Page 103 - Our Vanishing Wild Life
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SH.\RP-SIIINNED HAWK A Species to be Destroyed
UNSEEN FOES OF WILD LIFE 81
on mice, and in doing so renders good service. In the vSouth it is called the "Mouse Snake."
Photo by A. C Dyke
THE CAT THAT KILLED 58 BIRDS IN ONE YEAR From Mr. Forbush's Book
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 and rats, we hesitate, and finally decline.
Snakes.—Mr. Thomas M. Upp, a close and long obser- ver of wild things wishes it distinctly understood that while the common black- snakes and racers are prac- tically harmless to birds, the Pilot Black-Snake,—long,
—
thick and truculent,
great scourge to nesting birds. It seems to be deserving of death. Mr. Upp speaks from ])ersonal knowledge, and his condemnation of the species referred to is quite sweeping. At the same time Mr. Ray- mond L. Ditmars points out the fact that this serpent feeds during 6 months of the year
is a
