Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-12-07

coyotes varies from $3.50 to S.. the lat
ter price being paid in the Black Hill
regions of South Dakota. In North
Dakota it is 81; it is So in Montana and
wyoming. and in Iowa it is IS, except
for young animals. Thus rewards may
be claimed profitably in Iowa for coy
otes killed in North Dakota.
The >Jolf bounty in Nevada was 20
cents when California was offering So
for scalps. Consequently, thousands Of
scalps were shipped from Nevada -
California, and large numbers of them
were actually imported from Mexico, so
that California found herself getting
poorer at a distressing rate, and the
bounty law was repealed. Owing to
ignorance of natural history on the
part of local authorities, heads Of do
nestle fowls, cartridges. pheasants.
cuckOos, butcher birds, ETC., were ac-
-cepted and paid for as those of hawks
and owls under the scalp act" in
Pennsylvania. The skins of dogs and
other domestic animals are frequently
turned in for those of wolves and coy
otes. In the case of small animals the
heads are sometimes accepted in one
county and the tails in another county.
SO that the premiums are collected
twice. One county in North Dakota,
waging war on ground squirrels, first
required the head. then the TAIL. and a
year or two later all four feet. '-iF
One interesting effect of the bounty
system is to encourage the breeding of
the animals outlawed. 1t is said that
in, AZ nj,
engaged in the business of propaSating
snakes for the sake Of the, premiums
offered by the government for venom-
Gus serpents. There is no doubt that
the same thing has beehsdone in this
country with various animals for which
bounties were granted. For example.
the eggs Of hawks and owls have been
taken from the nests and Matched UNI
der hens. In Iowa a few years ago it
was said to be more profitable to rear
coyotes for the bounty than to raise
sheep, and Kentucky and New Mexico
have recognized the possibility of
breeding wolves by requiring affidavits
showing that the animals had not been
raised for the sake Of rewards. British
Columbia, by the way, pays bounties
for wolves, coyotes, and panthers, but
requires that the skulls shall be pre-
sented to the curator of the provincial
museum for scientific Identification.
The pocket is one of the worst
enemies man has 10 encounter in the
animal kingdom. 1t does all its work
under ground, the lines of it's tunnels
being marked by dead and dying
plants. Its burrow runs a foot or less
below the surface, and is dug for the
purpose of getting at the roots on
which it feeds. One may travel for
weeks in region infested by gophers,
and yet not see one of them: they labor
and destroy unObserved. The buffalo
in their past abundance We're not one
tenth so numerous. Gophers do not
disappear before man, but remain in
the cultivated fields, making havoc
among the crops and killing the
orchards. The little beast is very
brave, not hesitating to attack a man
on slight provocation. When young it
looks strikingly like baby, being hair
less and pink, with a round head and
rat hands. 1t runs backward as rapid
ly as forward through it's tunnels, and
its equipment of teeth is SO admirable
that 1t is able to make 1920 cuts 4
minute.