SPARROW PEST.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 344, 11 March 1911, Page 3

SPARROW PEST.

METHOD OF POISONING. ; Some exceedingly useful advice on tliis pest and its destruction have been ■ contributed by Mr 'George Speed, of ; Mt. Druitt, New South Wale.-, who, has a fruitgrower and poultry farmer, : as for many years studied the habits ■of the sparrow very closely in order to save himself from its depredations. He further claims to have been suc- : cessful in practically clearing them \ from his proprety. Mr Speed, after pointing out the enormous destruction wrought by these birds among orchard and field crops and the everlasting leakage they i occasion on poultry farms by the food they consume, refers to the hygienic ;or sanitary aspect of the question. I He regards the sparrow as the special ; agent in the transmission of that i great scourge of the poultry farmer — roup, which is nothing else than diphtheria, and is communicable to human beings. The sparrow, in his opinion, conveys the germs of this and other diseases from one poultry farm to another, and from the poultry yard to house roofs, whence the water supply of the household ia contaminated and disease communicated to persons who consume the water. Going on to detail his method of eradicating the pest, he says:— "About 10 or 12 years ago I lost a ton of grapes through the depredations of sparrows. They got at them in spite of me, and perforated every berry on the shoulder of the bunch. Then a few days' rain set in, the juice from the fermenting berries ran down the bunches, and completely ruined them. 1 saw I had a dangerous customer to deal with, one that I could not afford to harbour. Some months after that I saw in the 'Agricultural Gazette' a way to poison sparrows. Readers were told to get an ounce bottle of crystal strychnine, and to get enough proof spirit to dissolve it. Well, I got a bottle of strychnine from a chemist, and paid 17s for proof spirit to dissolve it, and it was very poorly done then. Now, why did the chemist of the department put me, and perhaps a great many more, to such an expense, when he must have known there was such a thing as hydrochloride of strychnine, that dissolves in cold water almost the instant it is put in? Its action, too, is much better, because it is so evenly distributed; but it took me a year or two after that before I managed to get at the desired strength of poisoned grain. The department told us to soak wheat in the dissolved liquid. But no clue as to strength was given. The consequence was it was made too strong. Put under a tree, the birds went for it right royally, and toppled over on top of it. The rest soon dropped to the cause, and instead of killing 'JO per cent, I bagged about 10. The rest were put so keenly on the alert that it was impossible to either poison or shoot. But by watching their every move and trait of character and with another false start or two, I became master of the situation.

"You can, of course, poison at any time, but the best time is after the breeding season is over, when they are flying about in flocks. I generally select an ouside row of corn. A row of vines is ideal. But an open fence or out in the open will do. Having selected what you think most suitable, lay a bait of good clean small wheat in a strip two or three chains long. Put down as much every night as they will clear up next day. Leave nothing for their evening meal. This bait requires to be put down for about ten days. Leave it there for them every morning; they begin to look upon it as an institution. If the sparrow is anything, he is a Socialist and fetches all his friends and neighbours to the feast, and it is surprising how their numbers increase. Get their utmost confidence. Don't fire a shot or do anything to arouse the least suspicion, for, remember, the laying of the bait successfully is nine-tenths of the road to success. Once they get the way to it and take it frankly and freely without any timid signs of suspicion, 95 per cent of them are your own. Upon no account ever put the bait down in a small compass or near a tree. About three chains from the nearest tree is close enough. Putting it down in a strip keeps thle birds scattered well apart, because it sometimes happens that one or two —and I have always found them to be young ones —will eat until they can't get away, and they are apt to sound the first note of danger. As a rule — and there are very few exceptions whenever they feel the first qualms come on them they fly to the nearest tree. The object is to keep the ground ciear of sick and dead birds, and give no cause for suspicion. I have always made it a rule to pass the line of bait every forenoon, witn a light cask stave in my hand. They get used to the visit, and simply look upon it as a matter of form. This forenoon visit is to let them get accustomed to you in order that, when the fateful morning comes you can walk quickly along the line of fire, and with the stave dispatch as quickly as possible any dying ones, and put any dead ones out of sight." "As for the poisoned grain, always remember it requires to be strong enough to kill, and weak enough for them to get away with. I have known dozens to be picked up half a mile away. I get an ounce bottle of hydrochloride of strychnine, one-third of that to 201b of wheat is just as near as possible the correct thing. Dissolve the strychnine in about a gallon of water in one vessel (I find kerosene tins ore handiest), pour that on top of the wheat in the other tin, then add water to cover the wheat about 2in. to allow the grain to swell. Stir it well to make sure it is all the same strength. This is best done in the morning, and let it stand 48 hours. It must be done in good drying weather. Then I rip a chaff bag up, nail it on to four small saplings full stretch, awl place it on to some Hat sheet of iron or well stretched win; netting. Spread it out on thin to dry. See that if is thoroughly dry before

being put away, or it wili go mouldy. On no account put it down to the birds before it is thoroughly dry. Make the bait thai: is laics and the poisoned grain of the same class of wheat if possibl?. "Anyone following these few simple rules n.:'ed no fear of the result. The whole thing is simplicity itself. If you are a poultry man and have poultry neighbours, try and secure their co-operation the night b?fors vou intend to poison, and all feed the fowls late, very late, and when you do feed, feed nothing but maize. The sparrows have been getting their evening meal with the fowls for months, possibly years They have been out-generalled for once. See to it that there is nothing else they can get. They will then go to roost hungry, and get out in the morning with an empty stomach and a very anxious mind. They dont' consider twice where to betake themselves. The free breakfast is an established fact, and if they are in scores or thousands they will get to work in such a manner that 95 per cent at least will be accounted for. Two or three old artful dodgers sometimes manage to escape, but they generally hang round, like Rachel weeping for her children, and can't be comforted. Give them all the comfort you can with the gun, but see you don't start too soon.