76 



THE GAME BREEDER 



no answer came and I gave it up. Two 

 and one-half hours later when on my 

 way down to the swamp, following a 

 path and much down-hearted, I came 

 upon five of the missing ducklings not 

 less than 400 feet from the barn and 

 apparently on their way to the swamp. 

 They, no doubt, had heard the mallards 

 calling there. With heads erect, look- 



ing like a bunch of drowned rats, ragged 

 and wet to the skin, there they stood 

 bunched and piping at the top of their 

 voices. I rushed them up to the house 

 and put them into the incubator. The 

 six survivors are now six days old. None 

 perished as a result of the exposure and 

 I have a wholesome respect for the har- 

 diness of wild-bred stock. ■ 



RABBIT GROWING TO SUPPLEMENT THE MEAT SUPPLY 



From a Bulletin by Ned Dearborn, 

 Assistant Biologist, Bureau of Biological Survey. 



Consuming annually more than his 

 own weight of meat, the average Ameri- 

 can regards it as an essential part of his 

 diet. But with its cost, mounting higher 

 and higher, many people can no longer 

 afford to buy the better cuts. Former 

 low prices of meats can not be expected 

 to return, for, in keeping with the prin- 

 ciples of diversified farming, much of 

 the vast unfenced range of the West 

 has been divided into farms producing 

 less meat but more cereals and dairy 

 products. Not only is our output of 

 meat proportionally less than formerly, 

 but its cost per pound has increased with 

 increasing land values and expenditures 

 for buildings, fences, labor and taxes. 

 To meet the requirements of a growing 

 population, more grain has been pro- 

 duced, but meat production has not kept 

 pace with it. High prices attract to our 

 shores meat from foreign countries, and, 

 strange as it may seem, the United 

 States, which ranks first among the 

 meat-producing countries of the world, 

 ranks fourth among those importing 

 meat. 



In attempting to solve the meat prob- 

 lem, we may well profit by the experi- 

 ence of thickly populated countries of 

 the Old World, where long ago it be- 

 came necessary to learn to produce meat 

 by raising animals which would thrive 

 under restricted conditions. The fact 

 that raising what we ordinarily consider 

 meat animals — cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, 

 and poultry — costs more than formerly 

 makes it very evident that the meat sup- 



ply must be supplemented from other 

 sources. 



The course of events during the stress 

 of the world war in congested countries 

 of Europe and also in the United States 

 indicates how waning supplies of meat 

 may be most conveniently and economi- 

 cally supplemented. When beef fails, 

 horseflesh- frequently becomes its substi- 

 tute. While wholesome enough, horse- 

 flesh does not appeal to the American 

 appetite, and its general adoption as food 

 is not anticipated so long as other kinds 

 of meat are available or can be devel- 

 oped. A far more promising meat ani- 

 mal is the rabbit, which, both wild and 

 domesticated, has long been used exten- 

 sively as food in Europe, and to a com- 

 paratively small degree in this country. 



There are four animals which may be 

 kept by thrifty people to convert farm 

 and garden refuse intp meat — the chick- 

 en, the goat, the pig, and the rabbit. Any 

 one of the first three is likely to become 

 a nuisance in a thickly settled community 

 unless great care is taken, but scores of 

 silent, wholesome rabbits may easily be 

 kept on a city lot without giving the 

 slightest offense. 



Consumption of Rabbit Meat in 

 Europe. 



Before the outbreak of the war in 

 1914, rabbits ware kept on the farms and 

 in the towns of northern France and 

 Belgium for home use and for market 

 as commonly as poultry. In the greater 



