6 



THE GAME BREEDER 



shall not be bought, sold or trafficked in. 

 The species named can be sold at any 

 time. 



How Newspapers Go Wrong. 



The New York Herald expressed the 

 opinion that the new Jones law would 

 tend to exterminate the game. It only 

 relates to game produced by the indus- 

 try of breeders and it is intended to en- 

 courage them. They may sell their game 

 (at fabulous prices) under State regula- 

 tions which have been found to be very 

 satisfactory and to rapidly increase the 

 numbers of the game quadrupeds and 

 birds in all States which have enacted 

 game breeders laws. The idea the 

 Herald advances is that if a producer 

 is encouraged to sell his porduct it will 

 cause' its extermination. In Massachu- 

 setts about 500 breeders are now pro- 

 ducing game and one of them in a letter 

 which came to-day says his pheasants 

 cost 35 cents each. They sell for $2.50 

 each in lots of a thousand or more in 

 New York markets. The New York law 

 only makes it worth while to produce 

 game in New York and, of course, the 

 Herald editor's fears are not well found- 

 ed. He probably was imposed upon by 

 some game law enthusiast. An intelli- 

 gent State Game Department thinks 

 the people should produce food without 

 fear of the police and we agree to this. 



How The Tribune Went Wrong. 



The following telegram to the Tribune 

 shows how the Tribune reporter viewed 

 the new law : 



Albany, March 31.— The labor of years to 

 safeguard the deer, duck and other game 

 birds and animals will be wiped out by a 

 stroke of the pen if Governor Glynn signs the 

 new game act introduced by Assemblyman J. 

 G. Jones, sportsmen declare, who read the 

 J'ones bill to-night. 



The Governor this afternoon said he would 

 sign the bill to-morrow. 



The present law, which is wiped out by the 

 Jones bill, limits the season in which elk and 

 deer may be killed between October 1 and 

 March 1. Pheasants may be taken from Octo- 

 ber 1 to January 31, and mallards and black 

 ducks from October 1 to January 10. 



The Jones bill particularly provides that 

 "elk, deer, pheasants, mallard ducks or black 



ducks may be killed in any manner at any 

 time." 



Every prominent sportsman and natur- 

 alist regards the new Jones law as ex- 

 cellent. The mistake made, of course, 

 was in overlooking the fact that the law 

 only applies to game produced by in- 

 dustry and sold under State regulations. 

 It will benefit the wild game since often 

 game produced by breeders escapes and 

 returns to its natural ferocity, when, of 

 course, it becomes public property. 



Instead of the game being "wiped out" 

 as the paper suggests, a lot of it will be 

 "wiped in." Of course editors who do 

 not understand a subject — and they can- 

 not be expected to understand all— will 

 make such mistakes. New York soon 

 will be one of the biggest game produc- 

 ing countries in the world. Why? Be- 

 cause it now pays to produce game. 



Gray Partridges. 



Many American sportsmen who are 

 introducing the gray partridge (often 

 called English or Hungarian partridge) 

 will be interested to know about the 

 patridge crop in England and the reason 

 for the "patchiness" which occurs. In 

 some districts the Shooting Times says, 

 coveys are numerous and well-developed, 

 but in other places it must be admitted 

 the crop of partridges is thin. The lat- 

 ter instances, fortunately, are exceptions. 

 The nesting season started well but the 

 drought in July was the cause of the 

 loss of many young chicks. When the 

 young birds could not get water or even 

 adequate cover then the young birds 

 wilted and died. The coveys "got small- 

 er and smaller as the dry weather ex- 

 tended." 



Since the partridges are thriving in the 

 well-watered lowlands it would seem that 

 low fertile valleys which always have 

 water are better for partridges than up- 

 lands which may become too dry in sum- 

 mer. 



Pheasants. 



The Shooting Times says pheasants 

 have been affected in just the same way. 



The pheasants on the preserve of the 

 Game Breeders' Association on Long Is- 



