106 



THE GAME BREEDER 



That was indeed a day of joy to us 

 all. I am writing from Baltimore and 

 this June Sunday I intend to take a run 

 over and see how that pair of trumpeter 

 swans are doing in the National Park 

 Zoo. 



The dog "Togo" in the picture, I send 

 is a white Boston bullterrier and as 

 good natured an animal as lives. But 

 he infernally hates skunks and keeps his 

 master's poultry farm absolutely free 

 from them, as he never fails to make a 

 kill when the overconfident skunk comes 



around to Mr. Eugene Sites' poultry 

 farm at Elyria, Ohio. He has "Togo" 

 to deal with. "Togo" always digs him- 

 self into the damp ground under the barn 

 after each encounter and stays there 

 without eating for two or three days. 

 May his kind increase, is my wish, and 

 I guess that the reader will say amen! 

 The National Park Zoo has lost their 

 female trumpeter swan and now they 

 are looking for another bird as the male 

 wants to mate. 



MORE ABOUT GAME ENEMIES. 



From the Report of the Massachusetts Commissioners on Fish and Game. 



Each year furnishes, despite the ut- 

 most watchfulness on the part of the 

 superintendents, new evidence of the 

 depredations of hawks, owls and other 

 enemies on the stock under their care. 

 In the quail breeding work, even though 

 the birds are kept in wire covered en- 

 closures, they are not safe from the at- 

 tacks of hawks and owls, for when 

 frightened the birds have a natural in- 

 stinct to fly upwards to escape, and in 

 doing so thrust their heads through the 

 openings at the top of the enclosure, only 

 to have them bitten off. 



At the Sandwich Bird Farm a sys- 

 tematic trapping of destructive birds was 

 carried on as usual, and also of the rats 

 which concentrate about the feeding 

 places in the duck yards. Foxes occa- 

 sionally give trouble, though not to the 

 extent that the birds do. At this station 

 the score was 368 for the year ending 

 Nov. 30, 1918, as follows: 



One long-eared owl, 5 great horned 

 owls, 1 short-eared owl, 2 red-tailed hen 

 hawks, 3 red-shouldered hawks, 6 

 goshawks, 15 Cooper's hawks, 2 screech 

 owls, 5 sharp-skinned hawks, 2 pigeon 

 hawks, 4 sparrow hawks, 8 marsh hawks, 

 1 rough-legged hawk, 260 rats, 16 

 weasels, 3 foxes, 6 skunks, 10 black- 

 snakes, 18 snapping turtles. 



The record at the Wilbraham Game 

 Farm was not kept as accurately as in 

 other years, but among the vermin de- 

 stroyed were : 



Sixteen skunks, 30 rats, 5 snakes, 9 

 hawks, 3 owls, 4 cats. In addition to 

 those taken by hawks, 131 young birds 

 are known to have been taken here by 

 other enemies. This year crows have 

 been more of a nuisance at this station 

 than hawks, and it was almost impossible 

 to get within gunshot of them. The 

 boxes containing young birds were closed 

 each night against cats and skunks, but 

 on one occasion skunks gained an en- 

 trance by digging under the boxes and 

 killed forty pheasants in one night. 



At the Marshfield Bird Farm the 

 snapping turtles, are found to be one of 

 the worst pests. As they bury deep in 

 the mud about the only remedy is to 

 board the entire edge of the pond around 

 and to probe all over to kill them. 



Numbers of great horned owls were 

 about this season. One gained entrance 

 to the brood house one night by break- 

 ing through a pane of glass, and by. 

 morning he had killed fifteen ducks. 

 After that pole traps were put out and 

 several owls taken by this means. Crows 

 added to the losses by taking both eggs- 

 and ducklings. 



