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CHAPTER X 



COMBATTING VERMIN 



A volume might well be devoted to this subject alone and it is impos- 

 sible within the covers of this work to treat it in detail. In the first place, 

 the small breeder is not likely to have a great deal of trouble, but where 

 young birds are congregated by the thousands in the various rearing fields 

 of one game farm, there the vermin will flock and it is a constant battle 

 of wits between man and the birds and mammals of prey. Yet, no game 

 breeder of wide experience and real ability fails to win his fight nine times 

 out of ten and the smaller man by study and patience can do so, too. 



Among the creatures which prey on pheasants may be mentioned 

 cats, rats, skunks, weasels, foxes, minks, hawks, crow blackbirds, owls, 

 crows, blue jays and snakes, black snakes particularly. Red squirrels 

 and chipmonks have been known to break the legs of pheasants and 

 otherwise attack them. A good shotgun and eternal vigilance in seeking 

 opportunity to use it is the first suggestion to be made. 



CATS. Even if you do not keep a cat, you will be surprised at the 

 number of these highly destructive creatures roaming the countryside in 

 search of prey if you set out a few cat traps. An ordinary rabbit trap 

 made a little larger than usual will do. The Greenwich, Connecticut, 

 Bird Protective Society sells a most effective box trap for cats at $3.50. 

 In its literature it suggests a fish head or raw meat as bait and advises 

 placing the trap in shrubbery or having it otherwise partly concealed. 

 The David T. Abercrombie Co., 311 Broadway, New York City, carries 

 a box trap that automatically chloroforms the cat. 



Keep no cat yourself. They do not destroy birds as a rule when any- 

 one is looking and the hour following daybreak is their favorite time for 

 hunting, so the oft-repeated statement, "but my cat doesn't kill birds," 

 is seldom based on full knowledge of the animal's movements. Cats have 

 been proved by medical authorities to be carriers of the germs of scarlet 

 fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis and many other frightful diseases. See 

 "The Cat and Transmission of Disease," by Dr. C. A. Osborne, Biological 

 Department, Clark University, Worcester, Mass. 



In common with practically all other vermin, cats are most destructive 

 during the breeding season, when it is impossible or unwise to confine the 

 young in covered pens. 



RATS. The best information for combatting rats within my knowl- 

 edge is contained in "Rats and Rat Riddance," by Dr. Edward Howe 

 Forbush, the well-known state ornithologist of Massachusetts, and readers 



