THE GAME BREEDER 



15 



ant is a good game bird or not. To me 

 it is of no interest whether or not driven 

 pheasants are hard shooting as I do not 

 drive. But I can say, without hesitation, 

 that the pheasant was a great addition 

 to my game bag. He can not, of course, 

 be compared with the ruffed grouse, but 

 the latter is in a class by himself. 



The Ring-necked pheasant is not a 

 woodland bird but a marsh bird in his 

 native country; and it is in rough river 

 meadows where he can make incursions 

 for food into farm land, that he is at 

 his best here. On our wet meadows, a 

 pheasant or a snipe is about equally 

 likely to jump from before your pointing 

 dog. When the "bottom" is open he runs 

 but in dense cover (i. e., tall thick matted 

 grass) he lies like a rock, and we often 



find them in matted thickets of roses, 

 elders, etc. 



Of course, he is large and compara- 

 tively easy to hit in the open, but no 

 more so than quail which give more easy 

 shots in the open, more difficult ones in 

 the brush, than other game birds. Fin- 

 ally, the pheasant, does not winter-kill 

 if he has enough to eat, and he is a very 

 good bird on the table. In Massachu- 

 setts he seems to lengthen out the season 

 providing some sport before and after 

 partridges, woodcock and quail can be 

 killed. On the whole he seems to me 

 well worth while on the right ground. 

 But to raise pheasants where the range 

 is all pasture fields and bare woods is a 

 waste of time and money, as they won't 

 stay there."* 



THE EASTPORT ROD AND GUN CLUB. 



By Albert Schwebke. 



[This is the eighth of a series of an hundred articles about game farms and preserves 

 associated with The Game Conservation Society and conducted by readers of The Game 

 Breeder. The Eastport Rod and Gun Club, like the Middle Island Association, described in 

 the March number of this magazine, is engaged in the good work of protecting our native 

 grouse, quail and rabbits in a practical manner. They have excellent shooting every year and 

 the game is increasing in numbers. A law prohibiting quail shooting on Long Island would 

 put an end to the industry and would result in the extermination of the quail and other game. 

 —Editor.] 



There are about five thousand acres grounds with quail and rabbits. The 

 of farm and woodland in the preserve editor of The Game Breeder was instru- 

 of the Eastport Rod and Gun Club. Our mental in procuring quail for Mr. Jantzer 

 game birds, for the most part are quail, from Kansas, and from time to time rab- 

 ruffed grouse, and some woodcock. The bits were purchased and liberated, 

 first two named are abundant. There One year Mr. Jantzer purchased a lot 



are also many cotton-tailed rabbits and of varying hares — the big northern rab- 

 some jack-rabbits, and the club has ex- bits which turn white in winter — and 

 cellent rabbit shooting during the season, these were turned down on the preserve. 

 It was through the efforts of the late This experiment, however, did not prove 

 Mr. George Jantzer that our club was to be successful and none of the northern 

 organized and chartered in 1904, and he hares were found or shot during the open 

 was its president for seven years and season although especial efforts were 

 worked industriously to restock the made to find them, with good rabbit dogs. 



The common rabbit and the big jack-rab- 

 bits from the western plains thrive and 

 multiply although many are shot every 

 season. 



The quail shooting is excellent and 

 the birds to-day are more plentiful than 

 ever before, although the shooting has 



♦The Spratts Book (25 cents) on Pheasant 

 Breeding referred to is published by The 

 Spratts Patent Ltd., Newark, New Jersey, 

 whose advertisement appears in the magazine. 

 The use of maggots is advised in the book but 

 where insects are plentiful they are the best 

 food for young birds in connection with the 

 foods made by the Spratts. 



