546 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



young birds. Many farmers allow their dogs to roam at will. 

 Such dogs often hunt singly or in pairs. Hounds and bird- 

 dogs are given free range in spring and summer. Mongrel 

 curs are allowed to run loose everywhere. Some people do 

 not allow their dogs to eat meat, believing that meat has a 

 bad effect, but they permit them to run at will in the woods 

 and fields. One might as well turn out a ravening wolf among 

 the nesting game birds as to let loose such a meat-hungry 

 dog among them. Sometimes dogs catch full-grown Grouse 

 and Bob-whites. Several sportsmen have told me that they 

 have seen their dogs catch mature, unwounded Grouse, and 

 a Grouse was brought to me which showed on dissection 

 that it had been caught and killed by a dog. On inquiry it 

 was learned that a bird-dog, hunting in the snow, brought it 

 in, I once owned a dog that w^as seen to catch young Pheasants 

 and full-grown gray squirrels. 



On the northern breeding grounds of the wild-fowl, near 

 the shores of the Arctic Sea, a short supply of fish results in 

 the Eskimo dogs being turned out to seek their own living, 

 with a consequent serious destruction of wild-fowl in the 

 nesting season. The general introduction of reindeer for beasts 

 of burden in arctic America would help in the preservation of 

 our wild-fowl. 



Rats are very destructive to the eggs and young of game 

 birds during the summer. They roam a great deal in the 

 woods and fields. They are particularly pernicious on game 

 preserves where game birds are raised in large numbers, and 

 they are, in many cases, the most destructive enemies of the 

 game in such localities. 



Hogs, when allowed to run at large, destroy many of the 

 eggs of game birds, and when enclosed in a field they get all 

 such eggs. The hog in New England, however, is not so de- 

 structive as in the south, where, in many cases, it still is allowed 

 to run at large. 



A few species of bird-killing Hawks are destructive to game, 

 and any of the larger Hawks or Owls are likely to kill young 

 game birds at times. Snapping turtles, large fish, such as 

 pike, and large frogs often kill young ducklings. Whenever 



