74 



THE GAME BREEDER 



overfeed. Once in a while I give them 

 the sweet corn I before mentioned, also 

 apples, grapes and berries, in fact I al- 

 ternate and try not to give them the 

 same old thing all the time. 



I live right near Northport Bay, Long 

 Island, N. Y., so that I am able to catch 

 the horseshoe crab and I feed them the 

 eggs from this crab. I know for a fact 

 that chickens are very fond of these eggs 

 and these help their laying. The food 

 is very rich though and must be fed with 

 judgment and not very often. I keep my 

 adult pheasants in yards completely wired 

 in. I have evergreen trees in these yards 

 for shade. In the winter I put up corn- 

 stalks all along the outside of the wire 

 to break the cold winds, leaving the 

 southern part exposed, also put a few 

 stalks in the yards. This is the only 

 shelter they have as I use no shade of 

 any kind. Everyone knows what a se- 

 vere winter we had ; I want to say right 

 here that I did not lose a bird. They are 

 exposed from overhead to all kinds of 

 weather. They won't take refuge in the 

 stalks but prefer to sit on the perches no 

 matter how cold it is. My birds are 

 surely acclimated to all weather condi- 



tions and I guess they can stand most 

 anything. 



I do not pinion any of my birds with 

 the exception of silvers as I give silvers 

 full freedom like chickens. Ringnecks 

 and Reeves are as a rule rather wild but 

 mine are quite tame ; I have a Reeves 

 cock that struts all around my feet feed- 

 ing time and none of these birds are 

 pinioned. I am also inclined to believe 

 that they will breed better if they are 

 not pinioned or have their wing feathers 

 cut. Of course where one has a large 

 number of ringnecks they would have to 

 have too much ground to wire over the 

 top, so consequently the birds would 

 have to be pinioned or wing-clipped. 



In closing I will say that perhaps some 

 breeders will not agree with me as to 

 my methods of raising pheasants, but all 

 I can say is that 1 have had very good 

 luck and never lose a bird unless it be 

 by accident of some kind, such as a hen 

 stepping on them, etc. I have never lost 

 a bird through sickness. Perhaps it is 

 just luck after all. I do not want to go 

 on record as saying I have better birds 

 than anybody else, but I will say that I 

 think I have as good and as strong, 

 hardy birds .as anybody. 



FOOD FOR WILD DUCKS FOR FOOD AND FOR 



SPORT. 



By D. W. Huntington. 



Hundreds of thousands of wild ducks 

 are now reared for sport and for food. 



The problem of feeding the ducks has 

 been much discussed among members of 

 The Game Conservation Society and in 

 the columns of its bulletin? The Game 

 Breeder. Mr. Dusette, of Bad Axe, 

 Mich., lets his ducks fly and they find 

 much of their food on the natural feeding 

 grounds for wild fowl in the vicinity. 

 He only lost a few ducks which were 

 shot by gunners during the closed season. 

 These losses stopped immediately when 

 he offered a reward of twenty-five dollars 



for information leading to the conviction 

 of the shooters. Mr. Dusette's ducks re- 

 turn regularly to the game ranch with 

 their young and during the shooting sea- 

 son their wings are clipped and the birds 

 are kept at home. 



Dr. Henry Heath, president of the 

 Long Island Game Breeders Association, 

 who also preserves wild ducks on his 

 place at Orient, Long Island, lets his wild 

 ducks breed in a small marsh back of 

 his house where they find most of their 

 food. A small canal or ditch, made bv 

 dynamiting, makes the place especially 



