166 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Good Food Producers. 



We know several states that now pro- 

 duce many tons of game. A good part 

 of it does not yet reach the markets be- 

 cause of the high prices, paid for live 

 game for propagation. The big game 

 farms and preserves, however, soon will 

 furnish thousands of birds for the peo- 

 ple to eat and field sports again will be- 

 come possible and popular. There can 

 be no reasonable objection to a food pro- 

 ducing sport which feeds the people with 

 cheap meat. The silly, sentimental sport 

 which claims only to kill things for fun 

 is an easy mark for those who wish to 

 prohibit sport and game breeding. 



To proceed rapidly it is absolutely 

 necessary to obtain more breeding stock. 

 Quail and grouse still occur in many 

 states and there are more wild fowl in 

 America than any country in the world. 

 The trapping and distribution of a few 

 thousand stock birds will result in the 

 production and sale of many millions of 

 birds, since, where they are properly 

 looked after, the increase in numbers is 

 geometrical. Already there are breeding 

 farms where thousands of pheasants, 

 ducks and other game birds are produced 

 in a season. The crying need is for 

 more stock birds. They can be procured 

 easily if some of the state game officers 

 will stop holding that the laws permitting 

 the taking of birds for scientific pur- 

 poses only mean that museums and col- 

 lectors may trap birds to mount and ex- 

 hibit them. Nothing can be more scien- 

 tific than the multiplication of game birds 

 by breeders for food. The state game 

 officer who stands in the way of the food 

 producer at this time is a standing dis- 

 grace to his country and should be 

 drafted and sent abroad. 



The Audubons and Food Production. 



Professor Pearson, the Secretary of 

 the Audubon Association says the Asso- 

 ciation is not opposed to field sports. 

 We have repeatedly said the Assosiation 

 is not opposed even to the sale of all 

 species of game which is produced and 

 shot for food. 



The only objection any one can have 



to the recent quail law disaster in Ohio 

 is that the Association forgot to except 

 game breeders when its bill prohibiting 

 quail shooting was written. 



There is great danger in any state 

 when a law is proposed prohibiting shoot- 

 ing for a term of years that the farmers 

 will take a hand and prohibit it forever. 

 They will not oppose a law permitting 

 game breeding. 



The Audubon Association now has 

 a department of applied ornithology 

 which is supposed to favor game food 

 production but it certainly is carelessness 

 not to except the food producer when 

 preventive legislation is proposed. 



Our objection to the national migratory 

 bill is based largely on the fact that the 

 food producing industry is Hot recog- 

 nized. Regulations made by those who 

 do not favor the sale of game easily may 

 hamper and destroy much of the good 

 work which has been accomplished by 

 The Game Conservation Society. 



We believe the accident in Ohio will 

 result in much good when it is proposed 

 to prohibit the shooting of our native 

 game in other states. It must be evident 

 that such legislation puts an end to the 

 production of our most desirable foods 

 and such performances just now are not 

 timely. 



"Way Down South in Alabama, 



Where the Darkies Plant the Cotton 



and the Corn." 



The silver-tongued state game officer 

 of Alabama overflows thus : 



Alabama — there's magic in thy matchless 

 name — fairest queen of the States, thy face 

 is white with the cotton fields of the Tennes- 

 see Valley, silks of the blooming corn are thy 

 flowing tresses, thy cheeks are rosy with the 

 apples and peaches that blush as they ripen 

 upon thy everlasting hills. Around thy grace- 

 ful throat, as a lover would entwine a diamond 

 necklace about his sweetheart's snowy neck, 

 is that magnificent river, the peari-paved Ten- 

 nessee, that has wandered here from the vine- 

 clad hills of Virginia to pay loyal tribute to 

 thy shrine, only to dash on with new mo- 

 mentum, eager to extol the grandeur of a 

 matchless realm, happy and peaceful with con- 

 tentments and joyous songs. About thy waist 

 is a belt of polished steel, set with diamonds, 

 black, yet precious, that have dazzled the 



