292 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 
baits, and so prevent their being readily eaten 
by the creatures to be got rid of. 
Virtues of strychnine. Strychnine is one of 
four alkaloids obtained from nux vomica, the 
seed of a tree known to botanists as Strychnos 
nux vomica. The chief supply comes from the 
Malabar coast, India. It consists of colorless 
crystals or white powder, and of several salts, 
chiefly the sulphate and the nitrate, in needle- 
like crystals. On account of its solubility the 
sulphate is most convenient for poisoning small 
animals, and is the one which should always be 
used. Strychnine is very bitter, and to disguise 
this sugar, honey, or an equivalent of its weight 
in saccharine, is mixed with the powdered 
poison; but this is not required for rabbits and 
field-mice, which are accustomed to bitter foods. 
As a poison for noxious animals strychnine 
has several advantages over the others com- 
monly in use. It kills quickly, without the long 
tortures of corrosive poisons. It spite of its 
bitterness, baits containing it are rejected less 
often than those containing arsenic. If strych- 
nine is properly labeled and kept from children, 
it is less dangerous to have on the premises 
