T he Game Breeder 



Published Monthly. Enteied as second-class matter. July a, 1915, at the Post Office, New York City, 



New York, under the Act of March 3, 1879. 



VOLUME IX 



AUGUST, 1916 

 SURVEY OF THE FIELD. 



NUMBER 5 



How About It? 



Under the heading, "Foreign Species 

 vs. American Game," The Pine Cone, the 

 bulletin of the New Mexico Game 

 Protective Association, says : 



According to a government report, about 

 25,000 foreign game birds have been imported 

 into this country since 1900, apparently at an 

 average cost of about $10 per pair. Probably 

 ten times as many have been bought from 

 American dealers. A very rough guess would 

 place the total expenditure for foreign species 

 at $1,000,000. It is well known that a large 

 majority of these operations have been failures. 

 Without attempting any sweeping statements 

 as to whether this money is wasted it is 

 nevertheless obvious that it would have suf- 

 ficed: 



(a) To finance 60 Game Protective Asso- 

 ciations for 16 years. 



(b) To employ 60 paid wardens for 16 

 years. 



(c) To reach every hunter in the United 

 States with 10 appeals for conservation of 

 native game. 



(d) To pay 20,000 rewards of $50 each for 

 the apprehension of game-hogs. 



Much About It. 



Much can be said about it most of 

 which is well known to readers of The 

 Game Breeder. 



(a) We would say that the number of 

 live birds imported is under-estimated 

 We have no doubt that more than a mil- 

 lion dollars have been sent abroad for 

 live and dead game and often we have 

 said that the laws should be amended so 

 as to permit the sending of this money 

 to American game farms. Over two- 

 thirds of the States have amended their 

 laws so as to encourage the breeding of 

 all or certain species of game. Some 

 States only permit the breeding of for- 

 eign birds and wild ducks and deer. 



(b) The money "would have sufficed" 

 to finance several times 60 game breeding 



associations which easily could produce 

 several hundred thousand game birds an- 

 nually. 



(c) It would have sufficed to reach 

 every sportsman in the United States 

 with 20 appeals to quit calling names as 

 a means of increasing game ("game 

 hog," etc.), to stop striving for the im- 

 possible and to get busy in securing "more 

 game and fewer game laws." 



(d) To pay 20,000 rewards of $50 

 each to small breeders who produced 

 over a thousand game birds annually. 



What New Mexico Should Do. 



New Mexico promptly should follow 

 the lead of the other States and enact a 

 modern game breeders' law permitting 

 and encouraging the profitable breeding 

 of all species of game. 



It seems almost ludicrous for New 

 Mexico suddenly to wake up to the idea 

 that it is wise to try and produce game 

 by calling people who shoot game "hogs," 

 since practically all of the other States 

 have abandoned this plan. For a time 

 some said "game pig" because the game 

 became so scarce that there was not 

 enough left to warrant the larger word 

 hog, but recently this method of produc- 

 ing game has been abandoned in the 

 States which are producing game. 



Failures. 



As to the statement above quoted from 

 Pine Cone, "that a large majority of 

 these operations (importing game) have 

 been failures" we would observe that the 

 operations may be divided into two 

 classes : 



(1) Importations by State game offi- 

 cers. 



(2) Importations by commercial game 



