THE GAME BREEDER 



17 



wood and various kinds of bushes for 

 shade. The young birds love to dig and 

 scratch in the soil around the bushes for 

 worms. 



Later I feed my pheasants like chick- 

 ens. They are no trouble whatsoever; 

 they are very hardy and live out in the 

 open all winter. We have a small shel- 

 ter for them but we always see them 

 outside of it even in the coldest weather. 

 When the snow is five feet deep we 



see them perched up in the high bushes 

 and trees. 



I find these pheasants the dearest, 

 most interesting and the most profitable 

 of all the animals on our place. Every 

 one who comes to see us exclaims how 

 beautiful they are. 



I am always glad to tell everyone who 

 wishes to raise pheasants inexpensively 

 how to do it and I hope this short article 

 will interest the readers of The Game 

 Breeder. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



SCARE-CROWS. 



By D. W. Huntington. 



All game breeders are aware that the 

 crow is their enemy and various means 

 have been adopted to control the black 

 rascals. The Remington pump and au- 

 tomatic gun caused) the crows to fly high 

 when they passed over the breeding 

 grounds of the Game Breeders' Associa- 

 tion, but often at daybreak they visited 

 the duck ponds and rearing fields, se- 

 cured some eggs and young birds in 

 spite of the fact that several game keep- 

 ers were employed. 



Traps furnished by the Oneida Com- 

 munity took many crows on the ground 

 and pole traps took many on the nu- 

 merous poles. We also used scare-crows 

 and I am quite sure the scare-crow is 

 useful to supplement the destruction by 

 shooting, trapping and poison, where poi- 

 son is used. I agree with many keepers 

 that it is best to get along without poison 

 if possible; it seems more sporty, also, 

 to control crows and other game enemies 

 with the traps and the gun and scare- 

 crows. 



The scare-crow of various forms used 

 by farmers to protect their corn un- 

 doubtedly can be made to save many eggs 

 and young birds. The crow is a very 

 wise bird and we found, as others have, 

 that he soon discovered that a scare- 

 crow fixed in one place was harmless. 

 Our keepers, therefore, moved the scare- 



crow from time to time, sometimes plac- 

 ing the figure flat on the ground in 



View in New York City. 



the grass as if it were lying in wait for 

 a shot. A good plan is to place the fig- 

 ure in a bush partly concealed, and if 

 a broom-stick painted black and var- 

 nished be placed in its arms to resemble 

 a gun the crows will lake more time to 

 investigate the figure on guard near the 

 duck pond or rearing field. 



