THE GAME BREEDER 



61 



shooting customers for the game 



farmers. 



♦ 



A Bird in the Hand Worth Two in 



the Bush. 



Howard Hettzer, of Hasbrouck 

 Heights, New Jersey, is reported, in 

 Sportsman's Review, to have flushed a 

 woodcock when walking over a range 

 where he was target shooting. The cock 

 flew about thirty yards and hid in the 

 grass. As he put his hand down the 

 cock "scrambled along the ground," but 

 allowed Mr. Hettzer to pick him up, 

 which he could not account for. He re- 

 leased the bird and it flew to the willows. 

 That afternoon Mr. Hettzer went gun- 

 ning and flushed the bird twice, but 

 missed him, as the woodcock was very 

 wild. The date of the occurrence is not 

 given. The action of the bird would 

 indicate that it might have had young 

 birds or a nest. 



Canadian Ducks and Grouse. 



One of our Canadian readers says : 

 "It would be no trouble to procure the 

 different species of duck eggs if there 

 should be a ready market for the same. 

 The reason why I say this is, I wrote 

 to several of the game preserves in your 

 locality last fall about the sale of canvas- 

 backs and mallards. The birds were 

 hand-raised from incubator and brooder 

 and the only reply I could get was the 

 distance was too far for birds to travel. 

 So I killed my mallards and a number of 

 my canvasback, which I sincerely regret 

 now, because I think if I had put my ad- 

 vertisement in your paper I should have 

 got results. But anyway, I shall do my 

 best to secure some of the eggs you men- 

 tion and to raise ducks for fall delivery. 

 My space is limited, but if the orders 

 should be such as to make it worth while 

 I would devote my whole time to the 

 business. I am going to try to raise a 

 good number of sharp-tailed grouse and 

 ruffed grouse this season. This will be 

 my first experience in this line, but I 

 am hoping for success. I will let you 

 know the result." 



We have not had the opportunity to 

 experiment with the grouse, but our 



numerous experiments with quail and 

 the reports of many quail breeders indi- 

 cate that great care is necessary in feed- 

 ing the young birds. In a wild state the 

 young upland game birds do not procure 

 grain and the foods commonly used to 

 hand-rear pheasants and ducks. There 

 can be no doubt that the food of young 

 grouse and quail consists very largely, if 

 not entirely, of insects and green foods. 

 The excellent bulletins of the late Dr. 

 Judd are quite complete in so far as the 

 food habits of old grouse and quail are 

 concerned, but they are very incomplete 

 concerning the food habits of young 

 birds. An excellent field for scientific 

 investigation remains open and it is to 

 be hoped that the Biological Survey will 

 investigate the food habits of young up- 

 land game birds and report the result. 



It seems likely that many green weed 

 seeds and small insects found in the 

 grass are eaten by the young birds, 

 since these are seasonable. Our obser- 

 vations of quail in a garden indicate that 

 the young birds are fond of small green 

 weed seeds and the numerous insects 

 found on the plants. Later the birds un- 

 doubtedly add berries to their bill of 

 fare, and we know, of course, that old 

 birds eat the dry and hard weed seeds to 

 be found in the autumn and also grain, 

 which is seasonable and suitable for old 

 birds. 



In the winter, when snow is on the 

 ground, these birds eat the red hips of 

 wild roses, sumac and dried berries 

 which remain on tall briars and the 

 seeds which fall from them. Undoubt- 

 edly they eat many dried weed seeds 

 when these can be found above the 

 snow. 



We are inclined to believe that the 

 best method of hand-rearing sharp-tailed 

 grouse and the other grouse of the open 

 country would be to let the young birds 

 run with a bantam in a garden bordered 

 with prairie grasses and that the best 

 way to rear ruffed grouse would be to 

 let the young birds run with a bantam in 

 a safe wood where the natural foods of 

 young grouse are abundant. Probably a 

 little garden full of vegetables and weeds 

 and berries might well be included in 

 the range. The breeding ground should 



