48 



THE GAME BREEDER 



mystery was solved. He had been rob- 

 bed by horned owls. An active war 

 is now being waged against the feath- 

 ered thieves. — The World. 



Prize Quails. 



Received Gambel quails, which had 

 been shipped March 6th, today, Tuesday, 

 at 5.20 p.m., seemingly in very good con- 

 dition. They're certainly most beauti- 

 ful birds. Thank you very much tor 

 them. 



Very truly yours, 

 Wisconsin. C. W. Siegler. 



Oklahoma City, April 6, 1918. 



The Innocent Cat. 



Captain Darwin. 



In the vicinity of dwellings, there is 

 no more dangerous enemy to pheasants 

 than the common cat. Captain Darwin, 

 in his "Game Preserver's Manual," 

 writes as follows : "There is no species 

 of vermin more destructive to game than 

 the domestic cat. People not aware of 

 her predatory habits would never for a 

 moment suppose that the household fa- 

 vorite that appears to be dozing so in- 

 nocently by the fire is most probably un- 

 der the influence of fatigue caused by 

 a hard night's hunting in the planta- 

 tions. How different also in her manner 

 is a cat when at home and when detect- 

 ed prowling after the game. In the first 

 of the two cases she is tame, accessible 

 to any little attentions ; in the latter she 

 seems to know she is doing wrong, and 

 scampers off home hard as she can go. 

 Luckily there is no animal more easily 

 taken in a trap, if common care be used 

 in setting. Box traps, however, with 

 drop doors open at both ends, are much 

 the most efficacious, as the victims, 

 whether cats, dogs, rats and even foxes, 

 walk into them without suspicion, and, 

 treading on the platform in the middle, 

 cause both doors to fall simultaneously, 

 when the animal is secured unharmed, 

 and may either be liberated or shot into 

 a sack and drowned. 



The Use of Poison. 



Laying poisoned meat is now illegal, 

 and restrictions are placed upon the sale 



of arsenic by statute ; nevertheless I 

 would caution anyone against the use of 

 that drug, the employment of which is 

 attended with much cruelty, as with 

 some animals it is immediately rejected 

 by vomiting, but not before it has laid 

 the foundation of a violent and painful 

 inflammation of the stomach, from which 

 the animal suffers for weeks, but rarely 

 dies. If it is absolutely necessary to use 

 poison for cats, a little carbonate of 

 baryta, mixed up with the soft roe of a 

 red herring, is the most certain and 

 speedy that can be employed, but a good 

 keeper should know how to keep his pre- 

 serves clear of vermin without the aid 

 of poison.'' — Tegetmeier on Pheasants. 



Dogs and Cats. 



By M. T. Richardson. 



I have noticed an article on the dif- 

 ferent effects the explosion of shells had 

 on a cat and on a dog, as reported by 

 the correspondent of some daily paper. 

 The first thought is why does an ex- 

 ploding shell frighten a dog when it 

 does not frighten a cat? 



Some years ago I had a Scotch Col- 

 lie and he nearly went into convulsions 

 when there was a thundershower and 

 the thunder was rolling severely. He 

 would crawl under the bed, get into a 

 closet and whine until the storm was 

 over. What is the explanation? 



In my opinion it comes from the fact 

 that all the cat family have broad 

 heads, which give them a stability that 

 cannot be found in the narrow heads of. 

 a large number of dogs. It is my opin- 

 ion that a bulldog would manifest about 

 as much indifference as a cat to the ex- 

 ploding of a shell. 



Of course you have noticed that all 

 animals which have been created to kill 

 other animals have broad heads — the 

 lion, the tiger — all of the cat family from 

 the house cat up to th§ tiger, and all 

 of the carnivorous birds — eagles, hawks, 

 owls, etc. 



The house cat with her meek and in- 

 nocent face has fooled the human race 

 for hundreds of years. 



