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From The American
Agriculturist, 1878
A ready method of protecting newly-planted fields from crows, or
blackbirds, is shown in figure 2. It is made of a light hickory,
or other elastic stick, one end of which is stuck into the ground;
to the other end is suspended a glass bottle, from which the
bottom has been broken off. The cord by which the bottle is
suspended passes through the neck; a nail is fastened to this cord
to serve as a clapper, and so attached that it will strike the
glass when the cord swings. A piece of bright tin, sheet-iron,
painted shingle, or slate, is suspended to the end of the cord.
When the wind blows, the suspended tin, or other article, is
whirled in all directions, and causes the nail to rattle against
the glass bottle. The flashing of the bright object, and the
bottle, as well as the continued rattle, will keep the birds at a
respectable distance, for a time at least. As a variation, which
may be used in place of the thin disc, an effective scare-crow may
be made thus:- Take a large cork, such as is used in pickle-jars,
procure some wing feathers of a goose, chicken, or hawk, and stick
these firmly into the cork at three sides, so as to roughly
imitate a dilapidated bird. Carve a rough head from a crooked
branch, and arrange the tail feathers in an expanded position to
catch the wind, by which it is caused to dart hither and thither
in a most unexpected manner. This arrangement is shown in figure
3.
Owls as
Scarecrows
From Century Magazine, 1885
The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl snatches them
from off their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and
young in their nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his
presence fills them with consternation and alarm.
One season, to protect my early Cherries, I placed a large stuffed
owl amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there
instantly began about my grounds is not pleasant to think upon!
The orioles and robins fairly "shrieked out their affright." The
news instantly spread in every direction, and apparently every
bird in town came to see that owl in the Cherry tree, and every
bird took a Cherry, so that I lost more fruit than if I had left
the owl indoors. With craning necks and horrified looks the birds
would alight upon the branches, and between their screams would
snatch off a Cherry, as if the act was some relief to their
outraged feelings.
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