Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-15

a.

ground SQUIRRELS which has an extensive
distribution in California also carries it,
Three men who killed ground squirrels
last fall in the neighborhood Of San Fran
cisco bay developed the plague and two
of them died from it, 1t is communicated
from these animals to man by f1eas. The
f1eas carried by the rats and squirrels
bite human beings and inoculate them
with the disease
Field mice do SO. OOOO 600 worth of dam.
age in this country each year; rabbits,
100000. Field mice have ruined the al
falfa crop in parts of the west where
there will be no alfalfa again until there
is new seeding. Every few years We
have some where a new epidemic of field
mice. This is due in part to an increase
in their food supply and partly to the de-
struction of their natural enemies. the
hawks. owls. weasels. skunks and
badgers. which the ranchmen kill until
they learn better. Such a plague OF field
mice swept over the Humboldt valley.
Nevada. last fall. / sent assistant
there at once and he found at one place
$500 burrows of the mice to the acre.
The whole crop was ruined and the fields
were being plowed up over an area tf-
teen miles long by two wide. Our man is
still there poisoning the mice and says
there are now only LOO to the acre.
Potatoes and fruits were ruined also, and
right in this part of Nevada the govern
ment will have spent S9Do,0OO In irri-
eating land which will be worthless I'M
less we can exterminate the mice upon
it. Otherwise. as fast as any green thing
shows itself above the ground the mice
will eat it Off"
How are you destroying the NIECE
BY sowing chopped alfalfa soaked in
strychnine, which the birds do not eat
We found the farmers using phospor-
Gus preparat ton that killed so many birds
that in one place on four acres, We
found sixty-seven dead larks. We are
also experimenting with germs of GER
tain epidemics- deadly to field mice.
gopherS and ground squirrel We have
propagated these germs in the labora-
tory. and with them have Inoculated
many Of these mammals. which have
been turned loose among their fellows;
But this is a branch of experimental
work that is still in its infancy.
Protecting Enemies of Rodents.
Zone means which We are employing
to decrease these destructive mammals IS
the waging of an educational propaganda
for the protection of their natural enc
mics. A few years ago "A majority of
states paid bounties on hawks and owls.
We have examined the stomachs of some
5000 hawks and owls and have found
that of our seventy species Of these birds
only three habitually prey upon poultry
These are the goShawk, the cooper hawk
and the sharp-shinned hawk, which
should be killed wherever found the
other hawks ana all OF the o"lS,
ever, should be protected. In the VIM
ter and spring they feed mainly on
meadow mice in the summer and 1all on
grasshopperS and crickets, also pests 10
the farmer Each hawk destroys In a
wear about "a thousand field mice or their
equivalent lin weight) of insects, NANNY
Now If you put the Value
of crops destroyed by each field mouse.
or its equivalent in insects. at only
cent a wear which is certainly very
much too low you reach the conclusion
that each hawk is worth Slo per year "
the farmer ., ,-t,,
How do you determine so exactly what
birds eat?
I'VE watch them in the fields and we
examine their stomachS. We have an ar
rangement with bird collectors all over
the country by which they send US the
stomachs OF birds killed as SPECIMENS. We
have Tins examined 10000 stomachs in
order to find the natural food of birds in
each part of the country and at each
season of the year.
Are you doing anything to exterminate
injurious birds?
There are very few birds that are in
furious throughout the year. We have
conducted many experiments in destroy
ing English sparrows. The best way to
hold them in check is to have in each
town a man whose business 1t is to haul
down their nests with long pole with a
hook on it. But in almost every town
there Is some tender-hearted person who
thinks this wrong and who will mako
such hubbub that the work is stopped