Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1903. Small Bird Nuisance.

Manawatu Herald, 21 May 1903, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1903. Small Bird Nuisance.

We have continually drawn attention to the intolerable nuisance the small birds have become to both farmers and orchardists, and as the time of the year is now on us when bird food is scarce we trust the Borough Council will move in the direction of supplying poison. We reprint below the paper issued by the Agricultural Department, but we note the caution given about the danger of unskilled persons using the deadly preparation recommended. The pest is however so great that we think property holders would gladly pay the cost of a man who would mix and spread the prepared wheat. It only wants the local body to make arrangements. The report is as follows Dby Method. This mlthod was brought under my notice by Mr J. Grigg, of Longbeach (to whom my best thanks are due), on whose station it has been used with great success, as many as two thousand birds being killed in a morning. The principle of this method is that the grain is superficially coated with particles of strychnine, which are made to adhere by damping the grain with a little fresh milk. The Government property surrounding the Burnham Industrial School presents unequalled facilities for carrying on experiments of this nature, and the grounds surrounding that institution have accordingly been the site of the latest experiments. The result of these, experiments was to demonstrate indisputably that strychnine preparations, mixed dry, were so much more efficient than others, that I have no hesitation in advising the abandonment of other methods of mixing at present practised in the poisoning of birds, in favor of the following Ten pounds of good sound wheat is thoroughly damped with fresh milk so that the whole grain is wet, but not dripping with moisture. Five-sixths of an ounce (avoirdupois) of powdered strychnine, not too fine, is then gradually shaken on to the grain, the whole being kept constantly stirred. This is best done with the hands. Care should, however, be taken to thoroughly cleanse the hands in running water, so that every particle of strychnine is removed ; the finger-nails should be especially looked to. In practice, if the strychnine is bought in loz bottles, it will be found more convenient to weigh out 121 b of wheat, with which the contents of each bottle are to be mixed. When all the strychnine is mixed in, the grain may be immediately laid. This is best done by laying a good train of chaff, without any oats, to attract attention. The poisoned grain is

then very lightly sprinkled on the chaff. Caution. —Farmers desirous to follow out this method without as-’ sistance are earnestly cautioned to beware of the humbly and intensely poisonous nature of strychnine ; ihry are strongly advised to employ for this work none but picked men. The best results were obtained by laying the poisoned grain on roadways near trees. Two precautions are necessary in using the dry method (1.) The grain must be spread as soon after mixing as possible. - (2.) It must not be spread too thickly. It is claimed that one grain of wheat, treated by the dry" method, is sufficient to kill three birds. This is not an unreasonable statement, though difficult to verify. The strychnine is coated over the grain in fairly large particles, and the same grain may be picked up and dropped by two or three sparrows in succession; each time it is taken into the mouth it may leave a small portion of pure strychnine sufficient to kill adhering to the tongue of the bird, and, even though the sparrow may be suspicious, seeing so nflhy of its dead kin around it, it will always readily pick the grain up and taste it. If sparrows are susceptible to strychnine only in the same ratio as ate fowls—-the probability is that they are far more so—tbe five->sixths of an ounce of the poison contained in the 101 b of wheat would be sufficient to prison 283.330 sparrows. It has been asserted that larks will not take poisoned grain ; but in these experiments numbers of dead larks were found soon after laying the g.aia ■Qi'uen-linnets were also found in great numbers, and a few blackbirds, thrushes, and chaffinches, though the bird killed in the greatest numbers was of course the sparrow. In view of the opinion held in some quarters that the sparrow does more good than harm, it is interesting to note that from investigations undertaken by the United States Department of Agriculture, the English sparrow is entirely condemned. (U. S. A. Dept. Agr. Bull. No. U, Div. Biolo. Survey, by Sylvester D. Judd.) The hydrochloride of strychnine has been tried instead of the pure base, using the dry method, but the results given'were not .so favourable as with the latter; the former being so much more soluble in water, and therefore more readily tasted, perhaps accounts for this fact.

Local bodies, farmers’ clubs, &c., should at once order a supply of strychnine so as to obtain it in time for the winter months, when- it is the intention of the Government to enforce “ The Birds Nuisance Act, 1902.” Probably on inquiry of European firms it will be found that a considerable saving will be effected by importing a lower grade of strychnine, which will give practically the same results as the purest. In conclusion, I am certain that the above recommended method will give better results than any other at present practised, and if applied systematically and simultaneously in different districts, and persevered in, will exterminate the grain-eating birds.

Note. —ln the area devoted to strychnine poisoning (dry method), altogether 420 birds were picked up within a week, at Burnham, with the expenditure of about balf-a-orown’s worth of strychnine. It: was found that birds did not get so shy of the poison when prepared by the dry method as they did when the wet method was employed, but continued to eat the freshly prepared grain from time to time,as it was put down.

B. C. Aston, Chief Chemist to'the Dept,