1907 GAME AND FISHERIES. 11 



and improved methods of farming liave not improved the chances of quail 

 successfully contending with long and severe winters. The wire fences that 

 are replacing the stump and rail fences, provide neither food nor shelter, 

 while the latter provided both, to a large extent, during severe weather when 

 neither were obtainable from other sources. It is not wise to depend on 

 perpetuating the supply of quail by re-stocking. The sale and export may 

 be prohibited by those States from which we have in the past procured breed- 

 ing stock. If the Hungarian or European partridge will not fight and molest 

 the quail, it would be advisable to endeavor to acclimatize these strong and 

 hardy birds in our quail districts, which I am convinced would be suitable 

 for them, they being similar in their habits as to feeding, nesting, etc., to 

 quail. As I have previously stated, it rests with the sportsmen whether 

 quail are to be perpetuated or exterminated, as in some of the neighboring 

 States. If the unwise and selfish practice of killing entire ■ bevies and not 

 leaving any for next season's crop be pursued, then the end is in sight. 



Ducks. 



The duck shooting, which is general to a great extent over the whole 

 of the Province, was not as satisfactory as in former years, no doubt in some 

 measure due to the unusual cold and late spring. Although some good bags 

 were made in some localities, good bags were not general. Now that our 

 neighbors realize the folly of shooting ducks in the spring en route to their 

 nesting grounds, we may reasonably expect to have more ducks in the fall 

 than for some years past. 



Woodcock. 



These beautiful game birds, so dear to the heart of every true sports- 

 man, are becoming scarcer in the Province each succeeding year, no doubt 

 resulting from too many colored sportsmen and cheap pot-metal guns in the 

 south, the winter home of these famous game birds. I have known one man 

 to kill 300 woodcock in one season, within a radius of ten miles from Hamil- 

 ton, a far larger number than can be killed in the whole Province in one 

 season now. 



Snipe and Plover. 



These birds were found in sufficient numbers to afford good sport, in fact 

 plover shooting is reported to have been more satisfactory than for many 

 jears past. 



Capercailzie. 



Mr. G. W. Bartlett, Superintendent of Algonquin Park, where the 

 imported capercailzie were released some years ago, reports that three were 

 seen last summer on the island on which some of the imported birds wert 

 liberated. Several others were seen by reliable parties. Mr. Bartlett 

 reports having seen one himself. I am not surprised that more have not 

 been seen, as they are very shy and solitary in their habits, retiring to the 

 most dense and inaccessible pine woods. They do not increase as rapidly 

 as other members of the grouse family, not rearing more than five or six in 

 a brood. I consider it very satisfactory that numbers of them have been 

 seen years after the imported ones were liberated, which proves conclusively 

 that their surroundings are suitable, and that they are there to stay. 



