THE SMALL-BIRDS PEST.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1891, 14 May 1889, Page 4

THE SMALL-BIRDS PEST.

Apropos to tins question, which formed the subject of a discussion in the County Coucil,and which has since been referred to editorially, “ Imber,” writing to the N.Z. Mail, says The principal method of destroying them (the sparrows) here is by the use of poisoned grain; and no doubt in districts where farmers have acted in concert and applied themselves in a body to a wholesale poisoning, some good effect has been obtained. The usual manner here is to poison wheat with strychnine and lay it about the paddocks, and it is claimed that once the sparrows eat the poisoned wheat they quickly turn up the tips of their toes. The theory is all very well ; but T with many others have found the actual practice to be sometimes deficient. I will give my reasons for this. ‘ The wheat contains no doubt sufficient poison to kill the birds; in fact, itia usually made of such strength that one single grain is sufficient to kill a sparrow. The fault is not in the wheat but it is the manner of applying it that causes so much failure. If the poisoned wheat were strewn on dry, hard ground, and if the sparrows would eat it within say a couple of hours after it had been laid down, then we could rely upon getting plenty of dead sparrows. But, as it is frequently the case, the poisoned wheat is laid down on newly-ploughed ground, and the natural dampness of the ground itself, the mists and dews of the night, dissolve the greater part of the strychnine from the wheat, I have tried this experiment. I soaked wheat for 24 hours in a strong solution of strychnine, and when dry I foun that sparrows, after eating a couple or so of the grains, died within a few minutes. I spread some of the grain on a newly turned up garden, and during the night there was a fair fall of dew. Early next morning I turned some domestic fowls into the garden; they ate a lot of the wheat without any ill effect. Now I believe from that and many other experiments that poisoned wheat laid on the ground is rendered inert if it remains at least 24 hours without being eaten, To remedy this I propose that farmers who intend using poisoned wheat should make wooden boxes something after the manner of a dovecot, that is, a square box, watertight, with a shelf in front and with a few holes or openings leading into the box. Inside this box the poisoned grain could be stored in such a manner that a small quantity of the grain could always be seen inside the opeut iugs. If the boxes were nailed again sthe sides of the houses, barns, or oven trees on a farm, and during the early part of the winter supplied with a little ordinary wheat, the sparrows would soon learn where to look for food, and in the course of a few weeks, when they got accustomed to the sight and use of these boxes, then poisoned grain could be used, and I believe with the desired results. A little ingenuity ou the part of a man handy with his tools would enable him to make suitable boxes, taking the old fashioned pigeon house or dovecot as an example. Anyway the experiment of making one box would not cost much, and I should like to hear the results from one who has tried it. There is another point to be considered, By placing the grain boxes at a considerable height from the ground there is an absence of danger to domestic poultry and children.— Ashburton Guardian.