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Damage by Rooks. 



[JULY, 



approach owners of rookeries in their district, asking that at the 

 proper season energetic action might be taken to keep the birds 

 within reasonable Hmits. The rephes which have been received 

 provide ample evidence of the injury caused by rooks in arable 

 districts, and of the difficulty which is experienced in keeping 

 the numbers of these birds down. Several Societies have in 

 previous years taken the step recommended by the Board, and 

 in certain instances attempts are annually made to reduce the 

 rookeries in the neighbourhood by an organized shoot, with 

 apparently good results. Subscriptions are sometimes invited 

 to enable this to be done. The suggestion of the Board seems 

 to have been generally welcomed as a practical one, and com- 

 munications have been addressed to owners of rookeries accord- 

 ingly. In a few instances notices were inserted in the public 

 Press calling attention to the matter, and it is hoped that the 

 effort now made will have satisfactory results. 



One method which appears to have been adopted with success 

 in Scotland seems worthy of mention. The plan in this case 

 was to select a frosty night, just after the rooks had laid their 

 eggs, but before they were sitting closely, and to place a man 

 with a gun in every clump of trees where the rooks were for an 

 area extending over two or three miles of country. At a fixed 

 time shooting was begun, not so much with the idea of killing 

 the birds, but more particularly for the purpose of keeping them 

 off the nests. Firing was kept up for about three hours from 

 just before dusk, with the result that the eggs were frosted and 

 became infertile. This has now been done regularly for four 

 years, with the result that the rooks are considered to have 

 decreased by 80 per cent, and their numbers are now quite 

 within limits. 



Another correspondent mentions that cutting up a dead rook 

 and putting the pieces about the field deters the birds from 

 pitching on it, much more than putting whole birds on the 

 ground. 



Treating seed wheat and barley with coal tar at the rate ot 

 I quart of tar to I quarter of wheat is also mentioned as a 

 successful means of protecting grain against rooks. A little 

 lime should be added to the seed the morning after treatment as 

 a drier before drilling. A note on this subject appeared in this 



