14 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
Wild Pig of each species 
Smaller Cats 
Jackal 
Chimpanzee 
10 
10 
10 
i 
FOURTH SCHEDULE. 
Animals, limited numbers of which may be 
killed or captured under a Settler's Licence : — 
Kind : — No. allowed. 
Hippopotamus ... ... ... ••• 10 
Wart Hog 
Bush Pig- 
10 
10 
10 
10 
Senaar Swine 
Serval, Smaller Cats, Jackal 
Grant's Gazelle, Thomson's Gazelle, Hartebeest, 
Impala, Reedbuck, Duiker, Kilspringer, Stein- 
buck, Waterbuck, Bushbuck (5> animals in all in 
any calendar month, made up of animals of a 
single species or of several). 
THE GREY SQUIRREL IN ENGLAND. 
"The Field" publishes two interesting letters 
concerning the above : — 
" Sir, — As somewhat vivid accounts of the 
damage to the country, actual and potential, due 
to the spread of the grey squirrel, have appeared 
in the Press, we have thought it advisable to 
consult the authorities in North America, the 
home of the species, on the subject. 
In reply we have received the accompany- 
ing letter from Mr. E. W. Nelson, who is both 
officially, as head of the Biological Survey, and 
individually as the chief authority on North 
American Sciuridae, the most capable person 
in the world of giving an expert opinion on the 
subject. 
His letter seems to show that while squir- 
rels (not only the grey one) do, as we all know, 
commit a certain amount of damage to birds 
and trees, the violent denunciations of the grey 
species as a. present pest, and a possible future 
uncontrollable plague, must be looked upon as 
exaggerated. On the other hand, the pleasure 
due to the presence of the squirrels in our parks 
is not to be denied. 
OLDFIELD THOMAS, 
Curator of Mammals. 
British Museum (Natural History)." 
(Copy Reply.) 
"United States Department of Agriculture, 
Bureau of Biological Survey, 
Washington, D.C. 
March 24th, 1917. 
Dear Mr. Thomas, — 1 have received your 
letter of Feb. 28 in regard to the American grey 
squirrel and its habits. It is interesting to 
know that these squirrels have been introduced 
and have become numerous in England. They 
are common in the city parks in many parts 
of this country, as well as in the forested coun- 
try where they are native. 
Less than ten letters of complaint against 
squirrels of all kinds have come to this office 
during 1916, none of which have specified grey 
squirrels. The depredations stated have been 
largely the destruction of young birds and birds' 
eggs about houses, and cutting pears to get 
the seed. No complaints have been received 
from growers of vegetables of any kind. 
Grey squirrels are undoubtedly somewhat 
injurious to bird life, but apparently not to a 
great extent under normal conditions. How- 
ever when they become abnormally abundant, 
as sometimes happens in public gardens and 
parks, and food becomes correspondingly 
Scarce, they may be responsible for a considera- 
ble reduction in the bird population. It would 
then become a question of either feeding the 
squirrels sufficiently or eliminating enough of 
them so that the natural food supply would 
suffice in order to protect the birds. If it be- 
comes desirable to reduce their numbers in 
London parks it would be a simple matter to 
accomplish it by baited traps. If they are as 
tame as they are in our parks they can readily 
be caught with a landing net. 
Vernon Bailey, of this bureau, has a small 
garden at his home in the city where he grows 
a variety of plants. In the same yard is a large 
oak tree with a nesting box in which a pair of 
squirrels have for years raised their young with- 
out doing any injury to the vegetation in the 
yard which the} 1 frequent. 
E. W. NELSON, 
Chief, Biological Survey. 
U.S. Department of Agriculture." 
-kr 
NO BREAD FOR BIRDS. 
WOMAN FINED £% FOR WASTING FOOD. 
MISPLACED KINDNESS. 
"The birds are my children and I have a dog 
which is my son. I have nothing else to love since 
my poor boy was killed in Mesopotamia," said an 
elderly woman named Sophia G. Stuart, who 
stated she was an American nearly seventy-four 
years of age, when charged at Woking with 
wasting 1 bread. 
