THE GAME BREEDER 



83 



"singer" for him. We would respect- 

 fully refer Dr. Swope, the Audubon 

 Society agent of Ohio, to the following 

 from Audubon's Ornithological Biog- 

 raphy : "The ordinary food of the species 

 consists of seeds of various kinds and 

 such berries as grow near the surface 

 of the ground, along with which they 

 pick up a quantity of sand or gravel. 

 Towards autumn, when the young have 

 nearly attained their full size, their flesh 

 becomes fat, juicy and tender and being, 

 moreover, white and extremely agree- 

 able to the palate, is in much request." . 



Audubon on Hawks and Quail. 



Audubon, referring to his excellent 

 picture of the quail (Virginia partridge 

 as it was called in his day), says: "In 

 the plate I have represented a group of 

 partridges attacked by a hawk. The dif- 

 ferent attitudes exhibited by the former 

 cannot fail to give you a hvely idea of 

 the terror and confusion which prevail 

 on such occasions." » 



We have tried the prevention of "ter- 

 ror and confusion," and we found it 

 resulted in an abundance of quail to eat, 

 which the "confusor" would have taken 

 had it not been for our efforts. In 

 America partridges are cheap for hawks 

 and other vermin ; in other countries 

 partridges are cheap -for the people — 

 often cheaper than poultry. 



A Big Duck. 



One of our readers says a big duck, 

 much larger than a mallard, which it 

 resembled, put in an appearance when 

 he was shooting our decoys on a Long 

 Island preserve. He describes it as lu- 

 dicrous in size and that it afforded much 

 amusement as it went sailing by over 

 head. It escaped unharmed and we re- 

 gret that it was not bagged and identi- 

 fied. 



Possibly it was the descendant of a 

 big puddle duck of the barn yard and a 

 wilder parent. It may have been a hy- 

 brid of the mallard and muscoyy. Elliot 

 says, "occasionally along the Atlantic 

 coast a duck is shot that is larger than 

 the mallard, with the head and part of 



the neck black,, with green reflections and 

 the lower portion of the neck in front 

 often white. Sometimes there is some 

 white on the throat and head. Breast 

 very dark chestnut, under parts white 

 except the crissum, which is chestnut 

 black. Back brownish black variegated 

 with grayish brown; rump and upper 

 tail coverts, black with green reflections, 

 like the head. These birds were re- 

 garded always with much interest, and 

 opinions differed as to what they could 

 be, but it is now generally considered 

 that they are hybrids of the mallard and 

 muscovy, which, although bred in cap- 

 tivity, have returned to the wild state. 

 The description given only relates to one 

 style or phase of the plumage exhibited 

 by these birds, as individuals vary con- 

 siderably from each other. 



It seems that Dr.. Eugene Swope only 

 intended to swipe field sports in Ohio 

 for a period of five years, but that the 

 legislature made a clean sweep, bringing 

 the swipe that Swope wanted to an in- 

 glorious end. Next ! Shall the scene be 

 laid in North Carolina, professor? 



We hope that the new North Dakota 

 association will remember that it is 

 more fun to start game breeding and 

 to go shooting than it is to go lawmak- 

 ing. The last named sport usually ends 

 in prohibition. 



Vermin Records. 



Many clubs and preserve owners now 

 keep records of the cats, hawks, crows 

 and other vermin destroyed. These 

 records are interesting especially when 

 the various species of hawks are set 

 down with notes as to their habits. Good 

 keepers are beginning to distinguish be- 

 tween the birds which do much harm 

 and those which do comparatively little 

 harm. The fact that marsh hawks, sup- 

 posed to be in the beneficial class, were 

 destroying the valuable heath-hens on 

 Martha's Vineyard, Mass., is one of the 

 most interesting and important facts 

 brought to the attention of game breed- 

 ers by the Massachusetts commission. 



