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145 



THE GAME BREEDER 



tion by those who own it. The State 

 game department surely was not created 

 to prevent the increase of game. 



Mallard Mating. 



One of our Iowa readers who has a 

 good flock of "genuine wild mallards" 

 writes at first he had trouble in mating 

 them but in the two years past they have 

 become so domesticated that they pay 

 little attention to any mating habits. He 

 says that the first copy of The Game 

 Breeder that he ever saw came to him 

 last April and he subscribed for it at 

 once. It was then too late to advertise 

 but he says "I will have an ad for you 

 next spring." 



It is interesting to learn that the wild 

 mallards soon became polygamous, and it 

 is especially interesting to know that the 

 stock is pure. Eggs from such stock will 

 sell readily. We regret that our reader 

 says his letter is not for publication. We 

 always obey such instructions but we are 

 quite sure there will be no objection to 

 our stating one of the interesting facts 

 in the interesting letter. 



Snakes. 



The Game Conservation Society: 



I noticed in a recent issue a story about 

 snakes. Now I do not pretend to know 

 much about snakes but I have killed a 

 lot of blacksnakes, both the water snakes 

 and the land variety on our various trout 

 streams in this section and almost with- 

 out exception I have found traces of 

 brook trout; in some cases the fish were 

 not yet swallowed and from that to 

 nearly digested fish. 



It seems to me that these two snakes 

 should be classed with the rattlesnake and 

 copperhead as I believe they kill more 

 edible fish than all the fishermen in this 

 section, I mean in numbers not by 

 weight. Oscar S. Weed. 



North Rose, New York. 



Snake and Wild Turkey. 

 Perhaps you would be interested in a 

 little incident we had with a snake a few 

 days ago. My underkeeper was on a 

 ladder at the house when he heard a 

 young wild turkey, about three weeks 



old, going through the brush at a good 

 speed and directly back of it was a 6 foot 

 6 inch blacksnake following within twen- 

 ty inches. My man got it with a club. 

 I did not know a snake could travel so 

 fast. 



We are getting a lot of wood cats, 

 mink, skunks, hawks and one owl. It 

 seems as though we need vermin hunt- 

 ers. I have three men on the preserve 

 and each carries a gun, or has one within 

 easy reach when working. 



Ohio. John R. Gammeter. 



Breeding Wild Turkeys. 



The Portage Heights Game Farms, 

 Akron, Ohio, reports the successful 

 breeding of wild turkeys as folows; 

 "From five hens and one torn turkey we 

 got 265 eggs. We have hatched and now 

 living 140 turkeys and we have more eggs 

 set. We feed exactly as we feed our 

 pheasants. The old birds are pinioned 

 and they have two acres of field and 

 brush. They are driven into a shed every 

 night to keep them tame. I am having 

 some wild stock trapped to add to my 

 flock. I think turkeys are much easier 

 to rear than pheasants although they 

 require a lot more territory. Our young 

 birds range over a half mile and come 

 home at night. 



'We have 3,000 pheasants in the field 

 and sold 10,000 eggs." 



A Quail Tent. 



Mr. Wm. Mascall, a rancher residing 

 near the town of Daryville, Oregon, is 

 much interested in the preservation of 

 game birds. He found it difficult to 

 keep the snow swept clean where he was 

 feeding a covey of quail last winter and 

 finally conceived the idea of pitching a 

 tent, after which time the birds had no 

 difficulty in finding the feed at all times, 

 and it is said that they came to roost 

 there. — The Oregon Sportsman. 



More Quail. 



We recently heard of two sales of 

 several thousand live quail for propaga- 

 tion. In both cases the transactions were 

 entirely legal from our point of view. 



