THE GAME BREEDER 



51 



— a bobwhite. On their return at night grouse. Mr. Cassius Tirrall, of South 



to the farm-house where they were stay- Weymouth, asserts that a cat living not 



ing, they found that the farm cat had far from his home has brought in so 



beaten their score, having brought in many bobwhites and grouse that the fam- 



during the day two bobwhites and one ily has "lost track of the number." 



Guinea Hens as Insect Eaters. 



Mr. G. H. Sander, of Dayton, Ohio, 

 says in Sportmen's Review : 



As I have a number of guinea hens on my 

 farm near West Milton, Miami county, Ohio, 

 and the farmer tells me they are great- insect 

 eaters, why not encourage farmers to raise 

 them for food, as they are a South African 

 game bird domesticated in this country. I 

 hear in California they raise them to take the 

 place of game; why not in Ohio? 



The guinea is a good watch dog, wary for 

 hawks, and will care for themselves at all 

 times. It is a fine bird to eat for the dinner 

 table. 



Thousands of guineas have been 

 raised and sold as food in the New York 

 markets. Some of the game clubs have 

 given them a trial as game birds but they 

 are reported to be not even as good as 

 pheasants to say nothing about our 

 grouse and quail. I have seen guineas 

 half wild on the prairie in Illinois which 

 flushed well and flew as strongly as the 

 prairie grouse. One occasion I came 

 very near bagging a brace of guineas 

 when I was shooting grouse. The birds 

 flushed well ahead of my dogs and I 

 detected the white spots just in time to 

 stay the trigger finger. 



The Watch Dog and the Owl. 



The guinea hen often has been called 

 the watch-dog of the barn yard. We 

 engaged one as a watch dog for the mal- 

 lards and pheasants on the preserve of 

 the Game Breeders' Association, but one 

 evening, shortly after the guinea arrived, 

 a great horned owl dropped down and 

 "nipped off her nose," her whole head in 

 fact. The owl took a plymouth rock hen 

 and four mallards for dessert. He or 

 his mate now sits on a shelf behind the 

 editor's chair in the office of The Game 

 Breeder, having been nicely embalmed 

 by taxidermist Sauter. His portrait ap- 

 pears in the booklet of the Hercules 

 Powder Company, "Game Farming for 

 Profit and Pleasure." Whenever any of 

 our readers wish to see the owl they can 

 write to the Hercules Powder Company 

 for the booklet. It is for free distribu- 

 tion and "well worth the money" — that 

 is to say the money paid for it including 

 the owl's 'portarit. 



More About Duck Breeding. 



Many of our readers are asking for 

 special information about the breeding 



