THE GAME BREEDER 



169 



face drainage from surrounding lands Catfishes only can be recommended 



may be taken advantage of. Land de- for the best of "sky ponds " strictly 



pressions, ravines protected from floods, speaking, and the results even with them 



or swamp lands, are desirable sites for will be very uncertain 

 such ponds. {To be Cofiii^md:) 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FARMS AND PRESERVES. 



Post and Board Side of Big Pen. 



Rabbits. 



Now is the time to buy rabbits for 

 stocking game preserves. Advertisers in 

 The Game Breeder can furnish them. 

 Aside from the sport they afford on up- 

 land preserves, they are known to be 

 beneficial where many foxes are about 

 since br'er fox must have something to 

 eat and often he finds it easier to take 

 a rabbit than it is to have game birds 

 for dinner. Owen Jones, the talented 

 English game keeper and author, says 

 the English rabbit is "the fox's bread 

 and butter." 



Sport with Rabbits. 



W'e are inclined to agree with those 

 who say much sport can be had with the 

 "cotton-tails." The late President Cleve- 

 land was fond of rabbit shooting and it 

 can not be denied that a winter day in 

 the field for rabbits produces much sport 



and some excellent health-giving exer- 

 cise. The sport is at its best when the 

 snow is on the ground ; when the trees 

 and shrubs are covered wifh sparkling 

 frost and it is at this season the sport 

 should be at its best and undoubtedly the 

 meat secured is in prime condition. Ab- 

 surd indeed seem the laws prohibiting 

 rabbit shooting when a "tracking snow" 

 is on the ground. Such laws no doubt 

 would have become contagious in many 

 states, as other absurdities have, were it 

 not for the "more game movement" 

 which is responsible for checking much 

 nonsense and for producing many much- 

 needed reforms in the game laws. A 

 rabbit club can have splendid sport, as 

 some now do, with the farmers' permis- 

 sion, but we should remember that rab- 

 bits do some harm and there are j)laces 

 where they should not be kept plentiful 

 without compensation to the landowners 

 w ho may be damaged by the sport. Such 



