72 



THE GAME BREEDER 



American game farm and, "shoot", where 

 thousands of birds are shot and eaten 

 every season, one of the most interesting 

 things the game keeper exhibited was a 

 cat grave yard, as thickly studded with 

 graves as the burial places near battle- 

 fields, depicted in the papers, are. The 

 keeper said sometimes it was a little em- 

 barrassing to have some one ask, when he 

 went down to the village, if he had seen 

 a rather large white cat with a yellow 

 ribbon on its neck, when as a matter of 

 fact he had just come from a funeral 

 at which such a cat figured with others, 

 slain on the same field when attacking 

 birds.' 



More recently we have employed keep- 

 ers who were skillful in taking the cats 

 which took our birds, and on one 

 occasion there was a little trouble on 

 hand because a big cat went home with 

 one of our traps on its hind leg. 



We have more confidence in Oneida 

 traps for cats, with a little pump-gun 

 work on the side, for good measure, than 

 we have in laws prescribing the hours 

 when cats can walk abroad which may, 

 like other similar enactments, become 

 dead letter laws without a special cat 

 police. Laws requiring cats to have the 

 music of bells wherever they go probably 

 will put some birds on their guard and 

 it will be interesting to watch results. 



A Remington 22 works very nicely on 

 cats, and if the sitting shot is a miss we 

 have found some pretty rapid fire work 

 at the fleeing bird thief interesting. All 

 good "shoots" should have a few Rem- 

 ington 22's for target shooting. We have 

 observed them at some of the clubs 

 where ladies joined in the shooting. 



Special privilege to produce food on 

 a farm ! This is the high-water mark 

 of nonsense thus far. The farmers are 

 beginning to think that possibly it may 

 be a "special privilege" that might well 

 be ended to issue permits for $1.00 to 

 shoot up the farms with the understand- 

 ing that no one can have any of the food 

 secured excepting the shooter. We have 

 warned sportsmen repeatedly what they 

 might expect if they persisted in their 

 notions of "special privilege." 



Mr. E. G. Showers, one of our Wis- 

 consin members, sums up the situation 

 thus : "They might as well tell us that 

 we cannot let grass grow in our yards, 

 for that is one of nature's products 

 also." I 



A Minnesota farmer was reported asW 

 saying that it was desirable to kill the 

 few prairie grouse on the place before 

 the dudes from town came out. Sport in ■ 

 agricultural regions will fare badly until 

 the farmers' interests are considered. 



Other Wisconsin members write to 

 thank us for our interest in their trouble ; 

 one urged us to write to the Governor. 

 There is a rare chance for the Governor 

 to suggest in a special message that food 

 production be not suppressed just at this 

 time. 



Nonsense Abroad in Wisconsin. 



A Wisconsin member sends the fol- 

 lowing from The Wisconsin State Jour- 

 nal: 



"Game farming, in which many farm- 

 ers and other persons are quite exten- 

 sively engaged, will be prohibited if an 

 amendment adopted last night passes the 

 Senate. Mr. Spoor, who is the author 

 of the amendment, and Mr. Rosa, both 

 denounced the present law as conferring 

 special privilege." 



More Banded Ducks Taken in 

 California. 



During the 1916 open season, as in 

 years past, several ducks originally band- 

 ed in Utah have been taken in California. 

 Mr. Chris Krempel killed a banded 

 green-winged teal at the Greenwing Gun 

 Club in Orange county during Decem- 

 ber, 1916. A report from the United 

 States Biological Survey stated that the 

 bird had been released at Bear River, 

 Utah. On December 16, A. J. Buck- 

 ley killed a green-winged teal at Los 

 Banos, Merced county, bearing a tag 

 numbered 3889. This bird was banded 

 at Bear River, Utah, September 11, 

 1916. Another duck, banded at the 

 same place on October 3, was killed by 

 Henry Schubelhut at Brito, Merced 

 county. S. G. Davis killed another teal 

 bearing the number 4138 at the same 

 place during January. — H. C. Bryant. 



