decided that the constitutional limit had been reached, for we did not
propose that all our young mallards should be swept into the awful
vortex of that crow nest. We took those young crows and reared them by
hand; but the old one had acquired a bad habit, and she persisted in
carrying off young ducks until we had to end her existence with a gun.
It was a painful operation, but there was no other way.

[Illustration: COOPER'S HAWK
A Species to be Destroyed]

BIRD-DESTROYING BIRDS.--There are several species of birds that may at
once be put under sentence of death for their destructiveness of useful
birds, without any extenuating circumstances worth mentioning. Four of
these are _Cooper's Hawk_, the _Sharp-Shinned Hawk, Pigeon Hawk_ and
_Duck Hawk_. Fortunately these species are not so numerous that we need
lose any sleep over them. Indeed, I think that today it would be a
mighty good collector who could find one specimen in seven days'
hunting. Like all other species, these, too, are being shot out of our
bird fauna.

Several species of bird-eating birds are trembling in the balance, and
under grave suspicion. Some of them are the _Great Horned Owl, Screech
Owl, Butcher Bird_ or _Great Northern Shrike_. The only circumstance
that saves these birds from instant condemnation is the delightful
amount of rats, mice, moles, gophers and noxious insects that they
annually consume. In view of the awful destructiveness of the accursed
bubonic-plague-carrying rat, we are impelled to think long before
placing in our killing list even the great horned owl, who really does
levy a heavy tax on our upland game birds. As to the butcher bird, we
feel that we ought to kill him, but in view of his record on wild mice