176 



THE GAM$ $#£ERPi 



keepers in this way as the land will carry 

 and more 'thar* ''this imeans the sure ap- 

 pearance of some form of disease. 



We have often 'pointed '-©tit that : wild- 

 bred birds are far- more able to- escape 

 from their natural enemies (which surely 

 will appear hf numbers in the best regu- 

 lated places) " than^ tame hand-reared 

 birds are.- The last -named, when liber- 

 ated whife J the ; usual vermin occurs often 

 quickly varlish and all the work done in 

 rearing therti or all the money spent in 

 buying them is lost. 



We regret' -that our Minnesota reader 

 asks us not to use- his name. There is 

 nothing to be diffident about in what he 

 says. His long letter is full of informa- 

 tion and good sense. 



If game ranching be encouraged in the 

 big western States (as it seems likely it 

 soon will be in all of them) just as cattle 

 ranching and sheep ranching were en- 

 couraged and as agriculture always is, 

 just think what will happen! Are we 

 not right in saying America soon will 

 become the biggest game producing coun- 

 try in the world ? 



We repeat for emphasis the statement 

 that all State departments should permit 

 the trapping of stock birds by reputable 

 breeders who are prepared to multiply 

 their numbers. It is absurd to say that 

 everyone can shoot 10 or 25 birds in a 

 day or some other number and that no 

 one can procure stock birds in order to 

 multiply their numbers. 



Our readers who wish additional copies 

 of the illustrated book on "Game Farm- 

 ing for Profit and Pleasure," for free 

 distribution, can procure them by writ- 

 ing to the Hercules Powder Company, 

 Wilmington, Delaware, and enclosing the 

 coupon attached to their advertisement 

 which appears regularly in The Game 

 Breeder. The book seems to convert the 

 people wherever it is read. Game shoot- 

 ing rapidly is becoming even more im- 

 portant than trap shooting. They go well 

 together on the same ground. 



The Crow-call. 

 By A. V. Lindouist. 



With a well, accurately toned crow-call 

 there should be a surprise to all sports- 



, men who have tirn,e,to Praetic^aJit^^ut 

 ^■6i season 'as well' as to Hake some 'in- 

 terest in helping to make the duck or 1 

 game shooting all the better. There is 

 but! one good quality in crows and that is 

 that they do destroy a great many nests 

 of the snapping turtle, but outside of that 

 I don't see any value in them. How 

 they can locate these nests of turtles is 

 a conundrum- to me, but that they do find 

 them I know to be a fact as the evidence 

 is plainly seen on turtle nesting grounds 

 and I have seen them at work digging 

 them up. Oh, they are wise guys, I tell 

 you, and the harm they do is never fully 

 realized. It will take some time to get 

 the sportsmen to discover the effect of 

 crow-calls on crows and to get the habit 

 of setting aside a day now and then for 

 crow hunting, as we do here, but it will 

 come with time and any help in the line 

 of recommendation by papers and indi- 

 viduals having one in use will soon get 

 the calls going and the good they will do 

 is manifold. Crows ! Well you might 

 as well say rattlesnakes to me! I surely 

 have seen enough to know what I am 

 talking about. I could write a book on 

 my observations alone and what I have 

 come across in hunting them. 



Quail and Pheasants. 



This letter was sent out to try and 

 interest farmers in quail and winter 

 feeding; also to see if there was any 

 direct evidence of antagonism between 

 quail and pheasants. 



J. C. Phillips. 

 Dear Sir : — 



For ten or twelve years the whistle of the 

 Bob-white (quail) has been practically absent 

 from Essex County and indeed all sections 

 north of Boston. In order to try and re- 

 store this splendid bird to our covers again, 

 work has been on foot at the writer's farm 

 for over two years. Last season about 175 

 quail were reared from eggs layed by captive 

 birds, and allowed to roam at will as soon as 

 they were able to care for themselves. An- 

 other lot will be reared this year. These birds 

 have apparently wintered well and scattered 

 through the west end of Wenham and into 

 Danvers. Some residents were good enough 

 to feed bevies during the hard winter of 1916, 

 a procedure which it is hoped will be fol- 

 lowed up next winter. 



The relation between the Bob-white and the 

 pheasant has always been an open question, 





