92 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Jan. 2 i, ign. 
their burrows and there stored for winter use. 
When grain coated with a strychnine solution 
properly prepared is caried in the pouches, 
enough of the poison is dissolved and absorbed 
to kill the animal almost at once. S.. E. Piper, 
one of the Biological Survey force, made the 
discovery that strychnine is far more quickly 
absorbed by the cheek pouches than by the 
stomach, and that one-fifth the quantity neces¬ 
sary to kill by the stomach will kill when taken 
into the pouches. 
How effective this poisoning may be is 
shown by the fact that a twenty-five acre tract 
poisoned with forty pounds of starch strych¬ 
nine-coated barley yielded a few hours later 
240 squirrels. Of the animals killed by poison 
only a part are seen dead, for a great number 
die in their burrows. 
The formula perfected and recommended by 
the Biological Survey is this: 
Barley, clean grain, free from other 
seeds . 20 quarts 
Strychnia sulphate (ground or powdered). 1 ounce 
Saccharine . 1 .teaspoonful 
Gloss starch (ordinary laundry starch)... y 2 teacupful 
The starch should be dissolved in a little 
cold water, and one and one-half pints of boil¬ 
ing water added. This makes a rather thick 
solution, into which, while hot, the strychnine 
should be stirred and mixed until free from 
"lumps. The saccharine is now added, and 
thoroughly stirred in, and then the poisoned 
starch is poured over the barley and stirred 
rapidly' until the poison is evenly distributed. 
The grain is now allowed to dry, after which 
it will keep indefinitely. 
The poisoned grain is to be scattered about, 
preferably on clean hard places, and on the 
trails made by the squirrels between the holes 
and in other places where they run. The best 
season for poisoning is the dry season; that 
is, from April to October. If poison is put 
out in the rainy season, it is much less likely 
to be taken by the squirrels, which are at 
this season not out in full numbers, while the 
abundance of fresh green food makes them 
care less to take the grain and the rain washes 
off the poison or carries the bait away. 
The cost of this poisoning is very small, 
not more than three cents an acre, when un¬ 
dertaken on any considerable scale. 
While this poisoning will kill many squir¬ 
rels, it will not kill them all, and colonies 
should be watched and efforts made to destroy 
those which are left by poisoning them with 
bisulphide of carbon, in a way often described 
by the Survey. 
One discouraging thing to be noted about 
the efforts to get rid of these pests is that 
while one farm or one small locality may be so 
treated that squirrels may be nearly exter¬ 
minated, the occupants of adjoining territory 
may have taken no measures against the squir¬ 
rels on their land, from which the land of the 
neighbors may soon be overrun again. 
The American Breeders’ Association. 
The seventh annual meeting of the American 
Breeders’ Association will be held at Columbus, 
Ohio, Feb. i, 2 and 3. The members of the as¬ 
sociation will be the guests of the National Corn 
Exposition. 
The program which has just been issued, gives 
a list of papers to be read on breeding animals, 
birds and plants and on many kindred subjects. 
The report of the committee on breeding wild 
animals will be presented by D. E. Lantz, of the 
Biological Survey, of Washington, D. C., and 
he will also read a paper on the domestication 
and acclimatization of wild animals in the 
United States. Dr. T. S. Palmer, of Washing¬ 
ton, will present the report of the committee 
on breeding wild birds, and Prof. B. W. Ever- 
mann the report of the committee on breeding 
fish. \ 
The meeting promises to be one of unusual 
interest. Further information with regard to 
it may be had by application to Hon. W. M. 
Hays, secretary, Washington, D. C. 
Hand-Rearing Game Birds. 
To a recent issue of the New Haven Register, 
Herbert K. Job, State Ornithologist of Connecti¬ 
cut, contributes an interesting article on the 
propagation of game birds. It is worth while 
that these well known facts should be repeated 
again and agaip. Mr. Job says: 
The motto of the English and Continental 
gamekeepers is: “For every bird you shoot, 
put back two. The result is that they have 
game in abundance all the time. Until we do 
something similar, besides, of course, taking 
proper care of what wild stock we have left, 
every passing year will see our game birds grow 
scarcer. 
