108 



THE GAME BREEDER 



commercial breeders who can supply good 

 numbers of wild geese and when the 

 legal protection intended to save the van- 

 ishing wild geese which are said to be- 

 long to the State or the Nation because 

 they have no other owner, are removed 

 from the wild geese produced by indus- 

 try, so that they can be handled as freely 

 as other food is without legal interfer- 

 ence, we predict that wild geese will be 

 cheap in all of our markets. We formerly 

 bought wild geese for 50 cents before 

 we had the many game laws and we ex- 

 pect soon to purchase them much cheaper 

 than they are at present. If they can be 

 made a good sporting proposition sport 

 will pay the cost of production and the 

 food being abundant will be cheap as it 

 is in more civilized countries where food 

 produced by industry is not protected out 

 of the markets by "fool laws" as the 

 newspapers call them. 



. • 



Destructive Gulls. 



A newspaper clipping sent to The 

 Game Breeder contains the following 

 about the damage done by gulls : 



Visitors of the winter who admire the , 

 sweeping flight of the thousands of gulls along* 

 the beach have just learned that the beautiful 

 birds are eating up thousands of bushels of 

 oysters and clams which might otherwise go 

 for human food. Fishermen and oystermen 

 have started a movement to have the State 

 remove the ban on killing the birds because 

 they consume shellfish used for food or bait, 

 and the matter may be taken up at the com- 

 ing meeting of the State Legislature. Protec- 

 tion of the gulls was undertaken years ago 

 because of their value as scavengers in the 

 harbor waterways and they have increased by 

 thousands until the flocks are among the at- 

 tractive sights from the boardwalk. 



The Rev. H. A. Macpherson, a talented 

 writer on English sport, says: "The 

 black-backed gulls are very destructive 

 to young birds of every kind, especially 

 the lesser variety. I do not think the 

 great black-backed gull troubles much 

 about grouse. He cares more for fish 

 and for carion. But the lesser black- 

 backed gull is a shameless gourmand, and 

 does a great amount of mischief. He 

 likes the young wild ducks better than 

 the tiny grouse, but nothing seems to 

 come amiss to his hungry maw. It occa- 

 sionally happens that an old herring gull 

 takes to felonious practices. Thev suck 



poisoned eggs eagerly and I have seen 

 individual birds beating the hill day after 

 day searching for grouse nests. I have 

 also known the herring gull to carry off 

 chickens from a cottage door; But the 

 grouse suffers more from hooded crows 

 than from gulls or any other of its nat- 

 ural enemies." 



Mr. Macpherson says in the Highlands 

 the foxes are killed out so far as possible. 

 It is very necessary to keep them down 

 for they would commit sad havoc among 

 the lambs if allowed to become numerous. 



\ 



Deer Shipments in Maine. 



. The following from the Maine Woods 

 evidently refers to the shipping of deer: 

 The game receipts at the Union Station, 

 Bangor, are considerably behind what they 

 were last year at this time when the total 

 number shipped through was 2,273, against the 

 2,082 at present. The hunting for the last 

 week has been much harder than in previous 

 weeks on account of the deep snow in the 

 woods and bearing a heavy crust. 



A Cat's Joy of Killing. 



Permit me to refer to your editorial 

 comment on the proposed investigation 

 of the Association of Audubon Societies 

 relative to the slaughter of birds by cats. 



After a study of bird life extended 

 over a period of forty years, it is the 

 conclusion of the writer that the cat 

 should find no friends among ornitholo- 

 gists. I dispute the allegation that the 

 killing is done "to interest, amuse and 

 instruct the kittens," although at times 

 this is undoubtedly an attendant circum- 

 stance. Within a few weeks I have ob- 

 served a half-grown cat which had never 

 known maternal joys in a constant hunt 

 for birds. To the writer's knowledge the 

 creature killed three robins in two days, 

 and there was circumstantial evidence 

 that she destroyed a brood of myrtle 

 warblers (worth all the cats in New Eng- 

 land) was prevented a few days later 

 from destroying a brood of catbirds, 

 which doubtless she eventually con- 

 sumed. The cat is cunning and persistent 

 in her destruction of bird life and it is 

 high time that her temperamental kul- 

 tur should be understood. 



Sanborn G. Tenney. 



To N. Y . Times. 



