8 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Conservation Society and we are always 

 glad to see our readers successful when 

 they run for office. Mr. Viles is a mem- 

 ber of the Fish and Game Commission 

 of Maine. = 



Gardners Island. 



Mr. Clarence H. Mackay has leased 

 the shooting on Gardner's Island which 

 contains about 3,000 acres, said to be 

 well stocked with pheasants, quail, wood- 

 cock, etc. The island is a short distance 

 to the eastward of Long Island, New 

 York, and for many years it was leased 

 to Mr. A. F. Schermerhorn who had ex- 

 cellent shooting every season. 



Besides the abundant live game of the 

 upland there are thousands of ducks. 

 Some are bred on the island ; others visit 

 it during the fall migration in big num- 

 bers. Since Mr, Mackay is a practical 

 game preserver the game will increase 

 rapidly during his term and it is to be 

 Tioped that he will send much game to 

 the New York markets as he no doubt 

 will, since he is well known as a gener- 

 ous and public spirited man. He has an 

 excellent quail shoot in the South where 

 the quail always are plentiful. He em- 

 ploys capable gamekeepers and has a 

 splendid kennel of pointers and setters. 



Our Vanishing Wild Hares. 



One of our Connecticut readers sends 

 us a newspaper clipping which says a 

 bill "authorizing towns to offer a bounty 

 of not more than $5.00 for killing wild 

 Belgian and wild German hares.' Pos- 

 sibly the word Belgian was inserted to 

 avoid the appearance of any violation of 

 neutrality notions. Truly game law 

 making is a remarkable industry. Enough 

 money is spent every year on game laws 

 to feed the nation with game. The 

 bounty hunters should pick up a few 

 ruffed grouse while they last. 



Game Tags. 



The tags required for the game birds 

 cost 5 cents each. This evidently is ex- 

 cessive and in time these tags also will 

 be furnished at actual cost which should 

 be a small fraction of a cent per tag. 

 The absurdity of permitting the sale of 

 trout from other states; the sale of 



game from foreign countries; the Sale 

 of game produced by industry within 

 New York, and refusing the breeders of 

 other states the right to sell the foods 

 they produce in the best market has been 

 emphasized by The Game Breeder and 

 our readers can rest assured the subject 

 will be not dropped until a common 

 sense enactment is safely in the books. 

 If it does not pass this year we believe 

 it will next winter. Nonsense surely 

 can not long prevail even if large sums 

 are collected to support it. 



Migratory Bird Law Unconstitutional. 



A dispatch from Topeka, Kansas, to 

 The Globe, N. Y., says: 



The migratory bird law was declared un- 

 constitutional by Judge Pollock in the United 

 States District Court to-day. Judge Pollock 

 held congress had no jurisdiction over game 

 in any states, and that separate states only 

 had the right to enact laws for regulation or 

 protection of game. The decision was in the 

 case of George L. McCuUagh, a banker of 

 Galena, Kan., and two companions arrested 

 on complaint of the United States district 

 attorney for shooting ducks out of season. 

 The defendants filed a demurrer attacking the 

 law, and Judge Pollock sustained their con- 

 tentions. _ 



Surprising Game Law Activity. 



A New England game officer, of the 

 right sort, says the legislature in his 

 state is in full swing and one might im- 

 agine from the bills and the discussions 

 that legislators are more interested, some 

 in the protection and some in the exter- 

 mination of game, than they are in ed- 

 ucation or agriculture. 



Our Vanishing "Jacks." 



Jack rabbits have become so abun- 

 dant in eastern Oregon that they are a 

 menace to farmers' crops. In Harney 

 county a four-mill tax produced $31,000 

 for a jack rabbit bounty fund. The 

 bounty law became effective January 2, 

 1915. On February 18, 1915, the county 

 clerk's office had paid a bounty of 5 

 cents each on 156,707 rabbits. 



The Oregon Sportsmen also informs 

 us that Harney county paid $1,039 for 

 1,039 bobcats, so that it woul4 appear 

 that cats vanish nicely when a bounty 

 is paid. 



