THE GAME BREEDER 



107 



A Hawk Takes a Trout. 



Not only the game farms but the fish 

 hatcheries as well suffer from the activ- 

 ities of predatory birds which are re- 

 sponsible for the loss of substantial num- 

 bers of fish every year. At the Sand- 

 wich Fish Hatchery last February one 

 of the workmen noticed a red-shouldered 

 hawk on the bank of the brook. He 

 succeeded in killing it, and found it held 

 in its talons a live, perfectly healthy fe- 

 male brook trout 13 inches long, weigh- 

 ing 13 ounces. As the legs and the 

 underpart of the hawk were wet, un- 

 questionably the bird had gone into the 



water after the fish. In the superin- 

 tendent's fourteen years' experience this 

 is the first instance that has come to his 

 attention of any species of hawk going 

 into the water after fish, excepting the 

 fish hawk. The bird measured 3 feet 6 

 inches from tip to tip, and 19 inches 

 from beak to tip of the tail. It had been 

 seen around the hatchery for several 

 weeks, and up to that time had evaded 

 capture. 



In another instance a black crown 

 night heron which had been shot at this 

 station was found to contain ninety-two 

 2-inch and 3-inch brook trout fingerlings. 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



Trapping Quail. 



A plan for trapping quail for breeding 

 purposes is described in the report of 

 the 'Massachusetts Commissioners. The 

 superintendent of the Marshfield Bird 

 Farm was detailed to do the trapping. 

 He began work January 11, at which 

 time the weather was extremely cold and 

 the ground covered with ice. The first 

 steps in the work were to locate the 

 quail; to select the desirable places to 

 set the traps ; and, finally, to bring the 

 quail to the place. The latter end was 

 accomplished by placing grain at the 

 trapping places selected, so as to accus- 

 tom the birds to come to the spot. 



Six traps designed for this work were 

 put out. They were shaped like a scal- 

 lop shell, covered with linen thread net 

 and set on figure four spindles. When 

 set on the ground they resembled an 

 umbrella with the handle cut off. The 

 traps were visited twice daily, morning 

 and night, the last visit about dusk. Thus 

 no birds remained in the traps any length 

 of time, and (with the exception of one 

 taken by a cat) none died in the traps. 

 When a snowstorm threatened the traps 

 were taken up so that none might be 

 caught and perish. 



The heavy snows, the winds that blew 

 down the traps, and more especially the 



small birds and animals which would 

 get in and spring the traps necessitated 

 many fruitless sets and trips before the 

 quota (50 quail) was secured. Many 

 and many a time traps were inspected 

 only to find that they had been sprung 

 by the small swamp birds, and sometimes 

 the quail were seen running around the 

 outside of the trap ready to go in had it 

 not already been sprung. In some locali- 

 ties these small birds were so trouble- 

 some that it was necessary to abandon 

 operations on that spot. Rabbits and 

 squirrels added to the difficulties by dam- 

 aging the nets gnawing their way out, 

 making it necessary to mend the holes 

 on the spot with the temperature at zero. 



A trap 8 feet by 18 inches by 18 inches 

 covered with wire netting, working on 

 the same principle as a rat trap that 

 would catch as many as would go in, 

 was also used and found convenient for 

 picking up the odd birds in flocks after 

 the larger portion had been caught. 

 Each lot of birds caught was immediately 

 placed in a stall in the brood house fur- 

 nished with cedar trees, large box of 

 dusting sand, straw covered floor, char- 

 coal, oyster shells, water and feed. 

 Forty-four birds were trapped and kept 

 at the game farm from the middle of 

 January to August 10. They submitted 



