XII 



THE GROUND AND WATER ENEMIES OF WILD 



FOWL 



principal ground enemies of game birds are: 

 Foxes, wolves, minks, weasels, skunks, raccoons, 

 squirrels, snakes and moles. In settled regions roving 

 dogs, cats and rats are added to the list, and these become 

 often the worst enemies of wild fowl. 



In addition to the enemies named, frogs, turtles and 

 certain fish also are known to take young ducks. 



Mr. Robert B. Lawrence told me that a frog in his 

 brother's duck pond was killed which had devoured a 

 young sprig-tailed duck, and since many young wood- 

 duck had disappeared, unaccountably, he believed the 

 frogs had eaten them. A correspondent of The American 

 Field confirms the destructive propensities of the bull- 

 frog. "We had," he says, "quite a number of tame mal- 

 lard ducks, which hatched their eggs in the woods, and 

 the first we saw of their young was in the water with 

 their mothers. We noticed the number of the ducklings 

 decreased quite rapidly and found on investigation that 

 when they got near the shores, one after another were 

 pulled under the water by large frogs, which drowned 

 and then swallowed them. To preserve them, whenever 



