinned are the
most destructive in this state, being
more numerous than the goshawk, also
A fcrocious species, with its principal
habitat in Canada.
To repair the error of the conserVa-
ton law trainers, so far as their blank
It indictment of the hawk family is
ha q
white list" of hawks, in which 1t
places the red tailed, and red-should-
cred, the broad winged, the sparrow,
and the marsh hawk. All these are
classed as mainly beneficial" the
'swhitest" being the broad-winged
hawk, which is shown to feed chiefly on
reptiles, frogs and toads. He is par
ticularly fond of big leaf-devouring
caterpillars, which are neglected by the
smaller insectivorous birds. DR.. A. X.
Fisher of the biological survey has es-
tablished from many stomach exam
nations the fact that the principal
food of the red-shouldered and red
tailed hawks-the birds commonly
known as hen-hawks-are mice, shrews
and insects, with frogs, snakes and
crawfish as occasional diet.
The osprey, or fish-hawk may be le-
gally killed in this state, but the COM
mission bulletin says it, should long
ago have been placed in the protected
class, together with the eagles, for
which it is often mistaken. 1t feeds
largely on fish that are undesirable
as human food, and, except that it oc-
casionally takes a few good fish, it
has no bad habits"
Norah Was Willing.-New Mis-
tress-How about the afternoon off?