THE GAME BREEDER 



85 



Wood -Duck. 



Editor of The Game Breeder : 



Sir — Have you ever known the wood- 

 duck to build a nest upon the ground? 

 Yesterday I found a nest of eight eggs 

 on the verge of a high bank under a mass 

 of tangled grape vine on my country 

 place in Stamford. There are trees with 

 large holes in the vicinity, but these are 

 occupied by owls, raccoons, opossums 

 and squirrels. The wood-duck's nest is 

 only a few yards away from a ledge in 

 which a litter of grey foxes is raised 

 every year. Who wants to bet on the 

 luck of the mother wood-duck? 



Robert T. Morris. 



New York. 



ACORNS. 



By J. D. Foot. 



From time to time I have looked over 

 your magazine to note if any party either 

 had for sale, or desired to buy, acorns as 

 a food for game birds. My experience 

 shows me in numerous cases, the fond- 

 ness for acorns that wild birds have. 



Shooting on lakes and ponds near the 

 Mississippi River bottoms, with a ten or 

 fifteen foot rise in the river all of the 

 ducks left the ponds early in the morn- 

 ing for the flooded oak bottoms of the 

 river to feed on acorns, returning by 

 thousands at sunset to roost in the lakes 

 and until the water subsided there were 

 few ducks shot on the lakes and ponds. 



Ten years ago — as a Blooming Grove 

 member — I have flushed and shot cock 

 pheasants, finding three or four whole 

 acorns in the throat of the birds. 



A year ago this winter, shooting on 

 my club preserve in North Carolina, I 

 noticed on the flushing of the covey, 

 that one fell back from the rest; think- 

 ing it an injured or sick bird, I shot it. 

 Our game warden was with me. It was 

 a hen bird and its crop was of very large 

 size. At my request he opened it and 

 we took from that crop seventeen whole 

 ""wart acorns," called so from their small 

 size, about a %. of an inch in diameter. 

 It was this bunch in her crop that made 

 it hard for her to fly. 



This last winter my clubmates re- 



ported quail scarce. Early in the season 

 they were plentiful in the field, but later 

 on they could not find them. I went to 

 the Jack Oak scrub in February; found 

 plenty of quail, which, were scattered 

 and picked up later, as singles. In Jack 

 Oak with leaves still on, I thought I was 

 shooting partridge (grouse) up in our 

 northern brush and it took a quick eye 

 and good shot to stop them. I examined 

 the crops of several. They had nicely 

 shelled, quartered and stowed away the 

 larger acorns and now and then taken a 

 smaller one whole. 



This was an acorn year in North Car- 

 olina and under some oaks not twelve 

 feet in height I could scrape up acorns 

 by the handfull. No wonder the birds 

 were plump and large, as large as the 

 best Conn, quail weighing seven to eight 

 ounces, now and then one of nine ounces, 

 a last season bird. 



It occurs to me that breeders of game 

 birds should develop the acorn diet in 

 the birds they grow. Especially pheas- 

 ants, for on shooting preserves where 

 these birds are liberated, fully one-third 

 escape the gun and were they familiar 

 with acorns as a food, both acorns and 

 chestnuts might keep them from starving 

 until other food was obtainable. If any 

 of your readers wish to try this food, I 

 can give them the address of a man who 

 would gladly sell acorns at $1.00 per 

 bushel f. o. b. cars, North Carolina, if 

 next year has an "acorn crop." 



A machine could be used to quarter 

 the large acorns, and the small fed to the 

 birds whole. 



A Suggestion to Cat Owners. 



Mr. J. O. Curtis, Mamaroneck, N. Y., 

 writing to the Times, said : "On Satur- 

 day last our cat caught two robins. Hav- 

 ing tasted blood she has developed the 

 hunting instinct, and during the last 

 week she caught and killed seven birds. 

 Her funeral will take place Sunday aft- 

 ernoon."— The Domestic Cat, by E. H. 

 Fofbush. 



More Game and Fewer Game Laws. 



