THE GAME BREEDER 



145 



agree, we are sure, that we applied the proper 

 remedy. 



You say it is up to us to "find the answer." 

 Here it is : A liberal use of the Remington 

 pump and automatic guns, most valuable aids 

 to game preserving and a liberal use of Oneida 

 traps properly placed soon will show a de- 

 crease not only in the number of crows, but 

 also of hawks, snakes, minks, weasels, cats, 

 dogs, rats and other game enemies that know 

 that eggs and birds are very good to eat. 



At the place where quail, grouse and pheas- 

 ants all were shot over one point in a little 

 wood quite near the house a lot of mallards 

 and black ducks might be seen on the ponds 

 where they were safe not only from vermin, 

 but also from the guns — the game being to 

 shoot them away from their home pond. 



There were crows in abundance on the 

 ground referred to, and at the outset they beat 

 us to a few eggs and young ducks, but soon 

 it was amusing to see them fly high and 

 well out of range when they passed over the 

 preserved area. We were tempted to use poi- 

 son, but did not. We do not favor it if it 

 can be avoided. It seems to us, also, to be 

 more sporty to circumvent Mr. Crow, et al., 

 with the Remington and the Oneida. 



You can form a protective association and 

 procure one more game law (putting the ruffed 

 grouse on the song bird list, as they did re- 

 cently in Minnesota), in the hope that the 

 crows will stop eating eggs and birds, or you 

 can form a game breeders' association and 

 hire a few beat keepers who soon will show 

 you a lot of quail as well as ruffed grouse 

 and woodcock with some pheasants, mallards, 

 black ducks and wild turkeys for good meas- 

 ure, if you care for these. Your woods will 

 stand a big lot of shooting and we suggest 

 that you form a big club with a hundred or 

 more members ; make the annual dues 50 cents 

 or a dollar a week and you all will get more 

 than your money's worth in excellent meat. 



The trouble is you and your friends have 

 been shooting the stock birds left for breed- 

 ing purposes by the crows, hawks and other 

 eaters which always have had plenty of eggs 

 and birds for their food and always would 

 have if you had not upset nature's balance by 

 your additional, and often excessive, "check to 

 increase" as the naturalists would term shoot- 

 ing. There never is enough game for vermin 

 and the guns. It is up to the guns to see 

 that vermin does not take much of the game 

 if they wish to preserve field sports. You can 

 have so much game that it will pay to sell 

 some of it to help pay for the necessary 

 expenses and what is more important to give 

 the dear people a taste of the game they are 

 said to own and thus make them, friendly to 

 sport. The big danger is that field sports will 

 come to an end at the hands of game prohibi- 

 lionists, but this danger will cease as it did 

 in England when the people get a taste of 

 cheap game — Editor. 



Aiiss Helen Barlett has moved from 



Cassopolis, Michigan, and now has her 



game farm at Niles, Michigan. We be- 



heve she would do well to move a little 



farther south — on the Kankakee — and 



add prairie grouse to her collection. 

 •■ 



Dr. H. K. Job has an excellent ar- 

 ticle on Game Farming for Profit and 

 Pleasure, in the January issue of the 

 American Museum Journal in which he 

 points out that "it is most important 

 that legislation should encourage and 

 promote the propagation of game and not 

 obstruct it. 



Since Dr. Job is a member of the Au- 

 dubon Association, we hope he will sug- 

 gest to the law department of the society 

 the importance of excepting game breed- 

 ers from the many laws it advocates put- 

 ting game birds on the song bird list. 

 Who on earth can be expected to pre- 

 serve game birds for profit or sport if 

 the laws provide that no one can take or 

 eat-a bird? 



A prominent New York man, who re- 

 cently spent some time in the office of 

 The Game Breeder discussing the prob- 

 lems of "More Game and Fewer Game 

 Laws" said he feared the protective or- 

 ganizations might be handlmg game 

 breeding as a sort of camouflage for 

 their activities in getting mo^p laws 

 which would put an end to the industry. 



Surely the recent successful efforts to 

 put the quail and the grouse on the song 

 bird list do not indicate any desire to 

 have these birds made profitable or plen- 

 tiful either for sport or for pleasure. All 

 such laws should contain a clause stat- 

 ing they do not apply to the breeders of 

 quail or grouse. 



Can the Heath Hen Come Back? 



From Albany, N. Y., under date of 

 March 17, comes a press report announc- 

 ing that an effort is being made by the 

 Conservation Commission to bring back 

 the heath hen, the Fastern relative of the 

 prairie chicken, to New York, where in 

 a previous century it flourished and was 

 abundant. 



The Conservation Commissioner, 

 George D. Pratt, in Wu, annua! report to 

 the legislature, says of the new venture : 



