72 



Bird- Lore 



entrance examinations are not required, 

 is designed more particularly for the 

 following: 



1. Those who wish to receive instruc- 

 tion in the principles of game breeding and 

 preserving, with the idea of fitting them- 

 selves for the position of gamekeeper. 



2. Those who wish to take up the breed- 

 ing of game as a commercial pursuit. 



Lectures and laboratory work in this 

 course will be given from February i8 

 to May II, and the entire work of the 

 course will be completed September i, 

 the interval between the end of the lectures 

 and the closing of the course being spent 

 on a game-breeding experiment farm which 

 has just been established at Cornell under 

 authority of an act passed by the New 

 York Legislature at its last regular session. 



For the benefit of many who will be 

 interested to know the facts leading up to 

 Cornell's unique action, the following 

 brief history is given: To Herbert K. Job, 

 director of the Department of Applied 

 Ornithology of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, is due the credit for 

 first putting in operation the teaching of 

 wild-life conservation in an American 

 institution of learning. This work was 

 in the Connecticut State Agricultural 

 E.xperiment Station at Storrs. 



Later, Charles E. Treman, of Ithaca, 

 N. Y., a trustee of Cornell University, 

 suggested informally that the installation 

 of a game-breeding experiment farm at 

 the University would be of great value 

 in increasing the game-supply of the state. 

 No definite steps were taken, however, 

 to bring about action on the suggestion. 



Three years ago, those in charge of the 

 Department of Game Breeding and Pre- 

 serving of the American Game Protective 

 Association found that the movement to 

 supplement the supply of wild game by 

 producing it under intensive methods in 

 captivity was heavily handicapped through 

 the lack of men experienced in game- 

 breeding and scientific game-preserv- 

 ing. Men qualified for such work are 

 usually termed gamekeepers. The 

 principal source of supply for such workers 

 was Great Britain, but that countrv was 



not able to furnish a sufficient number of 

 men to meet the demand. 



Finding itself faced with such a serious 

 check to a movement so promising to the 

 betterment of wild-life conservation work, 

 the American Game Protective Associa- 

 tion set about finding a solution for the 

 problem. 



It took little reasoning to suggest that 

 the utilization of the many excellent 

 schools of poultry husbandry promised the 

 best and quickest solution. The Cornell 

 School was fixed upon as an institution of 

 splendid promise after a thorough in- 

 vestigation. 



Cornell had to be convinced, however, 

 and so an opening wedge was used in the 

 ofifer, two years ago, to give a lecture on 

 the technique of game-breeding before 

 the Department of Poultry Husbandry. 

 This was accepted, and it resulted in an 

 invitation for a second lecture and a 

 series of talks on game-breeding during the 

 following session. 



These lectures, fourteen in number, were 

 given last December and were attended 

 by more than 1,500 persons. The lecturers 

 were Messrs. Herbert K. Job, Harry T. 

 Rogers, and E. A. Quarles. Several of 

 these lectures were repeated the February 

 following, during Farmers' Week at 

 Cornell, when nearly 4,500 farmers from 

 the entire United States were in atten- 

 dance at the University. 



The situation was now ripe for the 

 movement to establish a game-breeding 

 experiment farm at Cornell and install a 

 course of instruction in game-breeding and 

 wild-life conservation. A bill appropriat- 

 ing $15,000 to purchase the farm was in- 

 troduced and, strongly backed by the 

 National Association of Audubon Societies, 

 through its secretary, T. Gilbert Pearson, 

 and the American Game Protective 

 .Association, it was passed and received 

 the approval of Governor Whitman. 



The farm has been selected. Taking 

 title awaits the approval of the Attorney- 

 general. It is located within easy walking 

 distance of Cornell and possesses unusual 

 advantages for the purpose for which it is 

 to be employed. This course of instruc- 



