74 



THE GAME BREEDER 



are quite sure -all' . reputable dealers,.- 

 the only kind we want as advertisers, 

 will be inclined to adopt a standard of 

 terms to be used in advertising and to 

 live up to it. 



Mr. Hoffman, in his letter printed 

 above, says the photograph of the ducks 

 on the cover of our September issue "is 

 without question that of a pair of pure 

 bred wild mallards." As a matter of fact, 

 the breeder of the ducks, Mr. Dusette, 

 does not claim, that the ducks are fresh- 

 ly trapped ducks. They are ducks which 

 he reared from eggs laid on his premises 

 by stock birds which he owns. 



A Vermont reader, in our November 

 issue, pronounces these ducks, mallards, 

 "true in, markings and shape." He adds 

 that a Massachusetts breeder sent him, 

 "an exact brother of the male portrayed. 

 He has grown heavy and clumsy with the 

 years, but his descendents still show the 

 boot shape and right marking's." 



The Iowa breeder who sent us the first 

 picture of ducks, which started the pres- 

 ent discussion, was not pleased with some 

 of the opinions about his ducks which 

 evidently had grown "heavy and clumsy." 

 But he insisted the ducks were bred from 

 wild stock. We believe he, undoubtedly, 

 told the truth when he said the ducks 

 were reared from wild ducks, captured at 

 Wall Lake, Iowa. 



The subject is a difficult one, evidently, 

 since we all know that wild ducks reared, 

 "in captivity," often become heavy and 

 clumsy. It is possible, and in fact corn- 

 mon to hand-rear ducks in such a way 

 that they are as strong on the wing and as 

 difficult marks as the wild-bred birds are. 

 Many sporting syndicates and clubs in 

 America now shoot thousands of these 

 birds every season and find them emi- 

 nently satisfactory. Since these clubs, 

 and the new ones which are being formed 

 all the time, wish to purchase these ducks 

 •and their eggs we believe they should 

 be able to do so, but we have long held 

 the opinion that purchasers should know 

 just what is offered and for the most 

 part, we believe they do. 



According to Mr. Hoffman, Mr. Du- 

 sette should be entitled to say he has 

 "pure- bred mallards" for sale. Both of 



; the breeders referred to, without doubt,. 

 have birds descended from captured wild 

 birds. How would it do to reserve the 

 term, "Genuine wild mallards" for fresh- 

 ly trapped birds, as we have suggested, 

 and to ask advertisers to offer hand- 

 reared ducks when the ducks are so 

 reared, or range-reared ducks when 

 ducks are bred under control on a 

 marsh or range, and to state that the 

 birds are strong on the wing when such 

 is the case ? ' 



Let us have some suggestions, worthy 

 readers, and we feel sure our advertisers 

 will be glad to live up to any reasonable '' 

 regulations made by the society. 



English Game Farmers. 



The English game farmers are largely 

 responsible for the introduction in Amer- 

 ica as well as in England, of ducks too 

 tame and too heavy for sport. They be- 

 lieved that by introducing tame blood 

 they could produce a heavier bird and one 

 more easy to handle on the game farm. 

 The preserve owners, however, soon dis- 

 covered they were getting birds not fully 

 up to the requirements of sport, and just, 

 before the war began both the preserve 

 owners and the game farmers were try- 

 ing to right matters by the extensive 

 use of freshly trapped birds for breeding 

 purposes. Readers will find this matter 

 fully discussed in my book, "Our Wild 

 Fowl and Waders," at pages 56 and 57. 

 The Shooting Times and British Sports- 

 man says : "At the present time there is 

 a great desire in shooting circles to thor- 

 oughly stamp out the half-breeds."* The 

 book referred to created a big demand in 

 America for wild ducks for breeding pur- 

 poses and was instrumental in creating 

 many new game farms, shooting clubs 

 and preserves. While engaged in writing 

 ' the book I imported a lot of eggs and 

 ducks from England and later thousands 

 of ducks were reared, at the Game Breed-, 

 ers' Association preserve on Long Island, 

 under my management. Some of the 

 members procured eggs and birds, pre- 

 ferring to take these in lieu of shooting, 

 arid the result was a big lot of descend- 



*Our Wild Fowl and Waders, p. 57. 



