88 



THE GAME BREEDER 



except as follows: In Illinois and Mis- 

 souri the closed season shall continue un- 

 til the open season of 1918. On page 4 

 we read, "the closed season on woodcock 

 shall be between January 1 and October 

 31." Probably we are now in another 

 "zone," but our head begins to ache and 

 we suspend the reading of the regula- 

 tions until another evening, when per- 

 haps we may undertake to learn some 

 more prospective criminal law. Since, 

 however, there is an evident desire to 

 please kickers, and many are sure to 

 kick, we are quite sure we will have to 

 renew our studies soon after the regula- 

 tions go into effect in order to keep up 

 with the changes. 



And the people are presumed to know 

 the law! 



We fail to ascertain just what the 

 fines or jail sentences may be; possibly 

 this information will come later in an- 

 other bulletin. The courts might well 

 declare such stuff void for uncertainty. 



THE REGULATIONS AND THE 

 GAME BREEDERS. 



The Biological Survey seems to be en- 

 tirely unaware that most of the States 

 recently have amended their game laws 

 so as to encourage the breeding of all 

 or certain species of game for sport and 

 for profit. The so-called "more game" 

 movement has become of great economic 

 importance. Many thousands of wild 

 food birds, both migrants and non-mi- 

 grants, now are owned by breeders and 

 the proposed regulations should be 

 amended so as to provide that the re- 

 strictions shall not apply to breeders. 

 The States having become aware that it 

 is wrong "to protect the game birds off 

 the face of the earth," as the eminent 

 naturalist, Dr. Shufeldt, has well said, 

 it seems a pity for the National Gov- 

 ernment to step in and interfere with 

 a great food producing industry, which 

 Judge Beaman has said is one of the 

 coming industries of the country. 



The farmers are especially interested, 

 since game breeding rapidly can be made 

 a valuable by-product of agriculture. 

 The hotel man who would serve the de- 

 sirable food and the sportsmen who 



would shoot it and the people who would 

 eat it, should not be prevented by law 

 from serving, shooting and eating food 

 produced by industry. 



Not so long ago the Biological Survey 

 issued a bulletin calling attention to the 

 vanishing wood-duck, a valuable food 

 bird. Some of the States prohibited 

 the taking of wood-duck at any time. 

 While the wood-duck was being "pro- 

 tected off the earth," in America, where 

 it is indigenous and once was abundant, 

 it rapidly became plentiful in Belgium 

 and Holland, where it was introduced 

 and was not so "protected." Some game 

 breeders now breed hundreds of wood- 

 duck in America; one of the members 

 of the Game Conservation Society reared 

 over a thousand of these birds last sea- 

 son and says he will increase his output 

 this year. 



Regulation 4 of the proposed regula- 

 tions under the Federal migratory bird 

 law creates a closed season on wood- 

 ducks until September 1, 1918. Since it 

 is admitted that this bird most needs 

 the breeders' attention, why should the 

 incentive to produce it in good numbers 

 be removed? Keep the "fool" game 

 laws off of the farms where game breed- 

 ers are making this bird plentiful and we 

 will guarantee that it soon will become 

 as abundant as it is in countries where 

 there is more freedom from nonsense 

 than there is in America. 



When the farmers become fully aware 

 that the Biological Survey contemplates 

 putting an end to an industry which 

 promises to increase the value of the 

 farms, we imagine it will become neces- 

 sary to have new conferences and new 

 hearings on another new set of regula- 

 tions. The time to attend to this im- 

 portant matter is now. Keep your regu- 

 lations off of the game farms. 



GEORGE D. PRATT. 



The Game Conservation Society has 

 decided that Mr. George D. Pratt is 

 mighty good game conservation commis- 

 sioner and The Game Breeder has beer 

 directed to make this announcement. 



The fact that Mr. Pratt favored the 



