The Monroe journal., 1921-08-09

talons and lev 70 her nest only 70
I returt iH a Tea moments one after
another was caught and carried
away until a mouse vas loosed az a
distance 81 sixty yards ana tie spar
row hawk had no trouble in obsery-
ins Is movements. which 0Riy gives
an idea OF how alert their eyes ar,
/ Personally | have seen them observe
the filsht CT a srasshopper al a most
Unreasonable distance. and 80 sure
are ihey on wing that theX seldom
miss their prey. They build in the
holes that are made in dead trees by
the yellow hammer and usually
raise i've youns ones. 4 few years
ago when il was the custom to dead
en- pine trees IN the fields and leave
them standing until tho wind hlew
them down. there We're thousands III
this section But since lumber has
become so valuable the custom has
gone Out Of date and with Il the nest
ine place has gone Thes. harmless
birds when starved in the dead OF
wint,r will catch and dey0r spar
rows but never youn. chicSens IL
has been ten years since | have seen
nest and il is Tars instaHc, that
one Is found.
study Of Birds Interesting
There are 30 many things and in
cidents occurring in the bird world
that most farmer boys take them as
matter CT fact. For instance, a
field sparrow built in a rose bush
near by. and BY the way, il was the
same one that | mentioned in a pre-
yious writing. Matched her young and
moved out only 10 come back 10 the
nest and deposit three eggs in the
same one. | thought this was so un-
usual that | called one OF my cousins
attention to it. And since he is quite
bird lover and observer he told me
he had once seen the same thing oc-
cur.
have observed that all of the fly
catcher class of birds continue to
support their young until they be
come adept and alert enough to sup
port themselves which is at least two
months from the time that they learn
to fly. This is particularly so with
cowhirds. bee martins. purple mar
tins, etc, This class deserve the
best possible protection.
The WhippooiMill Family.
would hardly care TO close this
article ard | am loathe to close il at
all. without giving mention TO the
whippoorwill family They 30 by so
many names. such as nighthawks.
bullbats, chictowils and their most
common name, whippoorwill. For a
fact there is two species OF this bird.
but | have never been able to distin-
guish between them except when |
hear their call They are 4 small
bodied bird with tremendous wings,
which are yaricolorei in white and
bun They have rather Hat heaus
aud can open their mouths exception
ally wide, which is OF the utmost val
ne u them as they take no food eX
cept when on the wins \ beautiful
sight il IL 70 see them gliding grace
fully alonS, turning FIST TO the right
and then To the LETT, and diving down
for few feet 20 secure a choice mot-
sci. md lhe nearer darkness and
they seed only al twilight and in the
darkH SIS. the faster they 20 sDtUrihs
The most noNious insects. Including
tn, boil weevils that fly and who be
cause of their night iOragiug are free
from other birds until late and then
thay will perch on fence OF stump
and begin their age old stories o,
'whippoorNill." and poor will wild
ow. aud "chick-a-wills-wi,low, =
while some circle TO a great height
and then meteor-like he will dive to
where his mate Is pouring out her
story. and IN true lover style will end
his sudden intrusion with a sud
den boo and then with the swift
ness of lightning mount back again
and perform the same feat. They
nest on barren ridges and never lay
more than two eggs and but one
nesting per season. They nest on
perfectly clean ground without straw
or other material and by this are eN-
posed to the animals and reptiles that
destroy both eggs and young, This
is one reason why they are not more
numerous, and there are persons.
however, who shoot this bird. which
lives entirely on insects, for out OF a
thousand stomachs examined not one
speck of fruit or vegetable matter
was found. However in one was 81
boil weevils. This test was made by
the department of agriculture for
the actual sport of il, and they lit
tie realize the extent OF the damage
they do, for the whippoorwill and
leather winged bat are the arch enc
mics OF all that great host that come
in the night and do such great dam
age to fruit and crops. While the
bat is not of the bird class he is only
appreciated by a few. But ii any of
you farmers readers will go out near
your corn crib this evening at twi-
light, provided there is corn stored
there, and try to count the dives and
dips he makes and each one repre-
sents a catch, you can get an idea OF
how many corn weeyils he can des-
troy in a few moments. ! counted
the actual catches a few days ago.
and until it had become so dark that
| could not see the small insects. the
bats had caught 81 insects. Soon
there were so many bats that | lost
the bal | was observing among the