228 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



but feed largely, and some almost exclusively, on mice and grasshop- 

 pers. SkunKS and weasels sometimes prey upon poultry, and for this 

 reason are condemned and destroyed. But, in reality, fully 90 per 

 cent, of their food consists of mice and insects, and their occasional 

 depredations in the poultry yard are unworthy of mention in view ot 

 their constant and unremitting services. In fact, I do not hesitate 

 to assert that a single skunk or weasel nets the farmer more in dol- 

 lars and cents each year than he loses from their depredations during 

 his entire lifetime. And yet so short-sighted is he that he rarely 

 lets slip a chance to kill them ; and were these animals more diurnal 

 in habits their race doubtless would be ere now well-nigh extermi- 

 nated. It may be added that much of the mischief commonly attrib- 

 uted to the weasel and skunk is the work of the mink — the greatest 

 enemy to poultry-farming in this country ._ It should be men- 

 tioned in this connection that the habit of killing poultry is by no 

 means general among the animals that practise it. On the contre.ry, 

 it is limited to comparatively few individuals, precisely as in the case 

 of the domestic cat and dog. But when once the habit has been 

 formed it is not likely to be abandoned; hence the guilty animal 

 should be killed as soon as possible after the habit is discovered. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA " SCALP ACT" OF 1885. 



On the 23d of June, 1885, the legislature of Pennsylvania passed 

 an act known as the "scalp act," ostensibly "for the benefit of agri- 

 culture," which provides a bounty of 50 cents each on Hawks, Owls, 

 Weasels, and Minks killed within the limits of the State, and a fee 

 of 30 cents to the notary or justice taking the affidavit. 



By virtue of this act about $90,000 has been paid in bounties dur- 

 ing the year and a half that has elapsed since the law went into 

 effect. This represents the destruction of at least 128,571 of the 

 above-mentioned animals, most of which were Hawks and Owls. 



Granting that five thousand chickens are killed annually in Penn- 

 sylvania by Hawks and Owls, and that they are worth 25 cents each 

 (a liberal estimate in view of the fact that a large proportion of them 

 are killed when very young), the total loss would be $1,250, and the 

 poultry killed in a year and a half would be worth $1,875. Hence 

 it appears that during the past eighteen months the State of Penn- 

 sylvania has expended $90,000 to save its farmers a loss of $1,875. 

 But this estimate by no means represents the actual loss to the 

 farmer and tax-payer of the State. It is within bounds to say that in 

 the course of a year every Hawk and Owl destroys at least one 

 thousand mice, or their equivalent in insects, and that each mouse 

 or its equivalent so destroyed would cause the farmer a loss of 2 

 cents per annum. Therefore, omitting all reference to the enormous 

 increase in the numbers of these noxious animals when nature's 

 means of holding them in check has been removed, the lowest pos- 

 sil'>le estimate of the value to the farmer of each Hawk, Owl, and 

 Weasel would be $20 a year, or $30 in a 7y^ear and a half. 



Hence, in addition to the $90,000 actually expended by the State 

 in destroying 128,571 of its benefactors, it has incnrred a loss to its 

 agricultural interests of at least $3,857,130, or a total loss of $3,947,- 

 130 in a year and a half, which is at the rate of $2, Go] ,420 per annum! 

 In other words, the State has thrown away $2,105 for every dollar 

 saved! And even this does not represent fairly the full loss, for the 

 slaughter of such a vast number of predaceous birds and mammals is 



