BIRDS KILLED BY ANTS.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20495, 14 March 1932, Page 10

BIRDS KILLED BY ANTS.

LOSS OF 200 PHEASANTS. ATTACKED IN THE THROAT. [THE PBESS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, March 12. Flying ants . have been responsible for the deaths of 200 pheasants bred by Mr T. Wise, of Te Rapa, to the order of tho council of the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. The total loss involved is £lO5, as the birds were worth 10s 6d each. . Apparently the pheasants were attacked in the throat while attempting to devour the ants as food. The deaths of the birds were due to the swelling of the throat. According to Mr W. JV Routlcdge, ranger for the Society, the loss of pheasants from this cause is not uncommon, although the number affected in this instance was unusually large. > The original order of pheasants was 1000, but the loss of a further 200 from other causes, including the ravages of pests, has reduced the total to 600., Already 400 birds, three months old and over, have been liberated in various parts of the Society's district in the past six weeks. There are still 200 to be delivered. The dead 400 birds will be replaced, if possible, by, purchases .from other breeders. A decision _to this effect was reached at a meeting of the council. The president, Mr F. E. McKenzie, said the previous season the number of birds liberated was 400 short of the original allocation, and if no effort were made to rectify this year's discrepancy, it would be simply inviting the criticism of sporting men. Suggestions that pheasants should be obtained from other districts were considered impracticable owing to the highei' cost. "Wo have been fortunate in being able to obtain our birds 'for liberation in large quantities at.a comparatively low price,'' remarked Mr McKoneie*