and at the same expense as pheasants, I would say raise grouse 

 and quail, but, unfortunately, they cannot, and even if they could, 

 I would also be in favor of raising and releasing pheasants. 



It is often claimed that pheasants drive out ruffed grouse. 

 My observation is to the contrary. On our preserve the grouse 

 never frequent the pheasant covers till late in the season and they 

 have been more plentiful at times since pheasants were introduced 

 by us than they were before. I am certain that this charge is 

 utterly unfounded. 



All that we can do for our grouse and quail is to protect them, 

 in so far as possible, by prohibiting the sale of these birds, restricting 

 the number which gunners may kill, and keeping down the vermin 

 which are their most destructive enemies, but even then, they are 

 so likely to be destroyed by severe winters and unfavorable climatic 

 conditions during the breeding season, that the crop is always an un- 

 certain quantity, whereas, with pheasants, the reverse is the fact. 



CLUBS SHOULD FOLLOW CLOVE VALLEY'S EXAMPLE. 



It is my hope that within the next few years many clubs will be 

 organized throughout the state which will take advantage of our 

 liberal Breeders' Bill. There are many sections of the state well 

 adapted to pheasants where it would not be possible to restore 

 the grouse because of the lack of suitable covers. 



Prior to the introduction of pheasants in the Genesee Valley, 

 ruffed grouse and quail were almost extinct. Because there were 

 many covers suitable for pheasants, a plentiful supply of food and 

 few vermin in this section, these birds increased in enormous numbers 

 during the closed season, which ended a few years since, and but for 

 the fact that almost as many hen as cock birds are killed, they 

 would now be more numerous than our native game birds ever were. 



Three years ago I was in Monroe County on the first day of 

 the open season for pheasants, and it seemed to me that every man 

 and boy who was able to carry a gun was afield. A dealer in fire- 

 arms told me recently that more shotguns were sold in Rochester, 

 New York per capita than in any other city in the country. 



COOPERATIVE PHEASANT SHOOTING. In order to get pheas- 

 ant shooting at cost or less, it is by no means necessary to have a club of 

 sixty members or a club house, though a good-sized membership and a 

 house are both desirable features. There are few neighborhoods in this 

 country in which ten or more sportsmen could not combine with profit 

 and practically every sportsmen's club could have its pheasant shooting 

 for nothing if it went about the matter along the lines indicated above. 



