THE GAME BREEDER 



115 



in The Game Breeder be made a part 

 of the Congressional Record. 



The game breeders are heartily in 

 favor of restrictive laws intended to save 

 the game said to be owned by the State 

 or Nation, but they are not in favor of 

 applying the restrictions to game pro- 

 duced by industry and owned by the pro- 

 ducers. They are very friendly to the 

 State game departments and all intelli- 

 gent State officers are glad to see a big 

 lot of game produced on the posted 

 farms where no one could shoot. It is 

 such areas that the game breeders seek 

 to occupy. They are the most suitable 

 for shooting. 



Grouse and Quail in Oregon. 



One of our Oregon readers writes, "I 

 will not be able to get you any sharp- 

 tailed grouse or eggs either. Grouse are 

 becoming alarmingly scarce here, but a 

 few years ago they were very plentiful. 

 The country has been settled up pretty 

 fast lately and much of the natural low- 

 lands where the grouse once bred in large 

 numbers has been cleared up for agri- 

 cultural uses and the birds, driven from 

 their natural haunts and relentlessly pun- 

 ished by tin-horn sports and other nat- 

 ural enemies, have, in consequence, di- 

 minished almost to the vanishing point. 

 Our blue quail too, one of our beloved 

 acquaintances, has followed the path of 

 the grouse. 



"Bob whites alone are on the in- 

 crease." 



[It is evident in Oregon, as elsewhere that 

 the upland game birds can not stand the 

 sports and the other "natural enemies" pro- 

 vided any shooting be permitted and no one 

 is permitted to look after the natural foods 

 and covers on some of the lands which are, 

 "cleared up for agriculture." We are glad to 

 learn that bob white can survive as a song- 

 bird in Oregon. We have never doubted that 

 it is right and proper to put this bird on the 

 song-bird list in places where is it a crime to 

 profitably produce it for sport or for food. 

 All we ask is that it be not regarded as a 

 singer in places where those who prefer sport 

 to game laws, keep it abundant, and shoot 

 it properly every season. The game shooting 

 clubs (many with very small dues) have 

 plenty of quail every season in all of the 

 free states where quail production is not a 

 criminal performance. — Editor.] 



Quail Breeders. 



The people who produce quail and 

 grouse, on lands which they own, from 

 stock birds legally procured undoubted- 

 ly own the birds produced by their indus- 

 try. We are glad to observe that these 

 people are selling their quail and eggs 

 (without interference) to other breeders 

 who wish to produce quail. Laws in- 

 tended to protect wild game, said to be 

 owned by the state, evidently do not ap- 

 ply to birds produced by industry and 

 owned by game breeders. Some breed- 

 ers soon will be prepared to sell quail to 

 the state game officers who have been 

 obliged to send their money to Mexico 

 for quail. We doubt if a state depart- 

 ment would survive if it made a prac- 

 tice of arresting game breeders. It might 

 as well raid hen roosts. 



Popular Game Preserving. 



The Game Conservation Society be- 

 lieves that if one-half or even one-fourth 

 of the farms which are now closed to all 

 shooting can be utilized for sport all of 

 the sportsmen in America will enjoy far 

 better shooting than they now have. 



It is evident that the farmers who 

 have posted their lands have no inten- 

 tion of ever again opening them to the 

 gunners. In entire states the farmers 

 have favored the prohibition of quail 

 shooting since they have observed that 

 trespassers do not heed the notices and 

 persist in shooting without permission. 

 Having been told that the quail are bene- 

 ficial to agriculture they object to the 

 kind of shooting which must result in the 

 extermination of the quail. No upland 

 game can stand the shooting of very 

 small bags by a large number of guns 

 without decreasing in numbers since it 

 is a scientific fact well known that if we 

 add to the checks to the increase of any 

 species it rapidly will vanish and soon 

 will become extinct. 



Our advice to the sportsmen who wish 

 to preserve upland shooting is to form 

 inexpensive game shooting clubs and to 

 rent the shooting on some of the posted 

 farms. We believe if the sportsmen 

 will organize to secure more game in 



