ANTS KILL PHEASANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21129, 11 March 1932, Page 8

ANTS KILL PHEASANTS.

LOSS OF 200 BIRDS. VALUE ESTIMATED AT £lO5. ATTACKED IN THE THROAT. plying ants have been responsible for the 'deaths of 200 pheasants bred by Mr. T Wise, of Te Rapa, to the order of the council of the .Auckland Acclimatisation Society. The total loss involved is £loo, 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. T. Routledge, 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, iias reduced the total to 600. Already 400 birds, three months old and over, have been liberated in various paita of the society's district in the past sis weeks. There are still 200 to bo 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 couiyil last evening. The president, Mr. F. 13. 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 iiniting tho criticism of sporting men. Suggestions that pheasants should be obtained from other districts were considered impracticable owing to the higher cost. "We have been fortunate in being able to obtain our birds for liberation in large quantities at a comparatively low price," remarked Mr. McKcnzie.