96 GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES 



The nests of ruffed grouse are made in the woodlands, 

 which rats seldom invade. The prairie hen and related 

 species generally nest in places remote from the usual 

 haunts of rats. The quail, or Bob White, however, often 

 selects a nesting site within the Summer range of rats, 

 and many a quail's egg reaches the maws of these ani- 

 mals. Nests of wild ducks, woodcock and other marsh 

 birds are frequently destroyed by rats. 



Ferrets and dogs are very useful in controlling them. 

 Mr. J. C. O'Conor informed me that they were overrun 

 with rats at a preserve in which he is interested, in Vir- 

 ginia, but that they succeeded in controlling them by the 

 use of terriers and traps. 



Roving dogs alarm the nesting birds and often chase 

 and kill them. Some dogs are fond of eggs. Ducks can- 

 not be expected to nest in a place where they are annoyed 

 by dogs. It is not a difficult matter to shoot a worthless 

 dog when he visits a preserve, but valuable dogs should, 

 of course, be caught and held for their owners. 



One of the worst fish enemies of ducks is the carp, 

 not because it destroys the birds, but because it destroys 

 their food the wild rice and other aquatic plants. On the 

 marshes owned by the Winous Point Club and by the 

 Ottawa Club, near Port Clinton, Ohio, and in many other 

 places, the carp have practically destroyed the wild rice 

 which a few years ago furnished an abundance of food 

 for countless numbers of wild fowl. The number of 

 ducks which nest in these marshes or which visit them 

 on their migration has been sadly decreased. 



The carp destroy the plants by rooting them up, and 

 in some places the ducks have been forced to abandon 

 the waters where the carp have become abundant. 



