THE GAME BREEDER 



73 



MALLARDS AND NEAR MALLARDS. 



By the Editor. 



Mr. N. R. Hoffman, one of our Min- 

 nesota members, referring to the ducks 

 on our September cover, says: 



"The photograph of the ducks which ap- 

 pears on the cover of the September issue 

 of The Game Breeder is without any ques- 

 tion that of a pair of pure bred wild mal- 

 lards. The trim,- alert appearance of the 

 drake as well as his general markings bears 

 every indication of his being the genuine clip- 

 per-wing greenhead of the marshes. 



By contrasting these with the puddle ducks 

 which appeared on the cover of your Janu- 

 ary issue the difference between mallards and 

 near mallards is self-evident. 



Let us hope that this discussion comes to 

 the attention of some of our advertisers of 

 'Genuine Wild Mallards' as I am convinced 

 that there are a few who need a little educa- 

 tion on the subject." 



Mr. N. R. Hoffman signs his letter 

 properly, "Yours for more game." 



The object we had in mind when we 

 began the printing of pictures of ducks, 

 and asking for our readers' opinions 

 about them, was to create the discussion 

 which Mr. Hoffman hopes will come to 

 the attention of some advertisers of 

 "Genuine Wild Mallards." Undoubted- 

 ly he is right in saying there are some 

 who need education on the subject. 



In all civilized countries excepting 

 America those who wish to breed wild 

 ducks are encouraged to trap all the stock 

 birds they can for this purpose. The 

 trappers select the best specimens for 

 breeding purposes and kill the rest and 

 send them to market. The result is 

 cheap game for the people to eat. In 

 most of. the United States it is a crime 

 (strange as it may seem) to take wild 

 ducks for breeding purposes and for this 

 reason there are very few "Genuine Wild 

 Mallards" on the market. 



One result of the discussion about our 

 pictures has been to emphasize the fact 

 that the "Genuine Wild" soon loose their 

 trim, alert appearance and often their 

 ability to fly well when reared "in cap- 

 tivity." Our readers are aware that we 

 have objected often to the use of the 

 words "in captivity" in game breeders' 



enactments. For the upland game birds, 

 the quail and grouse "in captivity" often 

 results in great losses due to diseases, and 

 captivity often results in wild ducks los- 

 ing their ability to fly. Breeders should 

 be permitted to breed their birds wild or 

 semi-wild in protected fields if they wish 

 to do so. 



We believe that most men are honest 

 and are inclined to be fair. There are 

 likely to be some crooks in any industry. 

 These should not be tolerated and they 

 are not by The Game Breeder. We 

 know there is a big demand for wild 

 ducks for sporting purposes and for food. 

 We believe that sportsmen who wish to 

 purchase "near mallards" which are 

 strong on the wing should be able to pur- 

 chase these birds and their eggs if they 

 wish to do so. Most sportsmen know 

 what they are purchasing and know how 

 difficult it is to procure fresh trapped 

 stock, which often does not lay well 

 under control. We think it advisable, 

 however, for advertisers to state frank- 

 ly just what they have and to describe 

 their stock in their advertisements ac- 

 curately. 



We would like to have some sugges- 

 tions from our readers as to the terms 

 which should be used in the advertise- 

 ments and we will be glad to standardize 

 these terms and to insist upon advertis- 

 ers living up to them. We have ad- 

 vised advertisers who offer hand-reared 

 mallards to say that their stock is hand- 

 reared and, if so, to state that it is a 

 strong-flying stock, indicating that the 

 birds are guaranteed suitable for sport. 

 Probably it would be well to require ad- 

 vertisers to only use the term "Genuine 

 wild mallards" when they have freshly 

 trapped birds to sell and to require them 

 to advertise "hand-reared" or "range- 

 reared" ducks when such is the case. 



We hope our readers will take suffi- 

 cient interest in this subject to write 

 their suggestions as to how the ad- 

 vertisements should be worded and we 



