The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-01-26

ers generally Will not cut out and
paste In their scrap books.
The English sparrow. by some peo-
pie thought to be of some account I'm
destroying insects. Is not welcome
bird In California In fact, Callforn.
ians have driven the sparrow out be-
cause 1t drove out the other birds and
the other birds killed the insects. Mr..
Merriam said that so far as he knows
there is not an English sparrow In
southern California at the present
time. He said that once in a while
these birds kill an insect, but they are
generally Of no particular account
Here Is the way Merriam explains
the method of the English sparrow:
Twenty five years ago a native
robin could not light on our grounds at
the department of agriculture or In the
Smithsonian grounds that q group OF
English sparrows did not Immediately
gather around. They would not us
ually attack the robin, but would sit
around close TO him and embarrass
him, so that he would have to leave
Then he would fly into tree aal
they would immoGiate.y fly after him
and light around him, In the tree. and
would make is so disagreeable for him
that he would go somewhere else. So
they broke up the nesting OF many If
OF our native birds in the city parks
and along the streets, and In that
manner drove them away"
MI Merriam went on to Say that the
English sparrow is pretty good food
and that II Is sold In Washington under
the name of reed bird, rice bird and
under other names.
There was long discussion about
wolves and sucn animals and 1t ap,
pears that the forest service has done
great work along this line, having de-
stroyed 1.S00 big wolves and $4,000
coyotes In the last year This work
is estimated to have saved stock worth
50 000,00
The great rodent family, which In.
cludes, rats. prairie dogs, ground squIr-
relS, gopnerS and other animals that
i've under ground and prey upon the
crops, was discussed at considerable
length, together with the methods OF
eXterminating these animals Mr.
Merriam estimated that there are now
400 G00,OO0 prairie dogs In the state
OF Texas and that 30 dogs eat as much
grass as one sheep, and 2l0 dogs eat
as much as steer on the range He
said that enough range grass Is eaten
every year In Texas to support moro
than million mead OF cattle and be-
tween five and six million sheep. The
prairie dogs do not eat root products,
but are very destructive to grass and
alfalfa. In speaking of prairie dogs,
Mr.. Merriam destroyed that tale Of
fiction about rattlesnakes, burrowlnS
owls and prairie dogs all living in
holes together, He says that the owls
and snakes go In holes which tne
dogs have deserted but the
only time they go together is when
the young dogs are surrounded by rat
tlesnakes
There was Il long discussion on the
question OF whether the prairie dog
burrows down to water and how deep
he digs his hole and the character
of his home In the ground. Chaif'
man Scott was particularly anxious 10
get facts on that subject and Merriam
gave him great deal Of detailed iu'
formation the conclusion being tnat
the prairie dog might go fifteen feeI
deep, but that he never digs 10
water. The idea has been that tne
prairie dog lives SO far rom water
In the arid regions that he must haVo
connections. In the case
of nearly every animal discussed Mer
riam was asked whether the animal
is good for food. He declared tna'
the squirrels and gopherS are iarl!
good eating, but he did not have muen
use for prairie dog.