THE GAME BREEDER 



119 



frame, its maintenance and upbuilding. 

 There can be no doubt that a pheasant 

 scientifically prepared will nourish a per- 

 son far better than one prepared by a 

 novice. 



Mr. Kettner made his living by the 

 science which Savarin cultivated as a 

 connoisseur, says Shand, and you will 

 note this authority uses the word 

 "science," as a matter of course. One 

 fact is quite certain, if you own a bird 

 you can cook it and eat it even if the 

 preparation be not wholly scientific. Be 

 sure that you have legally acquired your 

 pheasant, either by purchase from an 

 advertiser in The Game Breeder or by 

 the industrious process of rearing and 

 shooting it and we are quite sure your 

 courts will hold that it is not criminal 

 to eat your food and that the laws in- 

 tended to save the vanishing wild game 

 in your State do not apply to game leg- 

 ally owned by individuals. — Editor. 



Game Breeder; if they cannot fill the 

 order, come again and we will steer some 

 elk your way. Before we give advice or 

 attempt to get game for readers it is 

 necessary for them to write that adver- 

 tisers cannot procure the game wanted. 

 — Editor. 



Comparative Value of Cocks and Hens. 



One more question, which is regarded 

 as the better bird for the table, the cock 

 or the hen pheasant? 



We have never been able to see much 

 difference between cocks and hens on 

 the table when both are quite young. 

 Probably there would not be much dif- 

 ference between the sexes when both 

 are quite old. We never eat very old 

 pheasants. They should be preserved for 

 game pies and probably should be stewed 

 until tender. The illustrious Gouffe and 

 other famous cooks have recommended 

 the selection of cocks for the plats, being 

 betrayed, apparently by meritricious ad- 

 miration for gay plumage. Alexander 

 Innes Shand fancies "This is a survival 

 of the barbaric tradition of sending birds 

 in their feathers to the tables . . ." 

 There can be no doubt whatever that 

 whether as a maid in her first season or 

 a juvenile matron, the hen is infinitely 

 superior to the cock." 



Editor Game Breeder : 



Please tell me where to purchase the 

 best Elk (Wapiti) for a preserve. 



M. R. 



Write to the larger advertisers in The 



A Small Start and a Good Business. 



An Oregon reader says : 'T am in the 

 wild fowl business in a small way. I 

 have about 125 ring-necked hens for 

 breeders, also a few Goldens, Silvers 

 and Reeves. The place has a lake on it 

 that covers ten acres. I have quite a 

 number of wild water fowl on this lake, 

 including swans, seven kinds of wild 

 geese and several kinds of wild ducks. 



This season I raised between six and 

 seven hundred ring-necks and sold 2,000 

 eggs from 100 breeding hens. I began 

 with three ring-neck hens and built up 

 from them to where I am now, learning 

 the business from year to year until I 

 made good. 



Millions of Eggs. 



Reports coming to The Game Breeder 

 indicate that over two million pheasant 

 and wild duck eggs will be hatched or 

 sold by the owners of American game 

 farms and preserves the coming season. 

 Several hundred thousand eggs also will 

 be hatched and distributed by state game 

 farms. 



Stock Birds. 



Some of the members of the Game 

 Conservation Society report that they 

 are holding as many as four hundred 

 pheasant hens for breeding purposes. A 

 few places have more than this number. 

 Several quail breeders will have an hun- 

 dred or more quail hens and since the 

 average number of eggs for each hen 

 quail is from 40 to 50 it is evident that 

 thousands of quail will be produced by 

 hand-rearing; and on the big quail pre- 

 serves where quail are bred wild in pro- 

 tected fields many more thousands of 

 quail will be produced. On some of the 

 places from one to two and possibly 

 three thousand quail will be shot during 

 the next shooting season. 



