_ 4 - 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Rural Beautification Society has created a program 
     
     which involves hundreds of Islanders every year. They have 
     
     successfully developed, maintained and expanded this program 
     
     for more than thirty years. The work done by the Society 
     
     has been a strong factor in the appeal our rural beauty holds 
     
     for our year—round residents and our visitors. 
     
    
   
   
    
     New dimensions added to the Society's program have been 
     
     supported by the Minister of the Environment and his Deputy 
     
     Minister Art Hiscott, the Natural History Society of Prince 
     
     Edward Island and the Environmental Advisory Council. These 
     
     new dimensions include: 
     
    
   
   
    
     1. A strong emphasis on tree planting to provide protection, to 
     
     conserve energy and to enhance the beauty of our homes. 
     
     Many cash prizes are being offered this year to encourage 
     
     participation in this program. 
     
    
   
   
    
     2. A Community Improvement and Litter Control Competition 
     
     requiring the submission by the communities of an on-going 
     
     Litter Control Program for their own community. 
     
    
   
   
    
     3. The Natural Beauty and Preservation Competition encouraging 
     
     competitors to adapt their landscaping to the natural 
     
     surroundings and avoid the measured, stiff style so often 
     
     seen to provide habitat for song birds and other wild 
     
     creatures on their property. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The awards for the Natural Beauty Competition will be 
     
     provided by Dr. & Mrs. J.P. Lantz and Mr. & Mrs. Allison West - 
     
     members of the Natural History Society 
     
    
   
   
    
     Vera Beck 
     
     417 University Avenue 
     
     Charlottetown, P.E.I. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Sheep and Crows 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is important to strike the right colour balance in a 
     
     pasture — therefore I have sheep and I have crows. Most of 
     
     my sheep are white; the crows are the usual black. It is 
     
     comforting to look at extremes and not have to worry about 
     
     shades of grey. 
     
    
   
   
    
     This year, as always, these animals are interacting in 
     
     their unsubtle ways. The crows scavenge some of the sheep's 
     
     feed, and in the appropriate season (March) start lining their 
     
     nests with wool. The wool—gathering method is standard: a 
     
     crow lands on the ground beside a sheep, inspects it, then 
     
     jumps on its back and tears out a beakful of nice natural 
     
     fiber. The sheep pay little or no attention to this, but then 
     
     it is not easy to distract sheep from the important things in 
     
     life. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Please don't get the idea that I have a field full of naked 
     
     sheep; the amount of wool lost is tiny. For some reason only my 
     
     crows seem to follow this pattern. The many local migrants that 
     
     pass overhead seem too wary to stop over for nest material. For 
     
     some reason, the living fiber from the animal is preferred to 
     
     the bits and pieces of wool lying around hedgerow and fence. 
     
    
   
   
    
     I wonder why other birds do not follow this practice. I 
     
     live in hopes of seeing a Great Blue Heron, or a Brown Thrasher, 
     
     or even a Green-wing Teal on a sheep's back; the colours would 
     
     be fetching indeed. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Ian MacQuarrie 
     
     New Dominion