564 GAME BIRDS. WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



replied that he could make more money raising Pekin Ducks; 

 but were both the sale of wild game and the importation of 

 cheap foreign game prohibited, the demand for game would 

 soon make the rearing of Pheasants, Mallards and Guinea 

 Fowl an important industry. Undoubtedly it would be 

 largely undertaken by well-to-do landowners of sporting pro- 

 clivities, who would look to the sale of game to pay part of 

 their shooting expenses. Even now the rearing of Pheasants, 

 Mallards and Wood Ducks for propagating purposes is a 

 profitable business for expert game farmers. 



Success in game preserving depends mainly on the pro- 

 ficiency of the gamekeeper. Unless experienced gamekeepers 

 can be secured from England or Scotland, the chances of 

 immediate success are small, except, perhaps, with Guinea 

 Fowl and Mallards. State game oflBcials are experimenting 

 in the propagation of game, and they will soon be able to 

 advise others how to guard against costly mistakes. 



Gamekeepers find that it is very important to control the 

 natural enemies and diseases of the game, for nature resents 

 any attempt to interfere with her laws. The gamekeeper, 

 like the farmer, is working against nature, and, like the farmer 

 also, he will find that the enemies of his undertaking will 

 multiply whenever he attempts to raise on a certain piece of 

 land more of any species of plant or animal than nature would 

 grow there. Cats, Hawks, foxes and other "vermin" seek 

 the gamekeeper's preserve as they do the poultry yard. The 

 gamekeeper must go gun in hand. The disinfection of brood- 

 ers, coops and ground also is important. Nevertheless, suc- 

 cess in rearing both foreign and native game is assured to those 

 who diligently follow right methods. 



The European species most successfully preserved are 

 those of the open land or the heath. Wood Grouse, like the 

 Capercaillie and the Black Grouse, have become almost 

 extinct on the British Isles, while the heath Grouse, Pheas- 

 ants and Partridges are bred on farms and preserves in large 

 numbers. Our limited experiments with native American 

 game have given similar results. It seems not to be very 

 difficult to rear Bob-whites and Prairie Chickens, but no one 



