120 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Agricultural Betums up to June 4th in each Year. 



1909. 1908. 



Sows kept for breeding purposes ... 316,552 369,476 



Other pigs 2,064,335 2,454,006 



Totals 2,380,887 2,823,482 



" These show a decrease of 52,924, or 14-32 of breeding sows as 

 compared tbe one year with the other, and a total decrease in the pig 

 supply of Great Britain of 442,595, or 15-7 per cent. In so far as 

 Ireland is concerned a very considerable shortage is also to be recorded 

 here, and unfortunately one of the items is a smaller number of breed- 

 ing sows of about 20,000. 



" It will thus be seen that we have reached a perilous condition 

 in so far as swine husbandry and bacon curing is concerned. The 

 demand for pig products goes on increasing from year to year, and it 

 seems difficult to understand why farmers do not endeavour to culti- 

 vate pigs to a greater extent. Year in and out they yield a larger 

 profit than any other live stock, inasmuch as they can be fed on food 

 which would otherwise be wasted. It is true that at the moment 

 feeding meal is dear, but even at the present price of 9s, per cwt. 

 there is a handsome profit in pig feeding. In ordinary times there is 

 a good profit with pigs fetching 42s. per cwt. dead weight. Such a 

 figure pays the farmer and pays the bacon curer. At the moment, 

 however, the dead weight of pigs is about sixpence per pound, and 

 in some markets rather more." 



" A million birds have been slaughtered each year for several years 

 past in the Hawaiian Islands' bird reservation by Japanese, according 

 to Captain F. D. Walker, of the Government cutter 'Thetis,' which 

 effected a recent capture of Japanese on Midway Island. That 

 island, and all others in the group with the exception of Laysan, are 

 said to have lost practically all their once teeming bird population. 

 There is no evidence of any marketing of birds' skins and feathers in 

 Honolulu, says a despatch to the Toronto ' Globe,' the poacher's spoils, 

 it is said, being sold by Osaka merchants in London, Paris, and New 

 York. The bird poaching, it is believed, is handled direct from Japan. 

 Japanese schooners, ostensibly in the shark-fishing business, are fre- 

 quent callers in the bird island group, which stretches north-west from 

 Hawaii. Capt. Walker says the birds were so tame on all the islands 

 that they could be caught by hand. The poachers, he states, captured 

 them, cut off their wings, and left the helpless creatures to die a slow 

 death."— Pall Mall Gazette, Feb. 18th, 1910. 



