44 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



when breeding, the members of the sparrow tribe, with a few 

 exceptions, subsist chiefly on the seeds of various weeds and 

 grasses. The beautiful rose-breasted grosbeak, found here 

 as a summer resident, is the only species of our feathered 

 friends which has been reported to feed to any considerable 

 extent on the Colorado potato beetle. 



Bounty or Scalp Acts. 



In different parts of the United States, farmers, sportsmen 

 and some naturalists have urged upon their legislators the 

 importance of passing Acts of Assembly awarding premiums 

 for the destruction of certain alleged noxious birds and mam- 

 mals. These efforts have in certain instances resulted in the 

 enactment of laws which have resulted in the expenditure of 

 large sums of money, and the killing of thousands of animals 

 beneficial to the farmer and horticulturist. Early in 1887 

 the Territory of Montana offered a bounty of ten cents each 

 on prairie dogs, and five cents each on ground squirrels. 

 The act went into effect March 5, 1887, and the bounties 

 paid during the next six months amounted to more than fifty 

 thousand dollars. On Sept. 12, 1887, the record of pay- 

 ments stood as follows : — 



153,709 prairie clogs, at ten cents each, . . . $15,370 90 

 698,971 ground squirrels, at five cents each, . . 34,948 55 



Total, $50,319 45 



"It is stated that up to this time the number of prairie 

 dogs and ground squirrels killed had had no perceptible effect 

 on their abundance in the Territory ; and, as the money in 

 the treasury was exhausted, the governor, with the per- 

 mission of the president, called a special session of the 

 Legislature, and the act was repealed." (Barrows' Report, 

 Bulletin No. 1, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 1889.) 



During the session of 1885 the Legislature of Pennsylvania 

 passed an act known commonly as the " Scalp Act," by which 

 bounties ranging from fifty cents to two dollars each were 

 paid by the treasurers of the counties in which the animals 

 were found, for destruction of the heads and ears of the fol- 



