THE GAME BREEDER 



181 



chauffeur pointed out a pond where 

 many wild ducks are reared and said that 

 there were several other places in the 

 vicinity which had game. We ascertained 

 that some of the breeders had no licenses 

 and were unaware that ahy were re- 

 quired. We advised the game owners to 

 get the proper licenses without delay. 



The State game officers, we are sure, 

 will not tolerate the arresting of people 

 (as was done in New York recently) 

 who in good faith promptly ask for 

 licenses as soon as they learn they are 

 required to have them. 



We believe it would be a good plan 

 for all State officers to give more pub- 

 licity to the requirements of the new 

 industry. Bulletins explaining how to 

 breed game for sport and for profit, em- 

 phasizing the importance of breeding 

 game abundantly as a part of our food 

 supply, will be timely and will produce 

 excellent results. 



Nearly one hundred new breeders 

 joined the Game Conservation Society 

 in July, which is most surprising be- 

 cause this is one of two months in the 

 year when the least effort is made to se- 

 cure new members, and the society is 

 short-handed this year on account of the 

 absence of its younger men. 



In one State we learned that the State 

 game officers were issuing permits to 

 breeders to take wild birds for breeding 

 purposes, and it is greatly to their credit. 

 All patriotic game officers should do this 

 where the laws permit it, and they should 

 have the laws amended promptly in 

 States where it is illegal to procure stock 

 birds for propagation. 



WILL THE SINGER SURVIVE? 



At a time when the wild turkey oc- 

 curred in Ohio this bird was placed on 

 the song bird list. After a few years 

 (and while the law was in the books), 

 the bird ceased to sing because it was 

 extinct. 



At a time when the bison occurred 

 in Colorado this food animal also was 

 placed on the song bird list and, while 

 the law was in the books, the buffalo 

 ceased to sing or roar because it was 

 extinct. 



There has been a great saving- to both 

 States in the matter' of annual legis- 

 lation by reason of the total disappear- 

 ance of the big food bird and the bison. 

 No longer is it necessary to have long- 

 winded debates and long worded stat- 

 utes protecting the turkey and the bison. 

 They both vanished after shooting was 

 prohibited for all time or after they were 

 declared to be singers and non-edible. 

 As foods easily they might have sur- 

 vived. In some places they have sur- 

 vived as foods. 



The rabbit-shooters will persist and 

 exist in Ohio, no doubt. The quail al- 

 ways will be a temptation to them and 

 to the average farm boy, as it was to 

 us in our youthful days, when we knew 

 it as a good food bird, not in the song 

 bird class. All real naturalists know 

 that if the foods and covers of quail 

 be destroyed ; if they be exposed to their 

 natural enemies and to domestic enemies, 

 the cats, dogs and rats, and if in addi- 

 tion, there be slight additional checks to 

 their increase, the rabbit shooters, for 

 example, the species, will not increase in 

 numbers, but, on the other hand, it may 

 vanish as did the wild turkey in Ohio 

 and the bison in Colorado after they 

 were placed in the song bird class. 



The survival of the quail in Ohio may 

 depend upon the activities of the rabbit 

 shooter. Certainly it will never be a 

 highly desirable food bird until the laws 

 be changed so as to give it a chance 

 to become plentiful and cheap. 



The eminent naturalist, Dr. Shufeldt, 

 was right when he deplored the enact- 

 ment of laws which evidently "protect 

 the game off the face of the earth." 



The Ohio farmers should make a lot 

 of money out of quail and the people 

 should have the food in abundance and 

 cheap in the markets. 



We have won our fight in so far as 

 pheasants, ducks and deer are concerned. 

 These are tremendously abundant on 

 many game farms and preserves. Now 

 for the antelope, grouse, wild turkeys 

 and quail! We propose to make these 

 even more abundant than the deer, 

 pheasants and ducks. 



