=^^ 



101 



before the end of November, the same. Cost of labor for 6,000 birds is less 

 than $2500 and other expenses total about $500. 



READY MARKET FOR BIRDS.— We have always found a ready 

 market for many more birds than we could produce, at a minimum of 

 $5 a pair for pheasants and $3.25 a pair for ducks. 



By carefully selecting our breeding stock, we have, for several years, 

 had unusually fine strains of both the pheasants and ducks. These com- 

 mand top prices for breeding purposes. 



The club membership is sixty. Last year there were killed 2300 

 pheasants and 1100 ducks, and these numbers will probably be exceeded 

 during the current year. 



Our plan of not removing the year's hatch from the rearing field to 

 covered pens minimizes the loss that always occurs when pheasants are 

 closely confined and gives us birds in fine condition, strong of flight, which 

 furnish excellent sport when shot over a dog. 



ERRATIC FLYERS IN WOODLAND.— Sometimes we release 

 pheasants in small patches of timber with thick underbrush. When flushed 

 in such cover, like ruffed grouse, their flight is rapid and erratic, and 

 they are almost equally difficult marks. 



SWAMP REFUGE OF BIRDS.— The birds which escape seek the 

 swamps, which are both large and plentiful on our preserves, and there 

 they test the skill of the gunner to the limit, and, as game birds, are only 

 equaled by our bobwhite and that king of all game birds, our native ruffed 

 grouse, both of which, unfortunately, are rapidly disappearing from our 

 covers. Taken all in all, ringnecks are in some respects superior as a game 

 bird to ruffed grouse. They are usually found in much more open covers, 

 lie better to a dog, and, as they are less erratic in flight, are more easily 

 brought to bag. They are also a much finer table bird, larger in size, and 

 more brilliant in plumage. 



A hard day in one of our swamps, with a fair percentage of kills 

 and keenly regretted misses, has never failed to convince the most skep- 

 tical that our pheasants are not only real game birds, but also that under 

 these conditions they present many well-nigh impossible shots. 



The rearing of pheasants is not attended with any great difficulty to 

 one who thoroughly understands this work, and they can be bred with 

 almost the same certainty as any domestic fowl. Where they are 

 l)red in open fields, as at Clove Valley, many of the young birds each year 

 escape from the club preserves before the shooting season comes. These 

 go to stock covers open to the public and for miles around our preserve 

 wild pheasants are plentiful. 



If grouse and quail could be bred and released in the same numbers 



