wardens in addition to her preserve keepers who have 

 the same powers. 



Those in charge of the conservation work in this state 

 lay much emphasis on the necessity of caring for the 

 birds on the refuges by planting fruit bearing trees and 

 shrubs and feeding grain in severe weather. Their re- 

 fuge keepers are constantly engaged in trapping vermin 

 and the state game department also pays bounties for 

 certain predacious animals. 



Massachusetts operated three game farms and also has 

 fourteen tracts of land set aside as bird refuges. In 

 the year 1919 Massachusetts spent ....23,371.88 in pro- 

 pagation of pheasants, quail, mallard, black and wood 

 ducks. Massachusetts also purchased some pheasants 

 from commercial dealers. In 1919 this state liberated 

 1,481 young and 158 adult pheasants, 156 bob-whites, 

 2,218 young and 347 adult mallards, 106 wood ducks 

 and 65 black ducks. 



The average price of the limited number of pheasants 

 offered for sale by commercial dealers ranges from $3 to 

 $5 per bird. Up to this time Massachusetts had been 

 unable to produce birds on her state game farms at these 

 prices. However, in 1920 they changed their system 

 and are now using incubators with a result that last year 

 they distributed 3,452 eggs, 3,793 young pheasants and 

 108 adult birds. 



In 1920, 1,225 pheasant cocks and 752 pheasant hens 

 were reported killed. The game commission, however, 

 does not feel that this is accurate and thinks that, owing 

 in many instances to a wilful holding back of information, 

 not more than 20 per cent, of the birds killed in the 

 state yearly have been reported. Their report shows 

 that in 1919, 883 deer were killed, of which 359 were 

 does. 



The breeding of ducks in Massachusetts has been practi- 

 cally abandoned, as they belive it is financially prohibitive 

 to produce a mallard sufficiently wild to serve for stock- 

 ing purposes. It has also been decided that the breeding 

 of other species of waterfowl is unnecessary, as they are 

 multiplying rapidly under Federal protection. 



Massachusetts lays great emphasis on the necessity of 

 caring for the game in winter. It is believed that the an- 

 nual production at the bird farms and fish hatcheries is 

 not in proportion to the increased number of sportsmen 

 and fishermen who go a-field and that very little or no 

 margin is left for the inroads on the stock due to un- 



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