LESSON XVII 



Enemies 



It is natural for some animals to live by eating plants. 

 Others live by eating both plants and animals; while still 

 others live upon animals alone. The last two classes in- 

 clude the enemies of poultry, such as rats, cats, skunks, 

 hawks, crows, lice, mites, and so forth. 



Rats are thought to do more harm to the poultry indus- 

 try than any other enemy excepting lice. They usually 

 catch little chickens at night, and kill them by biting them 

 through the heads. Then they suck the blood, and drag the 

 dead chickens away and hide them in some out-of-the-way 

 place. Skunks kill chicks in very much the same way as 

 rats, though they usually leave some of the dead chickens 

 where they have killed them, dragging off only one or two 

 to their dens, for food for their young. House cats, also, 

 often catch and kill small chickens during the daytime; 

 but they are very sly about it, so they are usually thought to 

 be innocent. The surest way to combat these enemies is to 

 build the coops and houses so that they cannot get in. 



In timbered regions, hawks are a great menace to chicks. 



The only way to protect the chicks against them is to kill the 



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