140 



THE GAME BREEDER 



from 48 to 72 hours after birth, which 

 they at once began to shovel down and 

 they are thriving nicely ever since, the 

 only casualties being four ducklings lost 

 during the cold spell of two weeks ago, 

 when the temperature went down to 

 freezing point on several nights and 

 some of them strayed out from under 

 the cover of the brooder during the 

 night. Oatmeal was added to their fare 

 on the second day, chick grain three days 

 later, duck meal and crissell on the tenth 

 day, and at present, being two weeks old, 

 thev are fed well-scalded duck meal and 

 crissell four times per day with plenty 



of charcoal and grit, also an occasional 

 feed of lettuce, etc. 



I shall not jump to conclusions, but 

 still, I think, that June eggs show a very 

 marked decrease of fertility as against 

 that of the early May eggs, as shown by 

 my 100% hatch mallards, not to mention 

 three other settings that gave me an aver- 

 age of 89.7% ; all May eggs. 



For future references I am keeping a 

 complete record of all hatches which, I 

 think, will be of great help next year, 

 when I shall (?) count my ducks by the 

 hundreds. 



"Yours for more game." 



THE DUCK SICKNESS IN UTAH. 



Abstract from a Bulletin of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 By Alexander Wetmore. 



Bulletin Xo. 672, U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, gives a full account of 

 the disease of wild ducks in Utah since 

 1910, during which period there were 

 large losses of many species of wild fowl. 

 The writer describes the symptoms, the 

 area where sick birds were found, the 

 species affected, the cause of the sickness, 

 remedial measures and the care of sick 

 birds. 



Thousands of wild fowl find suitable 

 breeding grounds in the marshes formed 

 in the deltas of the rivers draining into 

 Great Salt Lake, and the abundant food 

 supply attracts vast hordes of others that 

 pass during their migration in spring 

 and fall. Local interest was greatly 

 aroused and many attempts at investiga- 

 tion were made. 



Many thousands of ducks died on both 

 the Jordan and the Webers rivers, while 

 on the great mud flats in the Bear river 

 delta, the mortality is said to have been 

 almost beyond belief. Dead birds rolling 

 in the sun dotted the water on the shal- 

 low bays, and long windows of bodies 

 were blown upon the shore lines and 

 against the rushes. The birds died in 

 such great numbers, and the causes of 

 the mortality were so obscure, that a 



strong prejudice arose against killing and 

 taking ducks that were apparently 

 healthy. The gun clubs in the Bear river 

 area were not opened that year (1910) 

 and few ducks were killed elsewhere. In 

 1912 on both the Weber and Bear river 

 marshes conditions were bad and at- 

 tempts were made to clear the marshes 

 of dead ducks. . W. O. Belnap states 

 that about 30,000 were picked up on the 

 Weber river flats, while on Bear river, 

 from records kept by V. F. Davis, it is 

 learned that the bodies of 44,462 wild 

 ducks were gathered and burned between 

 August 22 and September 21. 



The symptoms of the duck sickness 

 indicate a paralysis of the nerve centers 

 controlling the muscular system. Birds 

 affected may be able to support them- 

 selves in the air for short distances only, 

 or may have the wings entirely helpless. 

 The symptoms are described at length 

 and the bulletin is illustrated with photo- 

 graphs of a sick pintail, cinnamon teal, 

 a mallard, a green-winged teal and a 

 row of experiment pens on Bear river. 



It has been established definitely that 

 the cluck sickness in Utah is caused by 

 the toxic action of certain soluble salts 

 found in alkali, as that term is used in 



