THE GAME BREEDER 



15 



"New Jersey, and our Game Breeders' 

 Association at Wading River, Long Is- 

 land, N. Y., were responsible for the dis- 

 tribution of many birds and eggs which 

 were not as good as they should be for 

 the reason above stated. Upon the pub- 

 lication of my book, "Our Wild Fowl 

 and W'aders," and numerous articles 

 about breeding wild ducks for sport 

 and for profit the industry of breed- 

 ing wild fowl grew rapidly ; there was 

 a big demand for ducks and for eggs 

 and many green-heads of the western 

 barn yards, which had become common 

 domesticated fowl, were utilized by 

 breeders who advertised and sold birds 

 and eggs, which often were worthless 

 for sport and no better than tame ducks 

 for food. 



Numerous complaints came to The 

 Game Breeder about the character and 

 sporting behavior of the fowl and the 

 numerous articles about "near mallards" 

 and the advice to secure true wild ducks 

 for breeding purposes caused a big de- 

 mand for trapped birds which could not 

 be supplied legally. 



In our experimental work I learned 

 that the introduction of some wild drakes 

 to the flocks of "near mallards" soon re- 

 sulted in the production of birds which 

 could and did fly well and those who let 

 some of their birds breed wild in the 

 marshes surrounding their ponds soon 

 had the satisfaction of showing ducks 

 which were as strong on the wing as the 

 true wild birds. 



The U. S. Biological Survey has recog- 

 nized the importance of trapping wild 

 fowl for breeding purposes and under 

 liberal regulations now issues permits to 

 game breeders to take birds and eggs 

 ind to sell them to other breeders hold- 

 ing permits. The trapped birds can not 

 be sold as food but any birds bred on 

 the game farms and preserves can be 

 marketed provided the young birds be 

 branded on one foot with a V-shaped 

 mark. 



Our readers will remember the regu- 

 lation requiring that in order to sell such 

 birds as food they must be killed, "other- 

 wise than by shooting," and the prompt 

 protest of The Game Breeder to such a 

 regulation as being in violation of the 



Section of the law, protecting game 

 breeders and preserve owners, which was 

 added just before the law was enacted. 

 The Survey quickly saw that our objec- 

 tion was well m<ade and the regulation 

 promptly was repealed. 



Shooting, of course, is a great induce- 

 ment to production and the U. S. Con- 

 gress was well aware of this fact when 

 it amended the migratory bird law, as 

 The Game Breeder suggested, so as to 

 encourage the breeding of wild fowl not 

 only on game farms but also on pre- 

 serves, "in order to increase our food 

 supply.'" 



Readers of The Game Breeder who 

 are breeding or who wish to breed wild 

 fowl for sport or for profit are advised 

 to write to Dr. Nelson, Chief of the U. S. 

 Biological Survey, Washington, D. C, 

 for permits to trap and breed wild fowl 

 and I would advise them to ask for in- 

 structions about the branding of the 

 birds which will be sent to market after 

 they are shot. The Game Breeder has 

 asked for this information and will pub- 

 lish it. The permits cost nothing. The 

 regulations are now fairly simple and 

 reasonable and the result already is a 

 lively interest and much activity in the 

 wild fowl breeding industry. 



Wild ducks are the easiest game birds 

 to breed on farms and preserves. Any 

 small pond or stream can be utilized for 

 breeding wild fowl. Marshy ponds with 

 some natural wild duck foods growing 

 in and around them, are the best, of 

 course, but almost any water can be 

 made to yield some wild ducks and some 

 good shooting. My earliest experiment 

 was made on a small place, just big 

 enough for a garden, and a few fruit 

 trees. My pond was a wash tub sunk 

 in the ground and kept full of water, 

 Here I successfully reared many wild 

 ducks which spent much of their time on 

 a bay several miles away. Some of the 

 American game farmers now have good 

 sized ponds and lakes with excellent 

 feeding ground for the ducks and some 

 soon will be prepared to furnish many 

 thousands of eggs and young birds an- 

 nually. The old "shoots' where thou- 

 sands of "near mallards" were shot every 

 season now are planning to have more 



