166 



THE GAME BREEDER 



ducks and the crows and black birds get 

 some of the duck eggs. I am keeping 

 about as many ducks this winter and ex- 

 pect to have as many young ones next 

 summer as I had last season. I also 

 raise some swan and Canada geese. 1 

 raise them' for my own amusement. 

 New York. M. M. J. 



to waters where the vegetation is more 

 abundant. J. W. Titcomb. 



Vermont." 



Muskrats and Ducks. 



The duck-muskrat incident to which 

 you refer happened on one of a series 

 of deep ponds that are a part of the 

 source of the Niobrara River. On the 

 day of the occurrence I had taken my 

 .22 rifle and gone to these ponds to see 

 what I could get. From behind a screen 

 of weeds I shot at and hit a duck. Just 

 before I fired I noticed a rat swimming 

 towards the ducks and only a very few 

 feet from them. The duck only made 

 three or four flaps with its wings before 

 it disappeared. I at»once jumped up and 

 ran along the bank to get nearer and ar- 

 rived at the point on the bank over the 

 muskrats underwater hole in time to see 

 the last few feathers of the duck disap- 

 pear into it. The banks of these ponds 

 being steep and the water deep, the rats 

 den under the banks, instead of building 

 houses, as they usually do. 



Nebraska. J. H. Tubbs. 



Editor Game Breeder: 



Under your notes from the Game 

 Farms and Preserves with reference to 

 Wild Duck Enemies, I want to contrib- 

 ute my personal knowledge as to musk- 

 rats. We have a pond, in front of the 

 residence, where I have raised mallards 

 and I discovered that the muskrats are 

 very fond of cracked corn, which I put 

 down for the mallards, but they are not 

 satisfied always with the corn because on 

 two occasions we have seen a muskrat 

 actually seize a duckling about six weeks 

 old. In one case it carried the duckling 

 into its burrow ; in the other case the 

 duckling escaped. It has been my ex- 

 perience, however, that when there is 

 a sufficient number of ducks on a pond 

 to keep the vegetation pretty thoroughly 

 cleaned out the muskrats do not find suf- 

 ficient food and are inclined to migrate 



The Malformed Deer Horns. 



Mr. J. W. Gilbert writes that in his 

 opinion the malformed deer horns (the 

 picture of which, sent by Mr. Hoyt of 

 California, was printed last month, wei 

 caused by castration. If deer are cas- 

 trated before they are a year old, he says, 

 they are not likely to grow horns. 



We regret to learn that some of the 

 quail imported from Mexico died on the 

 journey. The troluble undoubtedly is 

 due to keeping the quail too long in un- 

 sanitary shipping boxes. They should 

 not be held up for ten days or any other 

 period but should come through as quick- 

 ly as possible to reputable dealers. Since 

 gray. partridges are shipped alive in large 

 numbers from the Continent of Europe 

 to England and many thousands also are 

 shipped alive to America, there can be 

 no doubt that our partridges can be, as 

 they have been, shipped long distances,, 

 safely, provided they have a quick start 

 in sanitary shipping boxes. It will not 

 be long before an abundance of quail 

 will be marketed from the Central and 

 Western States. These are bigger and 

 better birds than the Mexican quail. All 

 that has prevented the quail from becom- 

 ing abundant and cheap everywhere is 

 the "fool" laws and regulations which 

 have prevented an important industry. 



Do Rabbits "Play Possum"? 



One morning looking out of my win- 

 dow I saw a rabbit run from the yard 

 across a village street. It was pursued 

 by a dog which came in sight, gaining 

 rapidly on his quarry. When the rabbit 

 reached the middle of the street it fell 

 over on its side with its legs extended 

 and appeared to be dead. The dog ran 

 up to it; inspected it for a moment or two 

 and walked away on the opposite side 

 walk, which descended in a curve to an- 

 other street. The rabbit did not move 

 until the dog had been out of sight for 

 some time ; it then sat up, looked about 



