38 



THE GAME BREEDER 



wished to market. The writer reared 

 one season several years ago, oyer 2,500 

 mallards from- 170 stock birds. These r 

 ducks were kept in a small inclosure sur- 

 rounding an artificial pond. Members 

 of the Game Conservation Society now 

 sell hundreds of thousands of wild eggs 

 every season and this year many thous- 

 ands of eggs will be shipped to Cali- 

 fornia and other Western States. 



Another Error. 



It is an error also to say, "for many 

 years past the preserves of Great Britain 

 have reared thousands of wild fowl and 

 used them to augment shooting." Pheas- 

 ants have been reared for many years 

 but it is not so very long since it was 

 believed to be impossible to rear wild 

 ducks in England on account of their 

 wildness and migratory habits. Now, 

 however, nearly every country place in 

 England has an abundance of wild 

 ducks ; the people have plenty to eat and 

 the prices are low. Hundreds of thous- 

 ands, probably millions, of eggs are sold, 

 the price usually being £2 per hundred. 

 All these facts and others are fully re- 

 cited in the book, "Our Wild Fowl and 

 Waders," published by the Game Con- 

 servation Society, price $1.50. We will 

 send this book to California Fish and 

 Game for educational purposes and for 

 review, upon request — without charge, 

 of course. The Society has a small fund 

 for educational purposes and delights 

 in promoting duck breeding and all other 

 kinds of game breeding. 



A number of our California readers, 

 besides Mr. Shaw, now have wild ducks. 

 One reports a good sale of eggs under a 

 permit from the Commission promptly 

 issued. There have been some com- 

 plaints that it took so long to get a per- 

 mit that the eggs spoiled before they 

 could be moved. This, if true, is as bad 

 as holding quails until they become dis- 

 eased and then deciding that they can 

 not be imported. 



The "Mile High." 



The Rocky Mountain News says: 

 Not long 1 since we commended an Illinois 

 gun club for giving up spring shooting and 

 recognizing the provisions of the federal law 



that is in dispute in the courts. Coming nearer 

 home we take pleasure in congratulating the 

 Mile High Gun Club of Denver for going still 

 further and taking steps for the protection and 

 propagation of wild life by limiting the shoot- 

 ing season and creating preserves for birds 

 and hatcheries for trout within its grounds. 



"There is a public sentiment that is greater 

 than laws," said Secretary Cliff Webb of the 

 club in explaining that organization's position. 

 Certainly without public sentiment behind it a 

 statute is like a blank cartridge. This club is 

 not taking advantage of the law's delay on the 

 federal migratory bird law and shooting in the 

 spring at a time when it is more easy to decoy 

 the birds, and, should the law be declared in- 

 valid, it would make no difference to this or- 

 ganization. Killing game in the spring time, 

 law or no law, is contrary to nature and 

 would soon result in extermination. 



Echo Answers Why? 



Mr. Cliff Webb, one of the pioneer 

 sportsmen of Colorado, says : 



"I believe it can be said with justice 

 that the sportsmen of Colorado are de- 

 sirous of seeing the enforcement of any 

 laws which will really protect the game, 

 but it must be remembered that Colo- 

 rado has been in a peculiar position. 

 Why should it be possible for a rancher 

 whose land is partly in Wyoming and 

 partly in Colorado to fish all the year 

 round on his Wyoming land, while just 

 across the Colorado line he cannot cast 

 a fly before May 25 and not fish after 

 October 31? 



"We permit dove shooting fifteen days 

 in Colorado, while across the line in New 

 Mexico I believe there is a dove season 

 of sixty days, and it was not so long ago 

 that there was no closed season at all on 

 doves. I have been in Durango when 

 Colorado sportsmen could not hunt 

 ducks, yet we could drop across the New 

 Mexico line and have all the duck shoot- 

 ing we wanted. Colorado . should have 

 better game laws, and it should have uni- 

 form laws with New Mexico and Wyom- 

 ing. 



Game in the National Forests. 



Since the national forests take in prac- 

 tically all the wildest parts of the Rocky 

 Mountains it follows naturally that there 

 is excellent sport to be had in many of 

 thpm. 



The descriptive folder of the Routt 



