1912 AND FISHEKIES COMMISSION. 235 



opinions on the subject, but in general it may be noted that not only does 

 variety tempt the appetite, but with the chicks the transition from soft 

 to hard food must be gradual. Ant eggs are a most suitable food, but 

 if a sufficient supply cannot be obtained throughout the season, it is 

 better to avoid their use altogether, as chicks are liable to reject other 

 food after being fed on them. Maggots, mealworms, finely ground meat 

 and almost any soft bodied insects are excellent substitutes for ant eggs. 

 For the first three or foui* days the chicks are usually fed on a stiff cus- 

 tard of eggs and milk, but subsequently more substantial food is added. 

 A good general rule appears to be to vary the food as much as possible 

 and to be liberal in the matter of green foods. After two or three weeks 

 coarser ground food may be supplied safely, and grain gradually in- 

 creased until the fifth week when whole wheat, barley, cracked corn, oats 

 and buckwheat may be added. Sunflower seeds, boiled potatoes, chop- 

 ped onion and baked bread crumbs are also useful to vary the diet as the 

 chicks approach maturity. 



With other game birds generally similar requirements will be found 

 necessary, varying only in regard to the temperament of the bird and 

 somewhat, also, in regard to the most suitable foods. Both the ruffed 

 grouse and quail have been successfully raised on farms, in some in- 

 stances on the same land, and other varieties of grouse, such as the 

 prairie chicken, have also been successfully cultivated. It should, in- 

 deed, be both feasible and profitable to raise both indigenous and im- 

 ported varieties of these birds almost throughout Ontario, and it cannot 

 be doubted that more enterprise on the part of the farmers in this direc- 

 tion is much to be desired. 



A further field is open to the game farmer and owner of suitable 

 land in the raising of fur-bearing animals. The beaver, otter, marten, 

 mink and silver and blue fox are amongst the animals whose partial 

 domestication would be profitable and doubtless will be undertaken on 

 a considerable scale in the future, but of all fur-bearing animals occur- 

 ring in this Province the muskrat affords the easiest opportunity for 

 successful exploitation in this direction. The celerity with Avhich the 

 creature multiplies has been indicated in another section of this report, 

 and the rapidly increasing price of its fur renders it almost a certainty 

 that advantage will be taken of suitable localities by individuals and 

 firms to augment the income derivable from such property through its 

 cultivation, as has already been done in certain instances in the United 

 States. The Cedar Point Hunting Club, of Toledo, Ohio, controls 5,000 

 acres of marsh at the mouth of the Maumee River near Lake Erie. In 

 the winter 1903-4, after the muskrats had been left undisturbed for two 

 years, they were trapped for the benefit of the club. In a single montli 

 5,000 were taken, the skins being sold at 25 cents a piece and the car- 

 casses at fl.OO per dozen. The extensive marshes of Dorchester County, 

 Maryland, are a centre of muskrat production. Formerly the owners 

 of marshes in this vicinity paid little attention to them. Trappers were 



20 F.c. 



