THE GAME BREEDER 



(the bobwhites) if its increase be en- 

 tirely unchecked, would produce over six 

 million quail in eight years, provided the 

 annual egg clutch be only twelve to each 

 pair. Often it is much larger. The in- 

 crease in the number of these birds is 

 checked by their many natural enemies 

 (foxes, hawks, crows, weasels, minks, 

 coons, snakes, owls and others and in 

 settled regions the roving cats and dogs 

 are said to do even more harm than the 

 vermin named does. When any shoot- 

 ing is permitted, the sportsmen shoot the 

 birds which nature intended should be 

 left to restock the fields and woods. In 

 other words we are shooting our stock 

 fowls or breeders. There are several 

 million sportsmen and gunners in the 

 United States and it is evident when any 

 shooting is permitted, even if the bag- 

 limit per gun be small, nature's balance 

 is upset in the wrong direction because 

 the guns are an additional or extraor- 

 dinary check to the increase of the num- 

 bers of the birds. When shooting is 

 permitted, it is absolutely necessary to 

 remove some of the natural checks to^ the 

 increase of game in order to make a 

 place for the guns. This can be done by 

 the industry of game farmers and sports- 

 men as it is in all countries which have 

 game in abundance. This is what the 

 able ornithologi.st, Mr. Chapman, had 

 in mind, nO' doubt, when he referred to 

 the "more practical sportsman" in an 

 able editorial in "Bird Lore." It follows 

 that such industry should be encouraged 

 and not prevented by legislation. 



The draining of the marshes and the 

 destruction of their nesting places seri- 

 ously affects the breeding of the wild 

 fowl and the upland game is known to 

 suffer from a loss of its natural cover 

 and foods due to the close cultivation of 

 the farms. The prairie grouse, for ex- 

 ample, has been deprived of the protect- 

 ing wild grasses where it nested in 

 comparative safety and of the wild rose 

 hips which formed a large part of its 

 winter food when other foods were 

 buried in the snow. Farm machinery 

 destroys many nests, also, and none of 

 these fatal checks to increase are affected 

 by the laws restricting field sports and 

 prohibiting the sale and transportation 

 of game. 



A peculiar notion prevails throughout 

 America that foreign game birds are 

 better than our own birds are because 

 the first named remain plentiful in their 

 native lands notwithstanding the fact 

 that the markets are full of game during- 

 a long open season. But the imported 

 pheasants and partridges have not 

 thrived when liberated in America ex- 

 cepting in a few places where they have 

 been properly looked after and protected 

 from vermin. The truth of the matter 

 is that our indigenous wild food birds- 

 are the best for America because they 

 are suited to their environment and are 

 better equipped tO' escape from their nat- 

 ural enemies than the imported birds are- 

 The foreign birds for centuries have 

 been reared in places where vermin is 

 controlled and since large numbers of 

 them, which have been introduced in 

 some of the states, have disappeared as 

 if by magic, it is evident they are an 

 easy prey to foxes, hawks, crows, and 

 other natural enemies, which in most 

 places are superabundant. 



The wild-breeding, foreign, grouse 

 and partridges remain plentiful in their 

 native heather and stubble because they 

 are properly looked after, their enemies 

 are controlled and when they become too- 

 abundant for their natural food supply, 

 additional food is provided for them by" 

 game keepers. The semi-domesticated 

 hand-reared pheasants and mallards are 

 abundant for the same reason that poul- 

 try is abundant. The methods of pro- 

 duction are similar. In all countries 

 which have an abundance of game, 

 nature's balance may be said to be upset 

 in the right direction, while in America,, 

 as I have observed, it is upset, contin- 

 ually, in the wrong direction. In coun- 

 tries which have game in abundance, the 

 birds are properly looked after not only 

 by sportsmen of large means who own 

 big estates, but also by s)mdicates of 

 sportsmen of small means formed to- 

 share the expense of the necessary pro- 

 tection. There are, besides, many com- 

 mercial game farms, and game farming- 

 within the last few years has become a 

 highly profitable industry. Hotels, also, 

 often maintain shooting grounds where 

 the people find the game abundant be- 

 cause it is properly looked after. The 



