138 



RECREATION. 



brown, and they are spotted and blotched 

 all over with dark brown or black. In 

 size they average 1.25x1.78 inches. 



Lawrence Shanny blames cuckoos with 

 carrying off young birds. I will wager 

 that Mr. Shanny's cuckoos that carried off 

 the young robins were blue jays, Cyanocitta 

 cristata, and that his orchard orioles that 

 sucked eggs were either those same jays or 

 cowbirds, Molothrus oter. Captain Charles 

 E. Bendire, in his Life Histories of North 

 American Birds, states, on page 480, Vol. 

 II, that "Few birds do more good and 

 less harm than our orchard oriole * * * 

 and it certainly deserves the fullest protec- 

 tion." Bendire's work is recognized as 

 the best of its kind ever published, notes 

 from expert ornithologists all over Ameri- 

 ca being used in its preparation. If the 

 orchard oriole was, as Mr. Shanny says, 

 "the meanest egg sucker of all birds," 

 these expert observers would surely have 

 found it out and mentioned it. I think 

 Mr. Shanny has made an error in this 

 matter, and I arise to defend the oriole. 



If Mr. Redden will look up the yellow 

 bellied sapsucker, in works on the life 

 history of birds, he will find plenty of evi- 

 dence in regard to the food of the bird in 

 question. See, for example, page 82, Vol. 

 II, of Bendire's Life Histories of N. A. 

 Birds, or Bulletin No. 7, Division of Or- 

 nithology and Mammology, U. S. Dept. of 

 Agriculture, a preliminary report on the 

 food of woodpeckers, by F. E. L. Beal. 



My experience with the European house 

 sparrow, Passer domesticus, in city and 

 country, leads me to believe they are a pest 

 which must soon be abolished or we shall 

 be deprived of many of our most bene- 

 ficial birds. The sparrows have almost to- 

 tally driven out the purple martens. 

 Progne subis, and they are fast driving out 

 house wrens, Troglodytes aeden; bluebirds, 

 Sialis sialis; barn swallows, Chelidon eryth- 

 rogaster, and robins, Merula migratoria. 

 Large bounties have been paid for the 

 killing of sparrows, but no visible reduction 

 has been made in their numbers, and as 

 they are prolific breeders, it is merely a 

 question of a few years when they will 

 have exterminated several valuable species 

 of our avian friends. 



I believe the only practical way of de- 

 stroying these pets is to introduce a con- 

 tagious disease among them. Of course, 

 experiments must be carefully made be- 

 forehand, so the disease used in that way 

 would not also destroy other species. As 

 entomologists have succeeded in nearly 

 exterminating the chinch bug by that 

 method, there can be little doubt of its 

 practicability. 



I should like to hear from ornithological 

 students on this matter. Let us try to 

 drive out these "rats of the air" ••-■ ' in 



that way encourage beautiful and bene- 

 ficial birds. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 I was hunting rabbits recently and got 

 one which had a large bunch under its fore 

 leg. Soon there came out of a hole in 

 this bunch a large, brown worm, with a 

 black head, and around its body 7 or 8 

 rings. What are these worms and what 

 do they become later? What do they 

 spring from? Are rabbits good to eat 

 when thus infested? 



J. W. Bedell, Ballston Spa, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



The worm described is undoubtedly the 

 larva of one of the rabbit bot flies. At 

 least 3 species occur in this country, the 

 most common being Cuterebra cuniculi 

 (Clark). This species is fully described and 

 figured in its different stages in our U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 

 5, New Series, entitled "Insects Affecting 

 Domestic Animals." The presence of one 

 of these larvae in a rabbit would hardly 

 make it unfit for food unless the rabbit 

 was diseased. 



I see by late articles in Recreation that 

 the reputation of one of my little favorites, 

 the red squirrel, is having a hard time. 

 Let me state a fact in his favor. When 

 my seed houses are taken possession of by 

 the little chatterers, rats make themselves 

 scarce. I do not know whether the squir- 

 rels fight them off, or whether rats have 

 a natural antipathy for squirrels. What- 

 ever may be the reason I know that my 

 1,400 bushels of corn, drying on the ear, 

 are far less damaged since the coming of 

 the squirrels than before. The little fel- 

 lows, of course, charge a good living for 

 their services, an I right under my eyes tug 

 away at some ear of corn, dragging it to 

 their holes; but how can I begrudge them 

 fair pay for work which saves me much 

 greater loss, besides the filth and abomina- 

 ble smell caused by the rats? 



J. J. H. Gregory, Marblehead, Mass. 



Have any readers of Recreation suc- 

 ceeded in raising quails in captivity? I 

 want to raise some, but don't know how to 

 commence. Do quails lay as many eggs 

 in captivity as they do in their natural 

 state? Is it best to hatch them under the 

 old bird or to employ domestic fowls? 

 Are quails harder to raise than pheasants 

 are? Do thev require as much or more 

 care? What kind of food is best adapted 

 for them? What kind of enclosure is best 

 for them? I wish some one who has had 

 practical experience with these birds and 

 knows just what they require would tell 



us. 



David Shafer, West Carrollton, Ohio, 



