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THE GAME BREEDER 



Wild Turkeys. 



Our experiment with wild turkeys was 

 a failure. Eggs sent from Virginia were 

 successfully hatched under a hen and 

 the young birds lived several weeks when 

 they all died. The birds were hatched 

 late and the weather being very warm 

 I am inclined to think that the young 

 birds could not stand confinement in the 

 coop at night. We knew, of course, that 

 the turkeys should have a turkey mother 

 and that they should have been reared 

 differently, but we had no turkey and 

 gave the young birds to a hen on this 

 account. We have reared turkeys very 

 successfully with turkey hens, permitting 

 the birds to roost in trees at night, and 

 the only trouble we ever had was from 

 vermin, the great horned owl doing the 

 most damage. 



Prairie Grouse. 



Our proposed experiment with prairie 

 grouse failed for the very conclusive 

 reason that we could not procure birds 

 anywhere in America to lay the eggs. 

 A large amount of time and considerable 

 money were given to the effort to secure 

 birds. Many promises were made which 

 could not be kept for one reason or an- 

 other, and the breeding season passed 

 while we were still trying to procure 

 stock birds. 



Failures in any experimental work 

 have their value as well as successes. 

 We learn something from both. In 

 proving beyond a reasonable doubt that 

 it was impossible in the year of our 



Lord 1918 to procure a single pair of 

 prairie grouse anywhere in America we 

 performed a public service, since the re- 

 sult will be that others besides ourselves 

 will have prairie grouse for breeding 

 purposes next year. It does not seem 

 to be a creditable performance to spend 

 millions of dollars every year in order 

 to save the game if the result is to be 

 that no one can secure any breeding 

 stock in order to increase the number of 

 birds of a species as valuable as the 

 grouse are for sport or for food. 



Intelligent state game officers agree 

 with us that there should be some way 

 for restoring grouse shooting and that 

 sportsmen in the grouse states should 

 have something more than the prohibi- 

 tion of shooting in return for their 

 money. It is not desirable to substitute 

 pheasants for the grouse. We should 

 have both. No one who understands 

 the subject believes that grouse can be- 

 come a food supply or even that shooting 

 can be perpetuated unless some grouse 

 be bred by those willing to undertake 

 such industry. There can be no grouse 

 breeding without grouse to lay the eggs 

 and probably our experiment in breeding 

 grouse, in answer to the plea of our 

 friend Dr. Fisher, of the Biological Sur- 

 vey, that this industry be undertaken, 

 may be the most valuable of all our ex- 

 periments, since if the Survey is inter- 

 ested in seeing these birds bred it should 

 cast its influence on the side of those 

 who are willing to do the breeding. It 

 must be evident that the game law busi- 

 ness, so far as the grouse are concerned, 

 has been much overdone. 



PLAN FOR A QUAIL FARM OR RANCH. 



By The Editor. 



Any farm where grain is grown is 

 suitable for a quail ranch or preserve. 

 A number of adjoining farms where the 

 right to produce and harvest quail is 

 rented can be made an ideal rearing 

 ground for large numbers of quail. 

 The rent of the headquarters farm, 

 including buildings, a farm house, barn 



and outbuildings, varies in different lo- 

 calities. $300 per year should secure a 

 good farm in many states. The Game 

 Breeders' Association pays $400 for a 

 farm with excellent buildings about sixty 

 miles from New York City. 



The right to breed and shoot game on 

 adjoining farms usually can be rented 



