42 



THE GAME BREEDER 



fancy chickens. All varieties breed the 

 first year although those two and three 

 years old breed much better. Breeding 

 qualities in these birds lasts from twelve 

 to fifteen years. 



Some breeders and even government 

 bulletins advocate feeding at regular in- 

 tervals, while I find it better to keep 

 feed before them all the time, as an 

 adult bird will never overeat. I feed 

 somewhat along my own lines, and I 

 have an egg yield of ninety and ninety- 

 five eggs per bird. The percentage of 

 fertility in pheasant's eggs is remarkably 

 great. I find "scratch food" particularly 

 adapted to their needs. Green feed must 

 be fed continuously and they must be 



kept busy. I sow wheat, oats or barley 

 in the pen and let the birds work for it. 



Sunshine is necessary for their health 

 and comfort as is sand for a dust bath 

 to keep their plumage fine, glossy and 

 free from insects. Pheasants prefer to 

 sleep in the open, even in rain. 



Pheasant hens in confinement are poor 

 mothers and for this reason common 

 hens are used to hatch the eggs taken 

 from the pheasants. For the best results 

 I advise bantams (Cochin bantams are 

 perhaps the best). 



I find pheasants very easy to raise ; 

 I raise 80 per cent, of the hatches. It 

 is all in knowing just how. Get the 

 pheasant craze — they are a continual de- 

 light ! 



SUCCESSFUL PLANTING OF QUAIL ON LONG ISLAND. 



By William B. Boulton. 



Two months ago I made my annual 

 report to the club and called the atten- 

 tion of the members- to the fact that 

 there were so many quail on our pre- 

 serve that their numbers might prove 

 detrimental when the next nesting sea- 

 son came around, and I incautiously 

 showed this report to two of the officers 

 of the American Game Protective Asso- 

 ciation, who thereupon requested that I 

 should speak on this matter at the pres- 

 ent conference. 



During the autumn of 1904 there was 

 an extremely heavy snowfall at the east- 

 ern end of Long Island averaging over 

 fifteen inches on the leyel in the open 

 fields and about thirty inches in the 

 woods where the underbrush helped to 

 bear up the snow. At the end of that 

 storm I went out on an inspection of our 

 property and after two or three hours' 

 search I found three quail, one of which 

 I shot. When I picked it up I found 

 that it was nothing but a framework of 

 skin and bone covered with feathers. We 

 immediately took stepsi to obtain a fresh 

 supply of birds to be delivered to us the 

 following spring, as we were convinced 

 that our native stock was practically ex- 

 terminated. For the years 1905, 1906 



and 1907 we obtained birds from Mr. 

 Payne of Wichita, Kansas, which came 

 from Oklahoma and the Indian Terri- 

 tory, and we liberated part of these birds 

 early in March of each year and late in 

 December toward the close of the shoot- 

 ing season. The old native Long Island 

 stock were large plump birds, averaging 

 7 to 7^ ounces in jveight, while these 

 liberated quail did not run much, if any, 

 over 5^ to 6 ounces. 



As the years passed by we noticed that 

 the descendants of these liberated birds 

 were reverting more and more to the 

 type of the natives both in size and color, 

 Until to-day there are many which are 

 scarcely distinguishable in their markings 

 and weight from the original Long Isl- 

 and stock. 



This experiment, if indeed it may be 'j 

 called an experiment, of restocking our 

 preserve has been so highly successful 

 that I think it is worth being called to 

 the attention of all shooting clubs and 

 individuals in this vicinity who may suf- 

 fer from a temporary shortage of quail. 

 With us it was noti altogether an experi- 

 ment because I find that as far back as 

 1891 the Flanders Club purchased quail 

 coming from Virginia, North Carolina 



