52 



THE GAME BREEDER 



Roast Pigeons. 



One of the British divisions, General 

 Kuhn relates, which was occupying a sec- 

 tor of the French front, had as its near- 

 est neighbor a unit from Portugal. The 

 Portuguese troops had no carrier pig- 

 eons, so the British commander decided 

 to make them a gift of some birds to act 

 as dispatch carriers when other methods 

 of communication were put out of com- 

 mission. Six dozen or more birds were 

 sent over by a detachment of Tommies 

 who neglected or were unable to explain 

 their use, because of lingual difficulties, 

 and the British command was very much 

 surprised to receive a note from the Por- 

 tuguese officers' mess the next day say- 

 ing that the pigeons had been roasted 

 and proved a most welcome addition to 

 trench fare. 



♦ 



Dogs in School. 



Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Jan. 26. — 

 The training of dogs for war service in 

 Europe started here recently when Lieut. 

 W. L. Butler and a squad of twenty- 

 seven men came in. They will train 

 Airedale and other breeds of dogs to 

 carry messages to the various firing 

 lines. They will also train pigeons for 

 similar service. As the dogs and pig- 

 eons are trained they will be sent over 

 to France. 



Grabbed by Germans. 



Chicago, 111., April 24. — Adolph Lein- 

 burger registered today as an alien Ger- 

 man enemy. He is thirty-four years old, 

 black as a hoodoo cat. "I am a Pullman 

 porter," said he. "I was born in Ham- 

 burg and my parents are there now. My 

 grandfather was grabbed in Africa by 

 Germans." — The World. 



Partial Report of Minnesota State 

 Game Farm. 



August 1, 1916, to November 15, 1917. 



The following report is not complete, 

 for the reason that almost one-third of 

 the applicants to whom pheasant eggs 

 were shipped during the past summer 

 have not as yet sent in reports as was 

 promised when applications were filed. 



The Game Farm was started January 



1; 1916, on a small scale by the Minnesota 

 Game Protective League and a short time 

 later the State Game and Fish Depart- 

 ment became interested by supplying 

 prairie chickens or pinnated grouse and 

 quail for experimental work and paying 

 the salary of keepers. A report was 

 made to the state August 1, 1916, cover- 

 ing the work accomplished to that date. 

 Although the state did not take over the 

 full control of the farm until May 1, 

 1917, this report is made for the pe- 

 riod beginning August 1, 1916, so that 

 those reading the reports may get a full 

 conception of the work to date. 



It will be noticed in comparing the last 

 and this report that there were less quail 

 on hand to breed from during 1917, than 

 there was in 1916; this condition being 

 due to carelessness on the part of the 

 gamekeepers during the winter of 1916- 

 17 in giving the quail too long a period 

 before trapping them up for wing clip- 

 ping; consequently the majority scattered 

 out and' flew to the mainland, making it 

 necessary to start all over again this 

 year. If the quail reared this year can 

 be successfully wintered over for breed- 

 ing next spring, enough birds can be 

 reared to start distribution of this spe- 

 cies the early part of the fall of 1918. 



The prairie chicken experiment this 

 year was an absolute failure, in that the 

 birds did not breed, due to the serious 

 mistake of placing them in a small, en- 

 closed yard to keep the hawks and owls 

 from killing them. When it was found 

 that they would not breed they were 

 turned out in a large field the same as 

 last year, but too late for breeding. 



During the moulting period the latter 

 part of the summer, the prairie chickens 

 died off, apparently from some diges- 

 tive disease. Some quail went the same- 

 way, as did a few domestic fowl. The 

 experience seems to show that the most 

 dangerous period with wild gallinaceous 

 birds in captivity is during or immedi- 

 ately following the moulting period. The 

 experience on the Big Island Game Farm 

 may, of course, be different from that 

 had by other breeders, but the cause 

 seems to be wing-clipping. Even the 

 least impeding of flight has caused trou- 

 ble with the pinnated grouse. When full- 



