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THE GAME BREEDER 



Our Game Census. 



Returns for the game census are com- 

 ing steadily but not as rapidly as we 

 would like to see them. Some days only 

 three or four breeders report. The spe- 

 cial reporters at work in several States 

 soon will bring up the number and we" 

 hope to publish the result in our special 

 fall number, October. 



One of the reports which came to-day 

 from California is especially interesting 

 because of the variety of birds owned 

 by the breeder. We are quite sure Mr. 

 A. J. Merle will not object to our pub- 

 lishing his list. We hope it will result 

 in stirring up the more tardy breeders 

 who can save us hundreds of dollars if 

 they will send their reports in response 

 to our printed notices without waiting 

 to hear from our special enumerators. 

 Mr. A. J. Merle (and not the State) 

 owns the following: 



Mountain Quail 4 



Valley Quail 4 



Ringnecked Pheasants .... 3 

 Prince of Wales Pheasants 3 



Versicolor Pheasants 4 



Silver Pheasants 5 



Reeves Pheasants 2 



Milanotos Pheasants 3 



Impeyan Pheasants 2 



Tragopan Pheasants 2 



Manchurian Pheasants .... 3 



Golden Pheasants 3 



Swinhoe Pheasants ........ 3 



Amherst Pheasants 2 



Siamese Fireback Pheasants 2 

 Peacock Pheasants ....... 3 



Mongolian Pheasants .... 4 



Hungarian Partridges .... 2 



White Peafowl 2 



California Wild Doves 100 



White-winged Doves 8 



Other doves, including 



Crowned Pigeons 60 



reported hundreds. The figures in all 

 of the btates are running higher than we 

 thought they would. The number of 

 new breeders owning farms who jomed 

 the Conservation Society in July was 74. 

 Many new members will start game 

 breeding this year as the letters seeking 

 information indicate. 



223 



The largest number of game birds re- 

 ported by an owner is a little over 900. 

 A number of the clubs, no doubt, will 

 beat this figure. We have been surprised 

 at many of the returns. Some experi- 

 menters whom we thought had only a 

 few pairs of ducks and pheasants have 



Beg Pardon; Three Kinds. 



California Fish and Game says "there 

 are two kinds of conservationists: the 

 conservationists of the folded hands and 

 the conservationists of the clenched fist," 

 If a "folded-hander" can be consid- 

 ered a conservationist at all (we do not 

 so regard him) there certainly are to- 

 day three species of conservationists. 

 The "clenched-fisters" are usually loud 

 shouters, who, like the fat girl in the 

 side tent, undoubtedly often take in a 

 good deal of money, but we have failed 

 to observe where they have saved any 

 game. It has vanished so rapidly that it 

 seemed to us it might have been scared 

 by the noise of the "clenched-fisters" out 

 hollering for "stuff." 



The third class of conservationists, the 

 game breeders, go quietly about their 

 work of production and restoration. Al- 

 ready they have produced hundreds of 

 thousands of elk, deer and wild food 

 birds and they are beginning to supply 

 the dear people (who have been told 

 that they own the game) with good big 

 consignments for the table. 



The advice given by California Fish 

 and Game that those who have the wel- 

 fare of our resources at heart join some 

 society is good. The list is not so good ; 

 it gives the Humane Society and local 

 Audubon associations as desirable socie- 

 ties. The National Association of Audu- 

 bon Societies should have been men- 

 tioned first of all. It is of more im- 

 portance than all the others put together. 

 The Game Conservation Society and all 

 of the game breeding associations in the 

 country now are aware that the National 

 Association of Audubon Associations 

 favors their industry and there can be 

 no doubt whatsoever that America soon 

 will be the biggest game producing coun- 

 try in the world. 



