THE GAME BREEDER 



171 



sands of these wild or half-wild cats 

 roam the country destroying game birds, 

 squirrels, field mice, chickens and any 

 animal they can master. The effect pro- 

 duced by cats is convincingly shown 

 where they have been introduced on is- 

 lands and have nearly exterminated rab- 

 bits, and greatly decreased the number 

 of birds. 



John Burroughs says that cats prob- 

 ably destroy more birds than all other 

 animals combined. William Dutcher, 

 president of the National Association of 

 Audubon Societies, considers the wild 

 house cat one of the greatest causes of 

 bird destruction known. He says that 

 the boy with the air gun is not in the 

 same class with the cat. 



PLAYING WITH NATURE. 



By Lillian E. Gallup. 



The Author. 



It was while I was convalescing after 

 a short illness several years ago that my 

 enthusiasm became aroused at a little 

 advertisement in the corner of a local 

 paper — "Game Farming for Profit and 

 Pleasure." 



I wrote the Hercules Powder Com- 

 pany, originators of the little booklet 

 "Game Farming for Profit and Pleasure" 

 and I received their booklet together with 

 a liberal list of names to whom I might 

 write and secure eggs and stock. 



I decided to try the rearing of pheas- 

 ants from eggs, as I have always been 

 an ardent lover of nature in its every 

 form and always admired its wild birds 



and animals so this little booklet prompt- 

 ed the idea that I might have these beau- 

 tifulbirds, enjoy them and also make a 

 goodly profit beside the pleasure they 

 afforded me by their presence. 



Whereupon, I sent several orders and 

 secured eggs from several dealers near 

 home. By securing eggs from several 

 sources I would have several varieties of 

 the same stock for! the coming year. Of 

 course I awaited the termination of the 

 incubation period of twenty-four days 

 with the keenest interest. I had set the 

 eggs, 15 to each hen, under the lightest 

 hens I had— Rhode Island Reds— which 

 had set before so I could select the ones 

 I knew would be good mothers. Many 

 chicks are lost by nervous and fretful 

 mothers, so I used considerable care in 

 selecting the hens which were to mother 

 the chicks. 



After they were hatched — and I had a 

 90 per cent, hatch from the three settings 

 — I placed them in a divided cracker box 

 until they were twenty-four hours old. 

 This was covered at the bottom with sand 

 and after the chicks came out from under 

 the mother's wing and began to show 

 their appetite they had their first meal, 

 consisting of hard boiled eggs and bread 

 crumbs. They were fed five meals a day 

 until several weeks old. Their drinking 

 water should always contain the correct 

 proportion of "Germazone" to keep the 

 young chicks from contracting gapes or 

 suffering from other internal disorders. 



When the chicks are two weeks old 

 their rations are increased and varied and 



