practices are "based upon the. theory that vultures, attracted "by the "baits, 

 will frighten a-sray the homed larks. These methods, however, are ineffective, 

 as horned larks, coming from their roosting places in stuoole or grassfields, 

 genera.lly appear in the fields soon after sirnrise, whereas the vult-irea do not 

 take wing until the air has warmed up, often two or three hours later. Kence 

 the. horned larks have considera.'ble opportunity for feeding before the vultures 

 appear, furthermore, horned larks have "been ©"bser'/ed time after time feeding 

 within 15 feet of v^oltures and evincing no fear. 



The use of the dead white chickens, however, has a secondary effect of 

 som.e slight value. As the carcasses are eaten "by predators a mass of white 

 feathers is li"berated. In much of the area, where damage "by horned larks 

 occurs, there is a strong breeze nearly every day, and the white feathers 

 flutter across the fields "before the wind. As long as feathers are moving 

 in sufficient density, they have some effect in repelling larks. 



Scarecrows . — A great variety of scarecrows has "been devised. G-eneral 

 faults of these are: Jirst, that t'hey are usually sparsely distri"buted, and 

 second, that they have no motion. To remedy these faults costs more than 

 other methods here recommended. As a rule, scarecrows are rank fail^ares. 



One rancher h^ailt and placed in his field a num"bcr of home-made wind- 

 mills with "blades a"bout 2 feet long. In the strong midday sea "breeze common 

 in that district the windmills whirl vigorously and m ..e considerahle noise. 

 Horned larks remained at some distance from these machines, "but the cost of 

 placing them over a field in n-um"ber-s sufficient to protect the crop would "be 

 prohi"bitive. 



Paioer Confetti . — One ingenious rancher, in a district which ha.s a con- 

 stant sea "breeze, hit upon the idea of tearing old newsprint into small pieces 

 and throwing them into the air at the windward margin of the field whence 

 they were relied and tum"bled across the field "by the "breeze. As long as the 

 density of torn paper was sufficient and the motion continued, horned larks 

 avoided the field. Naturally the rancher tired of the constant attention 

 demanded and did not continue the trial. Shortly afterward, horned larks came 

 "back into the field and destroyed almost t"ne entire planting. 



Papers on the G-ro'and . — The first of the methods here discussed that 

 appear to have any continuing protective effect is that of placing pieces 

 of paper on the ground, weighted down with clods of earth. The degree of 

 success depends upon the frequency of distri"bution of the papers over the 

 field, and the use of strips of paper weighted at one end rather than large 

 sheets of paper that have little motion. In most of the cases o"bserved, this 

 methpd did not give complete protection, although in a few it was clearly 

 successful. In localities where the crops attacked are germinated in water- 

 saturated soil or are irrigated several ti:ses during the period of attack, 

 this method has little merit. 



Stakes and Flags . — Next in merit in the progressive study of horned 

 lark repulsion is the "stake and flag" method. Here stakes, often laths, are 

 fixed in the soil and strips of cloth or paper attached to their tops. The 

 "flag" usually is tied to the top of the stake with a hort string, "but sorae- 



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