THE GAME BREEDER 



45 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



By Our Readers. 



The Game Guild. 



The Game Guild is an important com- 

 mittee of the Game Conservation Society 

 originally formed to investigate com- 

 plaints growing out of the sales of game, 

 eggs and fish. The work of the com- 

 mittee has grown rapidly during the last 

 two years and it is proposed to much 

 enlarge the committee and to have sub- 

 committees in four or five sections of 

 the country. The mail of the society 

 has grown so large that it is impossible 

 with the present clerical force to answer 

 it promptly, and it is proposed in the 

 future to advance the mail of members 

 of the guild and to see that they get 

 special letters of advice, when requested. 

 This will be eminently fair since guild 

 members pay $2.00 a year which will be 

 used to pay the cost of investigating com- 

 plaints and the cost of additional clerical 

 help to look after the special mail. It 

 became necessary either to advance the 

 subscription price of the magazine or to 

 provide by some other means for the 

 needed income. The magazine evidently 

 does much good wherever it goes and 

 we believe it would be better to lower 

 the subscription price than to advance 

 it. We hope many of our members will 

 join the guild and pay the additional 

 dollar. 



The Proper Number of Hen Pheasants, 



While most are agreed on the ad- 

 visability of keeping pheasants in con- 

 finement as the main source of supply 

 for the eggs they require, Capt. Aymer 

 Maxwell says, there is much diversity 

 of opinion about the best method to em- 

 ploy. Some — including perhaps most of 

 the keepers on big shoots^favor the use 

 of a large aviary, constructed to hold a 

 hundred hens and more, some prefer 

 smaller fixed pens to held twenty or 

 thirty, while others — among whom it is 

 interesting to note that most of the 



game farmers are to be found — rely ex- 

 clusively on the small, easily movable 

 pens, each containing one cock with 

 whatever the individual considers the 

 right proportion of hens, a number vary- 

 ing from five to eight. 



While this is about the figure adopted 

 to the capabilities of the ordinary cock, 

 surprising instances of powers beyond 

 the ordinary occur from time to time. 

 Some three years ago, on a neighboring 

 estate, three cocks were penned with 

 tweijty-one hens. By the next morning 

 two of the cocks had been vanquished 

 and slain by the sole survivor ; two fresh 

 cocks, introduced to restore the balance, 

 only survived a single day before shar- 

 ing the same fate. The keeper, recog-' 

 nizing the presence of uncommon vigor, 

 then left the warrior in undisturbed pos- 

 session of his many wives. Nor was his 

 confidence misplaced, for the twenty-one 

 hens averaged nearly twenty fertile eggs 

 apiece. 



The Live Bird and Egg Market. 



Late reports from the dealers indicate 

 that common pheasants sold for $12 per 

 pair and one dealer reports the sale of 

 a lot of extra hens at $7 and $8 per 

 bird. Practically every bird for sale 

 was sold some weeks ago and, of course, 

 those advertised in The Game Breeder 

 were sold very rapidly and at the best 

 prices. 



Early reports indicate that the egg 

 market has opened strong and that thou- 

 sands of pheasant and duck eggs have 

 been sold for future delivery. The San- 

 danona pheasantry writes that orders are 

 on hand for all the eggs that can be 

 delivered and wishes to have the offer 

 of eggs for sale stricken out of the ad- 

 vertisement. 



• 



Dead Game. 



Conron Bros, report they have re- 

 ceived numerous offers of dead game 

 from their advertisement — as many, 



