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THE GAME BREEDER 



T^5 Game Breeder 



Published Monthly 



Edited by DWIGHT W. HUNTINGTON 



NEW YORK. DECEMBER, 1917. 



TERMS: 



10 Cents a Copy — j|;l.()0 a year in Advance. 



Postage free to all subscribers in the Hnited States. 

 To All Foreign Countrits and Canada, $1.25. 



The Game Conservation Society, Inc. 

 publishers, 150 nassau st., new york 



D. W. Huntington, President, 



F. R. Peixott o. Treasurer, 



J. C. Huntington, Secretary. 



Telephone, Beekman 3685. 



Because quail are said to be insectiv- 

 orous birds and beneficial to the farmer, 

 it does not follow that he should be pre- 

 vented by law from making these splen- 

 did food birds profitably plentiful and 

 keeping them so. 



The way to make any food abundant 

 is to show how this can be done profit- 

 ably. The reason why the pheasants and 

 certain species of wild ducks have be- 

 come ' tremendously plentiful in many 

 places in America is that the laws permit 

 their production for sport and for profit 

 and The Game Breeder furnishes in- 

 structions how to conduct the industry; 

 how to procure stock birds and eggs and 

 how to market the game alive and de'ad. 



The reason why quail and grouse, both 

 the grouse of the open country and the 

 woodland species, are becoming scarce 

 and in some places are extinct, is that the 

 laws do not permit in many states the 

 profitable production. 



THE VANISHING PRAIRIE 

 GROUSE. 



Last month we printed the statement 

 of Mr. J. P. Turner, of Manitoba, that, 

 "the steady decrease in the number of 

 prairie chicken has been the source of 

 much wonder, speculation and argu- 

 ment." Mr. Turner added, "The ques- 



tion is controversial to the last degree, 

 for the reason that there is no final au- 

 thority to consult, no arbiter before whom 

 to lay the innumerable claims, and no one 

 in fact who would care to assume so 

 risky an honor." 



It is fair to Mr. Turner to say that he 

 was not a member of the Game Conser- 

 vation Society, and did not know at the 

 time he wrote the above lines that The 

 Game Breeder quickly could tell him, 

 not only why the grouse vanish but also 

 how to stop the vanishing, and how to 

 make and keep the grouse very abundant 

 and cheap in the markets. Any little prob- 

 lem like the above always can be laid 

 before The Game Breeder as an arbiter 

 and quickly it will forward a solution 

 which will amount to a perfectly satis- 

 factory demonstration. 



The Natural History which deals with 

 the increase and decrease of species is an 

 exact science. Darwin says: "Lighten 

 any check, mitigate the destruction ever 

 so little and the number of the species 

 will almost instantaneously increase to 

 any amount." Often we have pointed out 

 that the converse of this proposition 

 equally is true. Add to the checks to in- 

 crease, add to the destruction ever so lit- 

 tle and the number of the species will 

 almost instantaneously decrease and pro- 

 ceed rapidly to the vanishing point. 



Darwin says, "The grouse if not de- 

 stroyed at some period of their lives 

 would increase in countless numhers ; 

 "they are known to suffer largely from 

 birds of prey," etc. It is well known 

 that in Scotland the birds of prey are 

 controlled to a large extent and the con- 

 ditions for the rapid increase of the 

 grpuse are made as favorable as pos- 

 sible. The result is that many thousands 

 of grouse annually can be shot on many 

 places without any fear of exterminating 

 the species. The danger seems to be 

 that the grouse will become over abun- 

 dant, as they have in some seasons. The 

 result is an epidemic. When, says Dar- 

 win, a species owing to highly favorable 

 circumstances increases inordinately m 

 numbers in a small tract, epidemics— at 

 least, this seems generally to occur with 

 our game animals — often ensue. 