Our American method has been to allow prac¬ 
tically universal hunting, till most of our game 
birds have been killed off, and then, at the de¬ 
mand of the hunters who pay licenses for more 
game to shoot, we buy up birds and release them 
to be shot. Since it is no longer possible to buy 
native game birds for restocking purposes, we 
have had imported foreign species—notably Hun¬ 
garian partridges and pheasants—in hope that 
some of those would survive and restock our 
depleted covers. \ arious States besides ours 
have tried these experiments, which were well 
worth testing and gave hope and promise for 
good results. 
Expert authorities, such as the United States 
Biological Survey, as voiced by Dr. T. S. Pal¬ 
mer, in charge of game protection for the Gov¬ 
ernment, now agree and declare that nearly all 
those experiments Jiave proved utter failures. 
Harry Oldys, of the Biological Survey, shows 
that the Hungarian partridge migrates, and that 
the costly birds bought by the commissions of 
Northern States are enjoyed by the Southern 
gunners. In general foreign birds prove nearly 
helpless under the new conditions, and quickly 
perish. Evidently we are on the wrong track. 
Sportsmen are beginning to realize that in the 
artificial propagation of our native game birds 
must lie our main hope. 
In Europe they know how successfully to breed 
game birds, including American species, and it 
could be done exactly as well here as there. In 
Belgium, for example, they breed our beautiful 
native American woodduck by the thousands, and 
strange to say when we want woodducks we have 
to send over there for them. They raise game 
biids as successfully as we do chickens. What 
is the matter with us? 
The idea is taking root in this country. Suc¬ 
cessful game farms, mostly for private profit, 
are springing up, notably in the Middle West, 
and a great new and profitable industry is aris¬ 
ing. W'ild ducks are raised by thousands for 
sale for all possible purposes. This is true of 
pheasant raising, and some are having very fair 
initial success with quail, as well as other game. 
The Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission 
have been very enterprising. They started a 
small experimental hatchery and last season 
raised 400 young quail, enough to prove that 
they have practically solved the problem. Now 
they are preparing to go into it on a larger 
scale, and also to experiment with other game 
birds. The Springfield Fish and Game Associa¬ 
tion, said to be the largest sportsmen’s organi¬ 
zation in New England, are taking steps to have 
a hatchery or two of their own. 
Last September I was visiting Prof. C. F. 
Hodge, of Clark University, Worcester, Mass., 
discoverer of the methods of the artificial rear¬ 
ing of quail and ruffed grouse. In his garden 
he showed me a little box coop attached to a 
close mesh wire run some eight feet long. In 
this run were a beautiful pair of our familiar 
bobwhites, accompanied by a brood of the 
cutest little chicks of their own just a week old. 
“This means,” said Dr. Hodge, as I admired 
the little family, “that any man with only a city 
back yard can raise his covey of quail.” 
This is the key to the situation. Another 
article later will propose a definite practical plan 
for a State-wide propagation of game birds in 
Connecticut. Meanwhile the writer will be glad 
to correspond with sportsmen’s associations upon 
the subject. 
Deer in Ammunition Park. 
Within an inclosure of 370 acres of wild land 
at Bridgeport, Conn., is located the powder 
magazines and shooting range of the U. M. C. 
Company. 
One morning, about a year ago, a doe was dis¬ 
covered within this park. About a year later 
she was joined by a buck, and then a short time 
after the family was increased by the arrival of 
a fawn. 
Quite recently the group was found to have 
increased to six, another fawn, doe and buck 
having joined them. So accustomed have they 
become to their surroundings that frequently 
during the testing on the 1,000-yard range it is 
actually necessary to drive them away from the 
line of fire. 
New Publications. 
Houseboating on a Colonial Waterway, by 
Frank and Cortelle Hutchins. Decorated 
cloth, 8vo., 300 pages, $2.50. Boston, L. C. 
Page & Co. 
The opportunities for observation, and the re¬ 
cording of fresh impressions, are peculiar to 
houseboaters, but the log of the houseboat Gad¬ 
about is a classic, and therefore worth reading. 
For Gadabout, being equipped with two motors, 
went where her owners listed, saving, of course, 
when the elements were not kind; but as there 
was no occasion for haste, this mattered not at 
all. As the authors say, the cares and responsi¬ 
bilities of life fall away when people go house¬ 
boating. The record opens at Norfolk and has 
to do with the James and the people who lived 
and now live on its shores. There is much 
that is interesting concerning the history of the 
old colony and its people, and the illustrations, 
from photographs by the authors, are both ex¬ 
cellent and numerous. 
