104 



THE GAME BREEDER 



be issued every once in a while when 

 anyone thinks of a new criminal possi- 

 bility, there may be some reason for 

 keeping up the State departments after 

 the grouse and the quail everywhere have 

 been placed on the song bird list as these 

 birds and the dove and the woodduck 

 have been in man) States. Long Island 

 will continue to be a free territory where 

 ■quail and grouse can be shot, had in 

 possession, transported, taken home to 

 eat, etc., etc., without fear of the police, 

 and we believe it will not be long before 

 some of the quail breeders send food to 

 the markets, atrocious as and criminal as 

 •such a performance may seem to the 

 wild lifer and his small train of helpers. 

 The more we read it the more we re- 

 gard the migratory bill as a wonderful 

 attempt at statute making, and to think 

 that it was not even written by a law- 

 yer! 



No Appropriation. 



As originally written the bill carried an 

 appropriation for $170,000 to support 

 the force. It was deemed wise, we are 

 told, to ask for the money in some other 

 enactment so as not to attract the atten- 

 tion of the lawmakers to the fact that 

 an ever increasing demand on the treasury 

 was to be made to support the troops who 

 will patrol the country and the game 

 farms seeking criminals who would not 

 be deemed to be criminals in any other 

 country which has sensible laws. 



Placing Quail on Song Bird List a 

 Mistake. 



[The following clipping fent by a reader 

 evidently is from an Ohio Newspaper. — Editor] 



It looks as though someone has made 

 a mistake in the attempted regulation of 

 gunning. 



Reports from every part of Ohio show 

 that the quail, which in many sections 

 was quite numerous, is now almost en- 

 tirely gone. The fact that these birds 

 were put on the song bird list by laws 

 passed in the last session of the Legis- 

 lature has worked to a disadvantage and 

 has defeated the very end which the laws 

 sought to attain, according to men who 

 have studied the situation. 



During the years past when Ohio had 

 a quail law allowing an open season, 



there were sportsmen in almost every 

 county who took it upon themselves to 

 furnish food and gravel, which was scat- 

 tered for the birds when there was snow 

 and sleet on the ground. The men who 

 looked after the birds that they might 

 go out occasionally during the open sea- 

 son were enemies of the market hunter 

 and trapper, and in hunting they were • 

 careful to leave the breeding stock suffi- 

 cient for the next season. 



This is all changed now, it is said. 

 Last year the quail was made a song bird 

 by law. The winter just passed has 

 been the most severe in many years and 

 with weeks of snow and sleet, which 

 prevented the birds from getting food. 

 In many instances an effort was made 

 to save the birds by feeding but it is 

 estimated that fully 75 to 90 per cent of 

 the birds were frozen to death. 



Hardly enough quail are now left to 

 give us a breeding stock which has a 

 chance of increasing in numbers. With- 

 out the help of the men who in the past 

 were giving the feed and protection which 

 brought many birds through the winter 

 seasons and kept the market hunters and 

 pot-shooters out of the fields, the few 

 birds are in grave danger of disappearing 

 within a very short time. 



As a song bird the quail must take care 

 of itself and it is the opinion of game 

 wardens from every district that the 

 birds would have f ared o better as game 

 birds as they would then have had the 

 help and protection of farmers and 

 sportsmen to insure the conservation. 



The Maine Meeting. 



The twenty-second annual meeting of 

 Maine sportsmen was held last week at 

 Mountain View. There was a large at- 

 tendance and an attractive program. 

 Thursday cards and dancing at the ho- 

 tel ; Friday morning rifle events in the 

 rear of hotel, six matches ; afternoon, 

 fly casting match, canoe races ; trap shoot 

 at 5 p. m., all in full view from hotel ; 

 evening, Billy Hill's exhibition of shoot- 

 ing; business meeting; dancing and 

 cards ; Saturday morning, five rifle 

 matches ; afternoon, all unfinished 

 events ; evening, presentation of prizes, 

 dancing and cards. 



